Dover 1st XV (16) v Diss (14)
Played 12th January 2008
Dover narrowly managed to advance to the last 16 of the EDF Senior
Vase against Diss from Norfolk. A contingent of some 50 plus supporters
were welcomed from Diss and it must be said that Diss RFC are certainly
a true measure of all what is good about this great game. It is a long
time since such a friendly club has visited Crabble.
This was a huge contest for Dover and in light of the injuries caused
to Dale Tonks and Gus Surendorff last week, coupled with absences of
Trigger Davison and Jim Byrne, this was always going to be a difficult
hill to climb for the hosts. Diss are renowned in their league for
being a dominant forward team and their game plan was no different
during this encounter. 
Dover were forced to make numerous changes in
the forwards with a number of individuals playing out of position and
carrying injuries and others having to take the responsibility of being
the lineout specialists for the day. The game turned out to be full
of heart and passion, although the performance wasn’t great by
anyone’s imagination.
Diss had the advantage of the slope in the first half and although
Dover started sprightly it wasn’t long before the Diss forwards
showed their strength up front. Their pick and drive tactics worked
well throughout the game but credit must be given for the resilience
shown by the Dover pack. On 15 minutes following a second infringement
by the Dover forwards Diss were awarded a penalty try that was easily
converted. Fortunately the heads didn’t drop and although under
the cosh Dover’s defence was superb. Jamie Phillips put in one
thunderous hit on his opposite number and Dover then started to put
their act together and threatened the Diss defence. 
Dover were awarded
a penalty on 33 minutes and Martyn Beaumont slotted it nicely to reduce
the gap. Dover worked tirelessly for the remaining minutes of the game
and the home supporters were quite rightly thinking had the visitors
made the best of the advantage of the slope.
The second half again started well from Dover. The ‘busy’ inside
half Ben Sedgwick took a quick tap from deep within Diss’s 22.
He won the penalty as he was blatantly obstructed and Diss were fortunate
to escape a card. Beaumont reduced the deficit further. Diss’s
tactics remained with their forwards whose pick and drive and rolling
mauls were used to good effect.
The Shark’s
stuck to their game and their efforts were heroic in the circumstances.
Chris Lucas was
replaced by Dan Gill in the second row and he continued the hard work
with his partner Dan Robinson. Greg Hewer replaced pack leader Rick
Stanley up front and although the pack was in all sorts of problems
at times they managed to keep in the game. The lineouts were in fact
fine with hooker Kirk savage hitting his targets of Craig May and Buster
Collins with good ball being supplied to the threes.
Although the backs
weren’t provided with the usual platform to work in there were
some useful runs by Ed Close and Jamie Townley, which relieved the
pressure from the forwards. Dover were again penalised for another
infringement in the scrum on the 58th minute and the referee awarded
a second penalty try. Evidently no warning or penalty had been given
and the conversion followed. Now 8 points behind this was a precarious
position to say the least and to be quite frank the advantage was clearly
with the visitors. However the heads remained up and a tactical decision
was to bring on Ben Murray at 9 with Sedgwick moving to the left wing.
Dover
lost a scrummage inside the Diss half but soon won a penalty after
some determined work. Murray took a quick tap the ball was spread
left across the park with Sedgwick sprinting the distance to touch
down. A difficult conversion was narrowly missed. With 16 minutes remaining
Dover were now back in the game. Diss were again on the ascendancy
with some delightful forward movement but Dover rallied and again managed
to stop the roll. Shane Moore again showed his youthful courage and
the back row combination of Jon Foster, Collins and May provided a
challenging proposition to their opponents. Although Diss were constantly
probing and threatening Dover’s line the hosts managed miraculously
to get out of trouble. A hoof from the Dover 5 metre line saw the ball
in the Diss half with the pressure winning a Dover scrum. The ball
was won Collins peeled off and set up the ruck and Beaumont chipped
a perfect ball forward with Ricky Mackintosh winning possession and
an inside pass to centre Lee Tonks saw him dart over the line and touch
down.
With 3 minutes remaining plus 4 minutes of injury time the ball was
again deep in Dover’s half. The Sharks determined and steadfast
defence saw them through the game and the large crowd had witnessed
a memorable victory. What was satisfying is that Diss didn’t
manage to personally breach the Dover line. Dover’s senior coach
Graham Tonks was full of admiration following this performance; ‘I
must thank the guys who stood in for the injured and missing players.
There efforts were superb in trying and difficult circumstances. The
heart and soul shown by all was a credit to the club’.
Team; Moore, savage, Stanley, Robinson, Lucas, May, Foster, Collins,
Sedgwick, Beaumont, Tonks, Townley, Phillips, Mackintosh, Close, Hewer,
Gill, Tong, Murray.
Report by: Richard Collins
pictures by Ian Shilson
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