Lordswood (0) v (20) Dover 1st XV
Played 8th March 2008
This wasn’t of a spectacle of a game by any means, but it was
an important contest to win and with Gravesend narrowly beating Aylesford,
possibly the main contenders from the start of the campaign, London
South East 3 is now a three horse race with Deal and Betteshanger still
mathematically in the running.
Dover lost to the hosts earlier in the season and there are not many
sides that have come away with two points from the Chatham ground in
recent years. With a fierce cross wind and persistent drizzle the conditions
were difficult for both sides to play entertaining rugby. The Lordswood
side were certainly not at full strength and Dover was forced to make
4 changes from last week. Mike Marsh was given his full debut at outside
half, following his superb performances in the 2’s, particularly
in view of his exquisite kicking and young flanker Matt Burr gained
a place on the bench having come through the development programme
to the 2’s with some stunning performances.
Dover started the proceedings in typical style. On 3 minutes from a
scrum, 15 metres inside the hosts half, Ben Murray broke blind and
an inside pass to Trigger Davison allowed the open side to cut across
field and pop to Lee Tonks to score under the posts. 
Marsh added the
extras. From the restart Dover maintained the pressure and were awarded
a penalty that Marsh narrowly missed from 40 metres. Lordswood responded
and drove deep into Dover’s half and remained there for some
time. Dover’s desperate but sound defence managed to see the
ball hoofed down field and some excellent tackling on the home full
back provided another penalty that Marsh slotted from 30 metres. For
the remainder of the half the game fluctuated between both halves.
Lordswood had one perfect opportunity to kick 3 points but decided
to take the scrum, which came to nothing. Hooker Kirk Savage was binned
after 35 minutes and Dover had to rearrange their front row. 
The half
was littered with errors from both sides and the score remained with
Dover leading by 10 points at the interval.
The second half again started brightly for the visitors. Dover were
immediately awarded a penalty and then given another 10 metres with
Marsh kicking the 3 points. Dover’s confident pack, lead by Gus
Surendorff,
were showing their authority with the ‘pick and go’ and
they were making useful ground. Credit must be given to the hosts however,
who were defending admirably and managing to spoil Dover’s play
and keep them in the game. 
On a number of occasions Dover were forced
back and defend from their own goal line, which they did to good effect
with the pack turning over an immense amount of ball. On the counter
attack Jamie Townley and Ed Close provided a number of excellent runs.
After 63 minutes Savage was replaced with Shane Moore moving to hooker
and Chris Lucas from the bench to prop. James Odell replaced Jamie
Phillips on the wing. The game was still error strewn which was punctuating
the flow of the game and although the conditions were pretty appalling
basic errors were proving costly to Dover. On the 70th minute Lordswood
were pressurising Dover and were 30 metres from the host’s line.
Dover’s midfield were quick to react causing the ball to be mishandled
and Ricky Mackintosh grabbed the ball and ran 70 metres to score with
the extras added. This effectively killed the game. Matt Burr came
on in the closing minutes for his debut and he handled himself extremely
well. The game ended with Dover collecting a well earned victory and
managing to keep another clean sheet. It is important to comment on
the introduction of the young players to the 1st XV squad in recent
months. This again shows testament to Dover’s success in their
mini and youth structures over the past 5 years.
Dover now has a three week break and they meet Aylesford at Crabble
on the 29th March for another monumental contest.
Team; Moore, Savage, Hewer, Tonks D, Robinson, Collins, Davison, Surendorff,
Murray, Marsh, Tonks L, Townley, Phillips, Mackintosh, Close, Lucas,
Odell, Burr.
Report by: Richard Collins
pictures by Ian Shilson
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