Havant Dolphins travelled to Camberley for their 1st Zoo League Fixture with a limited squad due to players unavailable and injuries.

After a good pre-season for the squad it was an excellent day for the Dolphins to get the season off and running with a great balance of youth and experience.

Captain Charlie Wright, leading from the front, with Jonny Hill Mortimer (Vice Captain) along side him, gave us a good foundation to work with. Sam Wilson continuing his unbelievable progress as a player making up the front row. Big unit Ryan Jeram and a long awaited return for tackling maestro Tyler Anchor completed the front five. A back row of experience, power and potential from Ed Gaught, Tom Mew and Harrison Chalk finished the pack.

Linking the pack with rest of the backs is another exciting player who is improving all the time and as we found out in the match, very strong in defence, Alex Bishop, playing scrum half. Pete Living adding the experience of a first team player each week with the Dolphins playing at fly half. A back line of pace, power and prospect from Dougal Russell and Harrison Davies. Then a young and energetic back three of George Campkin, Ed Milford and Josh Shaw completed the starting line up. Late call up for Ciaran Vernon adding to the squad and who would later prove to be an excellent versatile run on for us in this fixture.

A Positive start to the game. Good opening exchanges. Solid set pieces to work from.

Camberley then broke down the wing and an excellent covering tackle by Alex Bishop and excellent thinking from Dougal Russell, as no ruck had been formed, picked up the ball from the floor, tore off through three Camberley players and around the fullback to go in the corner for a score.

The next 15 minutes consisted of some really good set pieces and excellent phase play. With Alex Bishop looking for gaps around the ruck, this allowed more space outside 10 where crash balls from Jonny Hill Mortimer, Harrison Chalk and Tom Mew took advantage. Unfortunately from these efforts we came up short a number of times and left with nothing. Camberley, to their credit, played some good rugby at times and offered up some good questions for our players to think about in the future. A few missed tackles and some dropped passes allowed Camberley in the game more and more. Through these little mistakes came huge consequences, Camberley scoring two tries before half time.

12-5 half time

Second half started with Camberley opening up the scoring early on. Along with some mistakes again from us. They continued to score another try. Then came some excellent heart and effort from our players. Young guys in the squad really putting there bodies on the line and showing true potential. Again some excellent carries from players making significant gains. Only to be undone by lack of support in the rucks and inefficient runs leaving us open on the outside, Camberley scored again.

Through all this, it was evident that our set piece stayed strong and put pressure on the opposition at the right times. Our backs always looked dangerous when having the ball for sustained periods of time and some excellent defensive efforts from players such as Alex Bishop, Dougal Russell and Ed Milford.

To improve this for the next league game, focus needs to be on ball retention, increase fitness to allow phases to develop and our tackling efforts.

Dolphins Head Coach, Lewis Osborne (Oz) said

“As a coach I am increasingly excited to see the potential within this squad and the future looks secure with players like today’s when they show such commitment and ability in very tough circumstances. Frustration builds on days like today but it’s how we use this in this weeks training and our next game that will improve our future results”.

Full time result 41-5

Man of the match was awarded to Alex Bishop