On a day where Havant RFC welcomed Hove RFC’s senior teams to the new AGP and the old faithful green stuff, with similar seasons to boot, offered up a chance to get vital points and ensure that the season is re-ignited.

The Dolphins, led by captain and hooker Charlie Wright, included a wealth of experience and unrivalled pace and power among the players. Welcoming home the likes of Alex Bruce, from a very long ski season; Jerome Rudder from a Navy duties and International sevens representation, Tom Cantwell coming home to his club and fresh from 1st XV duties; Dan Porter and James Wise. Along with the rest of the ever present and hard working squad, gave Head Coach Lewis Osborne the feeling of confidence and anticipation of what lies ahead for the Dolphins squad.

The match kicked off and within the first five minutes the anticipation was given a back seat to a reminder to the squad that Hove were not here to just make up the numbers. Hove struck first with a soft try. 0-5

This in all honesty, according to Osborne, “was the best thing to happen in the game, aside from the performance. This woke us up defensively”. Minutes later Dan Porter, set the tone defensively with a shuddering tackle which rocked the Hove players backwards.

This defensive mentality, shared throughout the squad, was used to create multiple turnovers and force errors for the duration of the match. Jerome Rudder became the first beneficiary of this, when he found himself in a 1 on 1 situation with his opposite number. A few very effective movements inside and out gave him a confident run in for his first try. Quickly followed by another, though more challenging, inside and out of multiple players, working hard to find space and using his electric pace, scored his and Havant’s 2nd try.

Scrum half, Cameron McGuigan followed up the try with a conversion to make it 12-5.

4 minutes later, some strong running by players such as Harrison Chalk, Dan Porter and Tom Mew allowed for gaps to open up through the midfield, good gain line success meant space on the wing for James Wise to exploit. Scoring in the corner his first try. 17-5.

What followed next was something that has not been seen on the rugby field for a very long time, up and coming musician Christian Roberts showed his ‘X Factor qualities’ in his ability to finish off an excellent attack and dot it down for try. Converted by McGuigan. 24-5.

McGuigan, keen to get in on the act, linking the strong running and hard hitting forwards with the strong and elusive backs. Finished off another well structured and relentless attack on the Hove try line, stretched out for his of the day, backed up with another conversion. 31-5

Halftime 31-5

A blistering opening 10 minutes of the second half saw both sides of the coin to winger James Wise, his strong, abrupt ability to move players out of his way effectively and quickly to score his second try. Then his blistering pace running at depth to beat his opposite number. Capitalising on the efficient back line handling and excellent decision making by Pete Living and Nick Benjamin to give Wise space to show this, and score his hat-trick try. 41-5

Substitute Tom Merrett – came on to close out Havant’s scoring with two brilliantly worked and taken tries. Again, built through the forwards with some strong, decisive support lines and phase play, linked seamlessly with the backs who made good ground with every ball, manipulating the defence in such a way that Tom Merrett, was able to show some fleet of foot and great balance to beat individuals and score two very good ‘squad’ tries. 51-5

The final few minutes saw a good attack from Hove and a dip in concentration from The Dolphins, gave Hove their 2nd try. 51-10.

All in all Head Coach, Osborne, was pleased with the performance. “Today was a very good test for the squad, issues before kick off from Hove and the wake up call they gave us in the early parts of the match, could have completely over taken the players mindsets and they could have not produced on the day today. – that being said, the response from everyone in the squad was what every coach would dream of, a strong, patient approach with deadly finishing made today a good day to use going forward.”

Osborne and the rest of squad would like to thank the support given by spectators at the match and hope to see them again at future home or away fixtures.

The Dolphins play their next Zoo league fixture away to Cobham on the 17th November – next home fixture is (friendly) Sevenoaks 24th November.