The Dolphins kicked off their 2020 home campaign with a resounding victory over Alresford.
Following the Dolphins worst defeat in many seasons, away to New Milton last week and on the back of 3 losses in a row, Dolphin’s coach, Kerry Packer asked for a hearty and gutsy response from the squad. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the Dolphins’ defence hasn’t been the best this year and now over the half way mark on the season, the Dolphins are fully aware of the challenges Hampshire Premier brings. That said, the Hooks Lane development squad have produced some fantastic rugby so far this season and surely with only a few tweaks, should have more consistent performances for the rest of the season.
The selected squad was strong, seeing a return from big Navy prop, Tom Blackburn, temporarily back from his studies, with Charlie Wright in his favoured hooking spot and gnarly Jake Biggs completing the front row. Tom Bates back from sheep chasing duties, partnered the maturing Joe Nolan in the row, the pack completed with a strong back row of the ladies’ favourite, Matt Whitehead at 6, local guvnor’, Harrison Chalk at 7 and the big Sean Shepherd at 8. In the backs, a rare appearance from seasoned Nick Benjamin at 9, father to be, Gareth Davies at 10, ever present Simon Morgan at 12 and in his second appearance for the Dolphins, Cam Smith at 13. A quick and powerful back 3 completed the squad with the rangy Lloyd Sampson on the right wing, exciting young prospect, Vince Parker on the left wing and at full-back and captain, the aggressive non-compromising, Rory Penfold. The ‘game changers’ included a welcome return for the popular Johnny Hill-Mortimer, rock star Cristian Tama Roberts and the ever-grey, Peter ‘barely’ Living.
Havant kicked off from right to left and in the first action of the match, gave away a penalty for a high hit on the catcher. Not making touch, Hav kicked back with play resuming on the half way line. Alresford bullied their way forward with strong forward carries and suffered injury to their tight head after only 2 minutes. From another penalty, Alresford kicked to the 22 and from the resulting line out passed the ball directly to Gareth Davies who cleared the lines. After 3 minutes, Alresford were awarded their 3rd penalty and missed touch, kicking dead. Despite a strong Havant scrum, Alresford won against the head and attacked the blind, were it not for the unorthodox tackle by Rory Penfold, Alresford were denied an almost certain try. RP was adjudged to have knocked on in the process and Alresford were awarded a scrum on the 5m. A hard running line from the 13 was stopped short, but poorly organised fringe defence, meant Alresford snuck over for the first try of the match [TRY]. Unbelievably, their kicker missed the conversion in front of the sticks and after 5 minutes, Havant were 5 points down. Havant 0, Alresford 5.
Thankfully, the poor start galvanised Kerry’s men into a response- hard carries from Biggs, Nolan and Bates, as well as mazy running from Vince Parker from received kicks, started a good run of possession for the Dolphins only for progress to be halted by another pen against the Hooks Lane men. During this spell, Tom Blackburn suffered an injury to his shoulder and was replaced by man mountain, Johnny Hill Mortimer. The game had turned into a stalemate, with rugby being played between the two 10m lines.
Cam Smith took it upon himself to inject some excitement into the match, with a high speed collision on their largest forward, who upon receiving the ball, had no idea about the zippy 13 flying at him. Unfortunately, the laws of physics favoured the 19 stone forward and Cam came off second best, despite his valiant and well timed effort, leaving the pitch with a suspected concussion.
The game reverted back to the centre pitch jabbing contest, with Havant edging the visitors, looking more dangerous when Gareth put width on the ball. On just over 20 minutes, the game sparked to life, when Harrison Chalk received the ball on the 15m tramline, 45m out and showing a turn of pace and step, beat 5 defenders to score on the right hand side [TRY]. Simon Morgan added the extras- Havant 7, Alresford 5.
Following strong defensive work from Vince and Lloyd on the left wing, Sean Shepherd produced a strong turnover, which clearly rattled their 5, who chose to shoulder charge Lloyd Sampson off the ball, in front of the referee and was duly awarded 10 minutes in the sin bin. From the resulting line out on the 22 and in a perfectly executed move, the Dolphins drove all the way to the tryline, with Sean Shepherd blitzing over for Havant’s second try [TRY]. Simon Morgan misses the conversion from close to the touch line. Havant 12, Alresford 5.
Havant were not taking control of the restarts, but when eventually getting the ball, used the heavy artillery in JHM making strong, hard yards. Alresford, however, were starting to make in roads off the back of Havant handling errors and were forcing more penalties from the Havant men; converting a penalty [PEN] as soon as they were in range. Havant 12, Alresford 8.
Soon again, Alresford were back in Havant’s half, feeding on handling errors. Poor defensive alignment nearly saw Alresford in on the left hand side, exploiting gaps left by defenders leaving the line. Thankfully, big hits administered by Whitehead, Chalk and Shepherd repelled the North Hampshire side and despite getting within a whisker of Havant’s line, Alresford gave away a penalty for a quadruple movement.
Gareth Davies employed his howitzer boot, to relieve pressure, providing Havant with a line out on the 10m within their own half. Despite not winning cleanly, Chalk was passed the ball just outside the 10 and powerfully broke the defence again, making a strong 30 yd break, only for his final pass to go forward.
The next few minutes saw Alresford bully their way back into Havant’s half, but a switch in possession saw great determination and endeavour from Rory Penfold to carry strongly at the Alresford defence, taking 3 defenders out of the game, before deftly passing to live wire Vince, who just managing to keep the ball, drew the last man to hit Lloyd Sampson at full pace to finish from 25m out [TRY]. Morgan slotted the conversion neatly through the middle of the sticks to add the extras and the end of the half. Havant 19, Alresford 8
Second half
The start of the second half was almost a carbon copy of the first, however, with Havant managing to draw first blood. A mazy run from Vince Parker took Havant to the top right hand corner of the pitch. Vince fed Pete Living in support, when tackled, managed to offload to Lloyd Sampson who scored in the corner for his second of the afternoon [TRY]. Morgan just pulled the ball wide of the upright for the conversion attempt. Havant 24, Alresford 8.
As with the first half, the try galvanised the team on the receiving end and Alresford spent the next 5 minutes running hard at the Havant defence, making 20m, before forcing a Havant infringement and electing to kick for posts. Alresford clearly believed they were still in the game. The penalty [PEN] was a success and the score line was chipped down to 13 points. Havant 24, Alresford 11.
The team must have addressed a number of shortcomings in the halftime huddle, as greater ownership was displayed at kick off. Tom Bates and JHM were making good yards in close quarters, only for a reckless pass to fall back into the arms of the Alresford hooker, who carried the ball back to the half way from his 22m and worked the ball out of danger to touch. Havant’s line out wasn’t straight, but got awarded a penalty from the ensuing scrum due to hands in. Davies put boot to ball and put Hav back into an attacking position. A well executed move from the line out, saw Charlie Wright make a strong 15m carry deep into Alresford’s half, feeding to the Sean Shepherd in support to finish close to the sticks [TRY]. Simon Morgan dispatched the conversion with ease, adding the extras. Havant 31, Alresford 11.
Not long after the restart, Hooks Lane were treated to another marauding run by the effervescent Chalk, who had been brought down after a 30m gallop, though with no one in support, was turned over. Alresford took advantage with a kick to touch and the next ten minutes belonged to the visiting team. After persistent pressure and another successful line out, just outside the Hav 22, Alresford forwards went on a trundle just stopping shy of Hav’s 5m line. The backs were released and with slick hands, Alresford scored in the opposite corner [TRY]. Having missed one in front of the posts at the start, Alresfords kicker slotted the more difficult kick from the tramlines to add the 2 extra points. Havant 31, Alresford 18. Game on!
Good work from the kick off saw good work from Vince, Whitehead and Jake Biggs carrying hard. Nick Benjamin capitalised on a wayward Alresford lineout to make 20m, though each side was only managing to retain possession by 3-5 phases before kicking or fumbling. The next note able event was sparked by the big lad, JHM making a 15m run inside the Alresford half. After a number of phases, a Hav lineout hit the front pod for a drive, bringing in the Alresford fringes, before Gareth Davies added width by hitting Rory who then passed wide to Pete Living who finished in the corner [TRY], with extras missed, the score was Havant 36, Alresford 18.
Now brimming with confidence, almost straight from the kick off, Havant were adding again to their tally. A strong break from Rory Penfold, set up for Lloyd to take past the Alresford 22m, who drew and passed to Vince to run in the final 15m under the posts [TRY], which was deftly converted by Morgan. Havant 43, Alresford 18.
Havant now enjoying breathing space, continued positively- Cristian Tama Roberts hitting the ball at pace from the kick off, starting a spell of strong forward carries from Chalk, Bates, Roberts and Whitehead. After a number of phases, Alresford gained back possession only to knock on. From the resulting scrum, young Vince finished in the corner after good, fast hands [TRY], with a difficult conversion to finish, just missed. Havant 48, Alresford 18.
The sting in the tail was to come. Following a knock on at the kick off, Alresford were hell bent on ending on a high. After a strong scrum, Havant were penalised for wheeling and after a heightened heavy petting session, Morgan went into tango with the Alresford pack and got shown a yellow for his efforts. From the penalty, Alresford battered the Havant lines with heavy carries, being repelled by a tight defence, but grit pushed them through and a try was scored [TRY]. A flash to the brain of Nolan at that instant, sent him into a knee slide toward the try scorer and in his excitement, patted the Alresford player on the head in appreciation for his endeavour. The referee viewed this sporting gesture very differently, however and flashed the red card at the surprised and shocked young second row. After the drama, Alresford successfully converted and the game finished soon after. Credit to Alresford for battling to the end.
HAVANT DOLPHINS 48, ALRESFORD 23.
MoM- Harrison Chalk
Tries: Sampson (2), Shepherd (2), Parker (2), Chalk, Living
Conversions: Morgan (4)