It was Happy birthday for Captain James Hewitt , and a happy result for his merry men, as Havant AXV took to the field against local rivals Southsea Nomads.
Nomads looked to mean business as they quite literally set up camp on pitch 4, and with some good support making the short journey from Milton locks into Havant , the home team could not take the Southsea squad, that had given them one of their toughest tests so far this season lightly.
Hewitt at hooker with a stronger squad available for the first time this season called on the flaky one Jamie Libby to add a bit of youth into the front row that saw the average age this week drop from last week’s 52 to 41. The promise of Birthday drinks after the game persuaded the usually flaky Libby out of the house as he left his knee trembler at home, to give his Rugby dad Boogie Marsh a well-earned break. The front row was completed with the very welcomed return of Justin Powell, as he put his neck injury’s behind him after a layoff of 3 months. Powell had a great return and showed his class , as he works on his fitness and will surely work his way back through the Havant ranks.
An ever familiar second row of Matt Godwin and Dom Francis paired up again, Steve whittle returned to the seven shirt after a few weeks away with a sleeping deficiency and David King completed the forwards with the ever present Mick Bacon.
The Backs also welcome back a few faces, Doug “muff” Elvy started at scrum half, Sid Claffy bought a proper standoff brain to the ten shirt , as he pulled the strings and offered some much needed variety to the attack. Welsh wizard Leighton Davies teamed up again Lloyd Sampson as they continue to forge an excellent midfield. Dean Duthie and Adam Terry kept their shirts , as James Hewitt bought in his weapon of choice Max Boyce to the right wing.
With 13 Mariners in the starting line-up and 18 in the squad, a young Nomads team must have been rubbing there hands together harder than Lloyd Sampson rubs the Masters thigh. But as ever taking these old boys lightly is a serious mistake.
Nomads started the game, looking to use the hill to their advantage as they kept the ball close and used their big forwards to try and punch holes in the Havant defence, but Havant set there stall out quicker than Nomads had put the gazebo out before the game. Big Hits from Whittle, Godwin, Bacon and Francis slowed down the Southsea train as it tried to pick up speed. It was not long before Havant turned the ball over and attacked the left flank , a great kick up field from Claffy put Nomads on the back foot , and Havant forced a line out. A great jump from king ensured Havant secure possession and a few neat phases of play saw last week’s hat trick hero Dean Duthie catch the ball at the first attempt and continue where he left off last week. Claffy’s conversion dropped just short as he could not take advantage of the extras on offer.
Nomads were not disheartened and came straight back at Havant , again using the big mobile pack well , Nomads dominated the set piece for the first 40 minutes as Havant struggled in the line out and the scrum against a well drilled outfit. Never the less Havant were resilient in defence and Nomads could not break them down in the final third. As Havant soaked up the pressure, they turned the ball over again and broke in the backs, Claffy, Davies and Sampson all made good yards , as the play shifted right the forwards took over and dug in to produce a succession of hard yards until finally they broke through and Bacon took the ball over for Havant’s second try. Again Claffy’s usual golden boot was not firing on all cylinders , as he put the kick wide.
The game continued to balance out again, Nomads tried Hard again, Havant tackled well again , but then broke free again , this time Claffy was through , and as he charged up the field to half way , if was clear he had no interest in glory , as he slowed down looking to offload, Terry took off some pressure and released the ball to the on fire Lloyd Samson as he scored his first of the game.
Southsea Nomads finally got themselves on the score sheet as the game entered the last fifteen minutes of the Half,as finally some good ball carrying and structure paid off , a few neat phases finally created a gap and Nomads made the most of it, they were also a bit more deadly with the boot and secured the seven points. As the half closed out though, Havant’s backs started to kick into second and third gear , Sampson again made it a brace for himself and David king sored his second in as many weeks , But another two missed conversions one this time from sampson saw the half finish Havant 25-7 Nomads.
Havant restarted the game , pleased with his team’s first half performance Hewitt’s half time talk was not a complacent one. Nomads had shown they were capable of coming back, as they did in the first encounter of the season. He wanted the first try and that’s what he got , Rob Andrew replaced Duthie on the left wing and it was only a matter of minutes before he got his first try , a lovely poke through the gap from Claffy with his right foot, saw Andrew race over the line and roll back the years. Five minutes later ,the ball was moving again ,a trademark jiggling run then neat hands from Davies, fed Man of the match Sampson who was dominating the game from outside half, he cut the Nomads defence in half as the ball fell again to Andrew , who’s one handed show to the outside saw him cut inside, as he doubled his tally to break Nomads hearts.
Nomads were down now, their big runner from eight had been chopped low in a double tackle from Davies and Claffy , and looked to leave the field with a serious knee injury, and this had slowed the big pack down a bit , two quick try’s in the second half had broken there spirit and they started to miss tackles.
Havant made more changes, Sid Claffy was replaced by Steve Stapleton, Andy Sowerby came into the second row and Darren kingham-scott replaced the now very thirsty Jamie Libby .
Nomads managed to pinch another try and kick , as the older legs of Havant could not catch their speeding winger as he turned on the gas up the hill , Hewitt and Sampson chased hard but to no avail.
With Stapleton now in the fold it was his turn to roll back the years, two try’s from him, and the subsequent kicks going over saw him rack up 14 points of his own , he was close to a hat trick , when a cheeky little chip and chase fell short at the end , as he failed to take the ball over, it was quite apparent that a pre-Christmas Stapleton would have been getting the jugs in , but the extra baggage seemed to have slowed him down a little even on the down slope.
With Adam Terry wondering around the side-line talking to the flag poles , following his knock to the head , the referee blew the whistle on an entertaining game of rugby. Nomads played better and worked harder than the final score might suggest, but as usual the old heads of the Mighty Mariner’s handed out a bit of Havant spirit
Final score Havant AXV 49 – 14 Southsea Nomads