Bournemouth Lions v Barnstaple

The English Clubs Rugby Union Championship – South-West 1

Saturday 20 September 2008, KO 3.00 p.m. at Pottington Road

Result –Barnstaple 23 (1G, 2T, 2P) v Bournemouth 21 (1G, 1T, 3P). Half-time – 3-5.

Attendance – 500 approximately.

Referee – Bob McCrudden, Gloucestershire. Referee’s Assessor – Peter Webb, Devon.

Touch Judges – Steve Buffery, Bournemouth. Trevor Edwards, Barnstaple.

Bournemouth Team – 15: Domenick Davies; 14: Mike Pope (1C, 3P); 13: Tim Gray; 12: Martyn Lever; 11: James Payne (1T) (Phillips 56); 10: Scott Chislett; 9: Sam Hardcastle; 1: Tim Wareham Spikings 63) 2: Dan Cawley (c) (1T); 3: Alan Manning; 4: George Leyland (Waller 59); 5: Tim Seward; 6: Michael Richards; 7: Iain Crombie; 8: Tomas Ford.

Scorers – Tries: Payne 25; Cawley 56. Cons: Pope 56. Pens: Pope 46, 52, 75.

Debuts – Martyn Lever, Jamie Phillips, Tom Waller.

Barnstaple Team – 15: Paul Scheres; 14: Winston Kuva (1T); 13: Simon Watkins; 12: Grant Tuhakaraina (1P); 11: Mark Galliford; 10: Neil Giddy (1C, 1P); 9: Dan Ireland; 1: Mark Berry; 2: Leon Incledon; 3: Phil Gordon (c); 4: John Ovenell; 5: Ian Thatcher; 6: Mike Sumner; 7: Jamie Arnold; 8: Jack Elliott (2T). Substitutes: 16: Chris Boyle; 17: Rhys Jenkins; 18: Tim Brush.

Scorers – Tries: Elliott 71, 80; Kuva 77. Cons: Giddy 77. Pens: Giddy 30; Tuhakaraina 59.

Yellow Card –Giddy 52-62m.

Scoring Sequence – 25m: Payne try 5-0; 30m: Barnstaple pen (Giddy) 5-3; 40m: Half-time 5-3; 46m: Pope pen 8-3; 52m: Pope pen 11-3; 56m: Cawley try, Pope con 18-3; 59m: Barnstaple pen (Tuhakaraina) 18-6; 71m: Barnstaple try (Elliott) 18-11; 75m: Pope pen 21-11; 77m: Barnstaple goal (Kuva try, Giddy con) 21-18; 80m: Barnstaple try (Elliott) 21-23; Full-time 21-23.

As is often the case in September with a wet horrible summer but a distant memory, it was a perfect sunny day with the gentlest of Easterly breezes blowing from end to end. The pitch was immaculate with an excellent coverage of lush grass—testimony to the hard work, and art, of the groundsmen. Thus an excellent scenario for a game of rugby football. Barnstaple kicked-off from right to left as viewed from the main stand.

 

In my report last week about the Bracknell game I wrote of an ‘enthralling match’ being ‘distilled into eleven minutes of frantic action and fluctuating fortunes at the very end of the game … but Bournemouth famously prevailed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat’. Substitute ‘twenty’ for ‘eleven’ and ‘Barnstaple’ for ‘Bournemouth’ and you get some idea of the ‘fluctuating fortunes’ in this game of ours. With Bournemouth leading by 18-3 going into the last quarter of the game they conceded 20 points to a team they, if not totally dominated, comfortably contained. However the home side’s spirit never wavered especially when offered the crumbs of hope with some poor decision-making. It enabled them to counter so effectively when the ball was persistently pushed wide, spilled in the face of some determined contact leaving our own defence at sixes and sevens and crucially, in such circumstances, being made worse when first-time tackles were not being made. Twice, great thrusts down the Bournemouth right saw the Barnstaple No-8 Jack Elliott, ever in support, crash over for his two tries, the second of course to the utter despair of Bournemouth right at the, dare I say, death!

 

It took Bournemouth some twenty or so minutes to establish some sort of authority and this was confirmed with a straight forward three-quarter move that saw left-wing James Payne scamper over for a simple try. However, the efforts of either side were largely cancelled out by their opponents and Barnstaple only had a Neil Giddy penalty to show for their contribution to this largely evenly-matched first half. In the second half, despite missing a penalty very soon after the restart, Bournemouth quickly built up a useful lead with a couple of Mike Pope penalties and a ‘two score’ lead was established when Dan Cawley scooped up the ball when Barnstaple spilled it as they tried to move it wide to the left out of defence and he ran in from some 25 metres to gleefully dive over under the posts. Pope made it 18-3 after just 16 minutes of the half. With Tomas Ford being penalized for ‘holding on’ as he tried to break out after the restart, Barnstaple gained good field position with a kick to their right-hand touch and just 15 metres out. Bournemouth were again penalized and, with kicker Giddy off the field at this stage, it was left to inside-centre Tuhakaraina to slot over a penalty to make it 18-6 after nineteen minutes. Then shortly after Scott Chislett had been announced over the public address system as Man of the Match by the match sponsors Longclose it all went horribly downhill from a Bournemouth perspective. A Sam Hardcastle knock-on at the base of the scrum gave the advantage back to Barnstaple in midfield. They went left from the scrum and a strong run by left-wing Mark Galliford took him deep into the Bournemouth 22-metre and there was the No-8 Jack Elliott in support to crash over for a vital score wide out. Giddy’s kick was pushed across the face of the goal to leave the score at 18-11 and Bournemouth a little rattled with nine minutes left. Nerves were settled a little with a Pope penalty four minutes later. However, straight from the kick-off Barnstaple attacked strongly down their left and, although the scrambling Bournemouth defence managed to stop the advance just short of their line, the ball was swung wide to Giddy and he, unerringly, punted the ball wide to right-wing Winston Kuva. He caught it on the full and, despite a damaged hamstring, dived over with the Bournemouth defence not able to lay a hand on him. Giddy, whose kicking form from the ground had not been as good as his five-penalty hall against Weston the week before would have suggested, kicked an excellent goal from just 5 metres in from the touchline. 21-18 with three minutes to go! Straight from the kick-off, Bournemouth again pounced on a Branstaple error and the ball was hacked on into the Barnstaple dead-ball area. Full-back Paul Scheres, with great adventure, scooped up the ball and attempted to break-out. He was forced into touch on the 5-metre line. A Bournemouth line-out. Catch and drive? Secure the ball? Run the clock down? No! Time for one more adventure! The ball was swung wide. The ball was spilled in the face of that aforementioned defence and the jewel was snapped up by Barnstaple instead. They duly polished it with a huge surge down their left and, despite some desperate Bournemouth scrambled defence, there was support in numbers and finally Elliott drove the stake into the Bournemouth heart with a dive over wide out on the left. That Giddy failed with the kick was immaterial, there was referee Bob McCudden’s ominously raising his arm to point to the centre and blowing his whistle for no-side!

 

It is apt perhaps to use the metaphor that Bournemouth had a cast iron opportunity to win this match because cast iron is brittle and can be shattered with a well-struck hammer blow. Barnstaple duly swung that hammer and won the match. Gloom seems hardly adequate to describe the Bournemouth mood afterwards but the coaches will be well aware of what went wrong out on the pitch but they can, as all the rest of us, can only look on. However, it is up to the players to make sure they fully understand the lessons and work hard to rectify the shortcomings. For certain they are good enough to compete. They are good enough to put this behind them and steel themselves for the games to come. We might have lost the battle, we have not lost the war!

 

On the drive home, there were some hot-air balloons flying on a beautiful September evening and they seemed to be symbolic of Bournemouth’s fortunes earlier that afternoon. There’s one soaring effortlessly in the cloudless sky but the next minute, as the evening light begins to fail, it slowly drifts back down to earth. There’s a brief flash of flame as it gets close to the ground but only in a last-minute manoeuvre on the approach. It still lands with an awful bump. But it will fly again. There will be other beautiful days.