Bournemouth RFC

Season 2008/2009

Bournemouth Lions sponsored by Wood of Bournemouth, BMW Dealers.

Bournemouth Lions v Clifton

The English Clubs Rugby Union Championship – South-West 1

Saturday 8 November 2008, KO 2.30 p.m. at Station Road.

Result – Clifton 37 (2G, 1T, 6P) v 20 (2G, 2P) Bournemouth. Half-time – 21-13

Attendance – 150+ approximately.

Referee – Bob McCrudden, RFU & Gloucestershire.

Touch Judges – Steve Buffery, Bournemouth.

Bournemouth Team – 15: Domenick Davies (Simon McFarlane); 14: James Payne; 13: Tim Gray (1T); 12: Scott Chislett; 11: Mike Pope (2C, 2P); 10: Ngapaku Ngapaku; 9: Sam Hardcastle; 1: Tim Wareham; 2: Dan Cawley (Andy Spikings); 3: Alan Manning; 4: Jayson Kenny; 5: Chris Hughes (c) (Callum Forrest); 6: ‘Jack’ Petelo (Chris Hughes); 7: Iain Crombie (Dan Cawley); 8: Matt Kiely. 

Scorers – Tries (2): Dan Cawley, Tim Gray. Cons (2): Mike Pope 2. Pens (2): Mike Pope 2.

Yellow Cards – Sam Hardcastle, Chris Hughes, Ngapaku Ngapaku.

Clifton Team – 15: Davis Rees (Sam Kent); 14: Sam Smee; 13: Steve Leonard; 12: Barnaby Kent; 11: Andrew Bell; 10: John Barnes (2C, 6P); 9: Ollie Sills; 1: Leo Glass; 2: Sam Wilkes (Henry Mace); 3: Andy Raines; 4: Paul Reid; 5: Darren Barry; 6: Vince Murrell; 7: Phil Schmid (1T); 8: John Levis (c) (2T). Unused-substitute: Graham Hardy.

Scorers – Tries (3): John Levis 2, Phil Schmid. Con (2): John Barnes 2. Pens (6): John Barnes 6.

Yellow Card – Phil Schmid.

Scoring Sequence – 0-3 Barnes pen; 0-6 Barnes pen; 3-6 Pope pen; 3-9 Barnes pen; 6-9 Pope pen; 11-9 Gray try; 13-9 Pope con; 13-14 Schmid try; 13-16 Barnes con; 13-21 Levis try; Half-time 13-21; 13-24 Barnes pen; 13-27 Barnes pen; 13-32 Levis try; 13-34 Barnes con; 18-34 Cawley try; 20-34 Pope con; 20-37 Barnes pen; Full Time 20-37.

We were lucky to have a ‘window’ in the appalling weather we have been suffering recently. Other than a breeze that blew down the pitch from the south-west conditions were good with a very fine pitch showing no adverse signs of all the rain that had fallen earlier in the day. Bournemouth defended the left-hand end as viewed from the stand and thus Clifton kicked-off into the wind.

Bournemouth conceded six penalty goals and at one time had a mere twelve players on the pitch which summed up a very disappointing afternoon. Mike Pope pegged back the early advantage fly-half John Barnes had given the home side with a couple of penalties of his own. However, it was the visitors who crossed the line first with a well worked move between fly-half ‘Puks’ and Tim Gray that put the centre into space and he had a quick scamper to just left of the posts from some fifteen metres out. Pope duly added the two points to put Bournemouth into the lead 13-9 and was just reward for the pressure they applied to the home side with at times some enterprising rugby. The lead was, unfortunately short lived, when ‘Puks’ had a horrid pass from the maul at the restart and as he tried to recover he dropped it just five or so metres out and flanker Paul Schmid was quickly onto it scored a pretty soft try. Barnes made no mistake and in a trice Bournemouth’s advantage had been wiped out at 13-16. Clifton increased the lead with a well worked try from very deep initialized by former England player David Rees who showed great pace as he returned a long Bournemouth kick. He was well supported and there were too many on hand for the Bournemouth defence to cope and stand-in captain John Levis went over wide out on the left for an excellent try. Barnes pushed the ball across the face of the goal but it was to prove to be his only kicking blemish of the afternoon and his side went into the break 21-13 up.

The second half proved to be a disaster when three players found themselves in the sin bin at the same time: ‘Puks’ who stands up as he makes a tackle was adjudged to have used his arm dangerously, Sam Hardcastle was ‘binned’ for holding back a Clifton player off the ball but was unfortunate to be the victim of a mistaken identity and Chris Hughes failed to roll away from the tackle. Bournemouth conceded a catastrophic 13 points during this period with two penalties and a goal courtesy of a Levis try and a Barnes conversion. A typical quick–witted try by hooker Dan Cawley who caught the Clifton defence napping with a quickly-taken penalty from just five metres out saw Bournemouth get back to within two scores after Pope had converted. However any chance of a revival was quickly snuffed out with a sixth penalty from Barnes.

Unquestionably Bournemouth could have done much better. In addition to giving away that soft try after having taken the lead, they might have had a couple of additional tries in the first half and Pope hit the post with a penalty attempt in that first period. After Clifton had struggled to contain the Old Patesians’s forwards the week before, we in turn struggled to contain Clifton’s. Mind you with the scrum buckling like a tin can at the point of contact, Clifton effectively nullified any ability to get a fair shove. Nonetheless, we demonstrated we could compete and a golden opportunity was lost to get ourselves firmly back in the mix with Redingensians losing at Old Patesians. At least that confirmed how well we did a fortnight ago to come away with two points. Nonetheless we will need to tightened up on discipline if we are going to give ourselves any chance.