Lymington v Basingstoke Griffins – Match Report

Lymington Mariners celebrate anniversary with a century

Lymington Mariners 109 – 3 Basingstoke 3^rd XV

Just a few days under one year ago Lymington Mariners RFC was born when a team of predominantly creaky and battle worn veterans took to the field of dreams at Woodside Park to grind out a narrow win against Camberley Vets. One year on and eighteen matches later the Mariners that took to the field last Saturday looked a very different outfit and the rugby on display was at times breathtaking.

The match kicked off just after 3pm and before the whistle was heard a second time Lymington had scored their first of eighteen tries. Keeping track of the game’s highlights became a futile exercise – as is an attempt to record them in less than 300 words. The only element of the game where Basingstoke made any kind of impression was from their restarts – but then they did get plenty of practice.

So relentless was the speed and accuracy of the Mariner’s back line in attack that Basingstoke were left chasing shadows. Between the hair gel and moisturiser brigade 11 tries were scored including hatricks from Joe Rodway and Tom Jenvey, firsts for the club from Anthony Hoyles and Bruno Brods, a Chris Scott-Bowden brace and a juggling interception, from Pete Rolfe . The other 7 tries came from the Lymington back row of Nick Bubb, Lee Thomas and Jamie Banasik, with Jamie bagging 5 of them. Add 5 conversions each from Jamie Bolwell and Tom Jenvey and 2 more from Chris and this reporter makes the final tally 114-3. But the referee’s note book showed 109 so either he lost count or Jamie Banasik, in his pursuit of the golden boot this season, exaggerated his exploits in the Chequers afterwards.

The ‘Lymington Rivaaz man of the match’ award this week goes to Chris Scott-Bowden who orchestrated affairs at fly-half, continually finding his target runner with pinpoint accuracy and timing.