Southsea Nomads II (5) – (32) Lymington Vets/2nds – Match Report

Nomads no match for Mariners

Saturday 5^th February 2011

Southsea Nomads 5 – 32 Lymington Mariners

Last Saturday Lymington travelled to Portsmouth to face Southsea Nomads 2^nd team for a friendly fixture. Still recovering from the bruises of the previous week’s encounter the Mariners fielded a side that saw only four survivors from the starting 15 against New Milton. It also saw another debutant don the Mariner jersey – Dr. Ben Vines having been talked into a bit of vets rugby after one to many at John McGuffin’s Burns night a week earlier. The subtle manipulation of Anthony Hoyles to convert from the relative safety of the wing to the masochistic joys of the front row is now complete as he completed his first full game at hooker. He was joined by Stuart Harvey at tight head who also had his first full 80 minutes in the jersey and Callum Kellas who amazingly arrived an hour before kick off. There were also some familiar faces on the field lining up in unusual places as John West decided he was going to show the backs how it was done switching from the back row to inside centre in a swap with Phil Jenner, Jack Dovey still very much in the dark when it comes to the laws of the game was on the other flank and finally Nick Bubb who delighted in pulling on the No.9 shirt in the absence of anyone else who wanted to wear it. With Captain Owen Cavell unable to get to the pitch in time for kick off the skipper’s armband was handed to fly-half Joe Rodway to lead the side for the first time.

The first half was spent almost exclusively in Southsea’s end of the field as Mariner’s heavier  pack controlled the tight play and set pieces whilst the backs continually broke the gain line with the ball in hand and snuffed out any attempts at attack by the opposition. Within 15 minutes Nick Bubb scored two almost identical tries, both times collecting the ball from the back of a ruck near Nomad’s 22 yard line and with a wee swivel of the hips, an injection of pace and the odd defender clinging fruitlessly to his heels touched down near the posts. Realising that John West was unaware an inside centre is allowed and expected to pass the ball (he’d obviously asked Phil Jenner for some tips before kick off) Peter Rolfe at outside centre seemed quite happy to be wearing a scrum cap as it was his only chance of keeping warm.

Nomad’s best chance of the half came mid-way through it when they managed to swing the ball out wide to their left winger who had enough space to reach top gear. However he hadn’t counted on being cut down by his opposite number as James Bell hit him with a crunching tackle. Anthony Hoyle connected perfectly with Dom Ellis at the front of the line-out who cleanly won every one of his throw-ins to keep Lymington camped in Nomad’s half. The third and final try of the first period was scored by skipper Rodway with one of his customary defence defying runs through most of the opposition to make the half-time score 0-17.

With the wind in their favour and a steely determination to not lie down Nomads started the second half well and began to spend some time inside Mariner territory. However the result was effectively sealed on the 50 minute mark when Joe Rodway grabbed his second try of the match as he again cut through the defence with a long range solo run in an effort to prove once and for all that his body shaving habits are simply for aerodynamic reasons.

5 minutes later Joe turned provider as, having been awarded a penalty 10 yards out, he took it quickly, drew the only switched on defender and laid it off to No.8 Lee Thomas for the easiest of scores to the cheers of 25,000 Portsmouth supporters.

The spirited Southsea lads kept their heads up and continued to push Lymington hard. The final arrival of Owen Cavell who came on as flanker was just the opportunity they had been waiting for as just minutes into his introduction Nomads scored their only try of the match with a quick penalty of their own inside the Mariner 22.

Lymington still had time to create two more try scoring opportunities but unfortunately were only able to make one of them count. The one worth reporting is the move that saw the final try of the match which was scored by founding father Rob Douthwaite. Debutant Ben Vines  received the ball at the half way line and starting jinking his way around a number of defenders before laying it off to Rob who ran in to the entire Nomad pack but still managed to power his way over the line. Confidence high Rob then chose to attempt the conversion himself – a great effort had the aim been to land the ball somewhere on the opposition 22 yard line.

The second opportunity is probably best forgotten as John West desperate to impress his latest squeeze who was watching on the touchline decided to nail down the dick of the day award for himself. Collecting a pass he ran free of the Nomad defence and with a four man overlap outside him and no-one left to beat ran 20 yards before deciding he’d look better with the ball in the other hand but somehow managed to drop it in the transition. Next week John will be resuming his position in the forwards.

The final score was 32-5 but more pleasing than the victory was fact that even with so many regulars missing and with many of those that did play in new or unfamiliar positions or getting a rare 80 minutes the standard of play and team spirit was as high as any weekend.

This week’s ‘Lymington Rivaaz Man-of-the Match’ award goes to Granite man Rob Douthwaite for a towering performance at second row and No.8.

Dom Ellis still hasn’t scored.

This week Lymington face Basingstoke in away in a Merit table fixture. Any players, experienced or new to the game, young and fit or otherwise are all welcome