Basingstoke III (17) – (27) Lymington Mariners – Match Report

Mariners’ winning run continues

Saturday 12th February 2011

Basingstoke III 17 – 27 Lymington Mariners

The match was a tale of two halves as Lymington scored 4 tries and 2 conversions to take a 24 point lead at the break before Basingstoke replied in the second half by scoring 3 tries of their own.

For the second weekend running Lymington proved how much the club has progressed as even with a dozen team regulars missing it was able to take 17 players up to Basingstoke to secure a victory that cemented its place at second spot in the Hampshire Merit 2 table. However the limited squad did mean that prop Rob Chatley had to play on the flank, flanker Ben Bradley-Watson moved to scrum-half and a very hungover Pete Rolfe having had to relieve himself of his breakfast en route to the game was put out of harms way at full back. It was also an opportunity for the waif-like slinky hipped Brian Hill to have his second game of the season at fly-half whilst Callum Kellas introduced another young buck to the club – outside centre Henry Page.

The opening minutes of the first half saw three quick tries as the game looked like it would be a replay of the same fixture earlier in the season when Lymington scored over a hundred points. First to score was debutant Henry with a pacey run which saw him gracefully change angles like a figure skater leaving several defenders unable to lay so much of a fingernail on him. Next up, Lymington’s new vice-captain, Joe Rodway playing at inside centre went on his own long range run tip toeing through the Basingstoke line. Within 15 minutes Lymington had their third and new boy Henry his second as again he showed the opposition the wings on his heels.

Basingstoke failing to discover that any attempt to kick to the pale faced visually impaired full back Peter Rolfe might have resulted in some gains spent the entire first period camped in their half with the Lymington pack piling on the pressure.

Before the Mariners crossed the line for their fourth score they could have had another three tries. Joe Rodway having chased a kick over the line failed to ground the ball, second row Tim Hinman threw a forward pass with the line beckoning and finally Ben Bradley-Watson was judged to have been held up. Then came the moment we’ve all been waiting for -  Dom Ellis (Mr. Nil Poi) took a quick penalty 5 metres out, surged over the line and touched down for his first ever try. Lying prone on the floor the beaming Dom started to plan his victory dance. Then, as he rose, a whistle was heard followed by shouts of ‘it’s been disallowed’ and hysterical laughing by Captain Cavell. It appears Dom had been a little too quick in taking the penalty.

Lymington’s fourth try finally came courtesy of Ben Bradley-Watson to take the score to 24-0. With the last play of the half Basingstoke had their best chance to score. Their boulder sized prop broke through several tackles, ran half the length of the pitch only to find that the fearlessness of Mikey Jenner combined with the impaired judgement of Pete Rolfe was more than a match for his size.

At half time Lee Thomas at No.8 substitued himself off the pitch and  ‘co-incidently’ with him came Mariners control of the game. The marauding Basingstoke prop having had a taste of blood started to run at every opportunity and was having plenty of success in penetrating Lymington’s half. Two early tries meant that the contest wasn’t over and the Basingstoke back line were back on their toes again. Lymington tried to gain some control and for a while the forwards worked hard to march the ball up field with some particularly good examples of the rolling maul off their lineout. Joe Rodway settled some nerves with a precision drop goal but within minutes Basingstoke were back in Lymington territory and although they missed an attempted penalty kick they scored a try from the restart to take the score to 17-27.

Any risk of the wheels coming off the Lymington wagon were soon squashed as Welsh wizard Andy O’Callaghan started firing rockets up the rest of his team mates to liven them up and step up a gear. Within minutes Ben Bradley-Watson came close not just to a try but also to replacing Hitler in a famous ditty about the Albert Hall as in the act of diving for the corner he put a foot in touch and uprooted the corner flag which seemed to impale him somewhere up his shorts. After a few seconds of stunned silence came a few more of seconds of wincing and common agreement that everyone else was quite relieved it wasn’t them. Finally the lack of blood and screaming brought some calmness to proceedings and Ben regained some colour to his cheeks as in the style of Derren Brown he removed the flag to reveal not so much as a minor flesh wound.

Basingstoke continued to push hard for another score and as in the first period the last play of the second half again saw their rhinoesque prop charging towards the line only to be felled once again by the forehead of kamikaze winger Mikey-san Jenner.

It was for his two try saving tackles that this week’s ‘Lymington Rivaaz man-of-the-match award’ goes to Mikey Jenner.

Dom Ellis still hasn’t scored.

This week Lymington face third in the league Eastleigh 2s at Woodside Park. Kick off is at 2.30pm.   Any players, experienced or new to the game, young and fit or otherwise are all welcome to the club.