Stoneham Park v Lymington Mariners – Match Report

Mariners make a meal of it, again!

Stoneham Park 14 – 36 Lymington Mariners

On the first league weekend of 2012 Lymington Mariners 1^st XV travelled to bottom of the league Stoneham Park hunting a bonus point. Unusually for an away game, Mariners arrived in plenty of time for a good warm up, even Callum Kellas made it to the ground with a whole hour to spare. With only a few minutes of the aforementioned gone, Man of Steel Joe Rodway succumbed to a Wayne Rooney-esque foot injury to turn once again to the Man of Aluminium Foil. A quick reshuffle saw Merrick Gill rip the No. 8 jersey clean off Phil Jenner’s back as the latter took his place in the centres.

With 5 minutes to kick off there were still no flags marking the pitch, no Stoneham reporting to the pitch and time running out along with the referee’s patience. Mariners were given a free choice of ends and decided to attack into the wind for the first half. Finally the home side took to the field and kicked off to a confident Mariners side. The kick was gathered and run at the much larger Stoneham pack with a few good phases of play, unfortunately before long a Mariners run ended away from support and Stoneham kicked the resulting penalty to pin Mariners back inside their 22. From the resulting lineout Stoneham kept the ball in the forwards and rumbled towards the whitewash, Mariners gave up another penalty at the breakdown and Stoneham took advantage with a quick drive using their weight advantage to score the first try which was converted with a good kick 10m from touch. 7-0.

Mariners decided that it was time to put aside the weight difference and concentrate of the skills and fitness that set them apart from the Stoneham pack. Unfortunately playing too individually and running away from support saw a couple of promising chances go begging. The play ping-ponged for a short while until Stoneham chipped a ball through to be pick up by skipper Owen Cavell who put it to his boot and chased, Stoneham gathered and kicked the ball back only to be scooped up by Nurse West in his insanely large bucket hands who then backed his right boot and boomed the ball down field to be gathered by a Stoneham player who was instantly bundled into touch just inside their own 22 by Phil Jenner. The resulting Mariners lineout, much changed to allow Nick Bubb to jump at number 2 with Nurse West and Nil Point Ellis lifting with synchronised ease, tipped the ball off the top and through the hands to find Psycho Ethridge cutting a line that the finest tailor on Saville Row would be proud of. Stoneham didn’t stand a chance of stopping the attack as the berserker flew across the line and Chris Scott Bowden stepped up to convert. 7-7.

From the restart Mariners again pressured Stoneham. Their response was to fringe the rucks and dive over the top, frustrating the Mariners. Finding it difficult to recycle the ball from the breakdown quickly, Mariners were turned over and the fleet of foot Stoneham 9 made a clean break with only Ram Man Mikey Jenner to beat. Unfortunately for their scrum half who doesn’t know Mikey as well as we do, he ran straight at him and found himself broken in two as Mikey put his usual flair into the tackle, stopping a sure try in the process.

Mariners turned the ball over and worked their way back down the field to the 22m line where they were awarded a penalty for another breakdown infringement from Stoneham. Chris Scott Bowden took the three points with ease to make the score 7-10.

Mariners continued to pressure for the rest of the first half, continuing with clean ball from the front of the lineout Chris Scott Bowden took out his Swiss Army Knife and cut his way through the Stoneham defenders only to knock the ball on just as he stretched for the line.

The most notable point in the first half came as the Mariners again attacked the Stoneham line. Engine Room and 40kg shoulder-presser Dom Ellis saw his chance to finally end his 3 year duck when passed the ball with 8 meters to go, unfortunately in the excitement of the moment Dom shot his bolt early confusing the 5m line with the try line as he dived at a surprised Stoneham defender’s feet with an enormous cry of joy quickly followed by the dawning realisation of his schoolboy error. Foiled again, Dom tried to make it look like a slip but the game was up and the egg was literally streaming down his face. Needless to say Dom did not get the chance again and still remains without that coveted score that all others find a bit easy sometimes.

The first half finished 7-10 to the visitors who could not believe that they were not at least another 2 scores ahead.

The start of the second half saw Stoneham attack with their tails up and full of confidence, no doubt buoyed by the close scoreline. The legality of their rucking in question, they made drives towards the Mariners line and finally crossed with what seemed like a double movement of their over large pack but the score was given and Mariners could feel the wheels coming off. The try was duly converted giving Stoneham a 4 point lead. 14-10.

The Mariners resolved that enough was enough and immediately put the pressure back onto Stoneham as good positional play led to a few tight moves in the Stoneham 22 and resulted in Nick Bubb confusing the older and fatter Stoneham pack to cross the line and touch down. The extras were missed but Mariners were a point in front and determined not to give the lead up at 14-15.

A quick re-shuffle saw Mikey Jenner replaced by Thomas Pauc who moved to 15 and Craig Esterhuizen jog onto the wing. Mariners again pressed hard towards Stoneham’s line and put up a tent and got the sleeping bags out. The Stoneham pack continued with their questionable rucking style and earned themselves a sin bin for their efforts and Mariners a penalty try for their endeavours, Tom Pauc slotted through the uprights for the extras. 14-22.

Smelling a bonus point win floating through the air, Mariners pressed their advantage hard and finally found the form that they had been lacking with joined up back play. First Nick Bubb came close but was stopped 2m short and knocked on, Owen Cavell deftly stole the ball back from the resulting scrum and a few phases later Merrick Gill bludgeoned the Stoneham 15 to leave Mariners needing one further score. Tom Pauc slotted home from wide. 14-29.

James Norris decided he’d had enough following Christmas so versatile and reliable Tim Hinman stepped forward.

The kitchen sink had been left with the second team so the 1^st’s threw the bath tub at Stoneham whose defence held to their credit, a few wayward runs by the fleeter of foot Mariners frustrated the majority by being caught isolated and wasting promising chances. Mr. Angry Bowden sealed things with a typical jinking run, evading the tired Stoneham pack to touch down under the posts, a quick flash of Porky’s boot and the game was over with the bonus point in the bag, the hard way. 14-36.

Mariners are adept at making things interesting for themselves but with their 7^th win out of 10 in the league showed that courage and determination are traits that won’t ever be called into question.

Jamie Banasik walked off the pitch looking for his first of the season since returning from his travels and convinced all that it’s not too far away, James Bell more than justified his selection with a display of strength that he’s worked very hard on and Max Williams has a belting right hand pass, we just need to get his left up to scratch.

Man of the match goes to Mark Ethridge with an enormous display of anger, tackling, sharp lines and sheer nerve.

Mariners 1^st XV have a week off before tackling Locksheath Pumas in a grudge return-match on the 4^th February at Woodside Park.