East Dorset v Saints

Southampton visited East Dorset desperate for a win to halt their worst ever start to a league campaign. Aaron Nelson was unavailable so Tom Locke stepped in to partner Pierre Molyneux at centre; who finally found the ground after following completely the wrong car to a random Tesco’s car park…. Meanwhile winger Femi made his 1st Team debut on the right wing and Jamie Hockee kept his place at flanker, where he has constantly troubled opposing fly halves in recent weeks.

Knowing how close the game might be, East Dorset took every opportunity for points, while Saints’ ill discipline afforded them plenty of kickable opportunities. Luckily for Saints, the Dorset kicker wasted a number of early penalty chances that could have left the visitors facing a very early uphill struggle. But for the first twenty minutes, Dorset kept Saints pinned in their 22 and with no obvious attacking options, gratefully took the chance for a simple drop-goal. They doubled their lead soon after when Saints were again punished for ill discipline at the breakdown.

Dorset played with the wind behind them in the first half and used it to good effect by chipping over the top and pressurising the Saints’ catcher. But Southampton also looked dangerous going forward and as the half progressed they started to get their powerful forwards rumbling the ball onwards. But through good defence, unforced errors and over-zealous refereeing decisions, it was difficult to find a breakthrough.

The first try of the game came after Dorset wheeled a Saints scrum and turned it over. From the reset they attacked down the blind side and broke through a series of tackles down Southampton’s right wing. With numbers in support, there was nothing the Saints defence could do to halt the attack and the Dorset left winger scored in the corner. The conversion was wide, leaving the score 11-0.

But Saints were giving as good as they got and soon replied with a try of their own. The ball was recycled through a number of phases and pairs of hands, before debutant Femi was released on the right wing. He still had to beat his opposite man, who was taking up a great defensive position on the try line, but ran straight at him with power and pace and bounced him backwards like Jonah Lomu when he ran on Mike Catt’s face. The conversion was wide but Saints were back in the game at 11-5.

Saints came out for the second half determined to keep up the intensity in the forwards, use quick ball and release the backs. The referee, however, was frustrating both sides with his unwillingness to play the advantage. After Dorset knocked on, Saints gathered the loose ball over and quickly worked it to the right wing, where they used an extra man to draw the defence and create an overlap. But as winger Femi was put clear on the outside, the ref called play back and awarded Saints a scrum for the earlier knock on: much to the disbelief of both sets of supporters.

Saints were soon a man short, as Ian Mauger earned a 10-minute breather for repeated infringements, but East Dorset couldn’t capitalise on the advantage and Saints’ defence held firm. Time was running out for Saints, who felt they had the beating of a Dorset side who offered little attacking threat in the second half. The last 15 minutes saw a level of intensity from the visitors that left three Dorset players sporting nasty gashes to their heads, including to their primary line out jumper. With few attacking options remaining, Dorset had to ride out the final ten minutes as Southampton gave it their best shot.

Sensing they had the beating of their opposite numbers, the Saints backs called a huge miss-move with the last attack of the game. The ball came down the line, where an extra forward appeared to leave the Dorset winger facing two Saints attackers. But while the numbers were there, the ball-handling wasn’t; the ball was dropped and the overlap chance missed.

Still no league win for Southampton, who desperately need to turn their dominance of matches into tries. After their first-half touchdown Dorset never really looked like scoring again, but Saints’ poor discipline in the first half had already given the home side the points they ultimately needed for the victory. Final score East Dorset 11-5 Southampton.