Sat 5 Nov 2022
North Dorset 1st XV travelled to Combe Down for the first of the “winter matches” with torrential rain and a howling gale. It was a game of 2 halves due to the slope of the pitch and the prevailing wind. North Dorset had both in the first half and were eager to get as strong a lead as possible.
The boot of Sam Jones gave them a 3-point lead after 5 minutes from a penalty while the halves of Robbie Samson & Rylie Lewis kept Combe Down under pressure with tactical kicking after that. A slick play from the back of a scrum from Samson & Tom Hooper saw Marcus Higgs touch down for an unconverted try. He followed this up with another 5 minutes later wiggling past 3 defenders on a very narrow touch line.
Will Johnson on the other wing was not to be out done and scored on the opposite side 10 minutes later through a nice kick return standing up two defenders on the way to the line. Jones added the extras, and the teams went to the break with North leading 20 nil.
North had the slope and the wind against them in the 2nd half and faced a lot of work just to defend their lead. The 2nd 40 minutes of the match was some of the most stoic and hard-fought rugby the 1st team has displayed in recent years, with huge defensive efforts from Tom Spinney, Will Willoughby, Sam Trevis & Owen Mawby. Hard running from Dave Strikland, Eric Munezero & Ben Parker also helped keep Combe Down at bay. The only points scored in the second half were 3 from a Sam Jones penalty which saw the final score 23-0 in favour of North Dorset, through injuries and yellow cards North had to scramble with many players out of position for vast tracts of the 2nd half and did extremely well to hang on to win the game and keep a clean sheet. Ben Parker was the Gritchie Brewing Company Man of the Match for strong & gritty performance. While the front row retained the John O’Kala Trophy, this time going to Tom Spinney.
