Dursley Rugby Football Club
Dursley R.F.C.
Registered as a Community Amateur Sports Club CASC since 2004
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Dursley U17s vs. Newquay U17s
12th March 2006
Match Date: Sunday 12th March
Opposition: Newquay
Venue: Dursley RFC
Dursley take the sting out of the Hornets
South West Bowl Semi Final
Dursley 22 – Newquay Hornets 3
On a day that started as if it was more likely to produce a good snowball fight than a good game of rugby the Dursley U17s produced one of their finest ever displays to take the sting out of Newquay Hornets. This was the semi final of the South West Bowl and the Dursley lads now go on to a final in fine form and with a skip in their step.
The game started with the Dursley youngsters playing down the hill but into a biting wind and it was some time into the game before any pattern started to emerge. The Dursley defence was impressive all afternoon and the central defence in particular. The defensive qualities of Steven Kirk, Sam Fitzjohn and Fergus Kirby showed the Cornishmen, early on, that they would have to work hard for every point. After they had soaked up the Hornets early pressure the Dursley forwards started to get on top and excellent work at ruck and maul allowed them to turn the tide and camp in the Hornets half for a while. The line out was excellent throughout with Simon Camm and Mike Tree taking good quality ball at every occasion and from one of these the Hornets were caught offside. Jamie Muir took a quick tap penalty and Ben Morgan crashed over under the posts to put the home side a well-deserved try to the good. Muir kicked the conversion to put the Amber and Golds into a 7 – 0 lead.
However, the Cornishmen hadn’t travelled so far to let the game go easily and it wasn’t long before they broke away in midfield. It was only Barney O’Dowd between them and a good score but the local lad came out the better with a crunching tackle. Minutes later after the sustained pressure from the visitors they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, which they duly converted to leave the half time score at 7-3.
The visitors came out fired up after the break and it was only excellent defence that kept them at bay. A number of bone crunching tackles from Jack Robson helped keep Dursley in the game. On a rare foray into the visitors half the forwards set up and drove a good maul, Harry Williams and Laurence Mills in particular making good headway. The visitors were forced to bring the maul down and Jamie Muir was happy to slot the penalty to give the home side a 10 –3 cushion.
The steam was finally taken out of the Cornish machine when scrum half “H” Pullin, who impressed all afternoon, chipped an inch perfect kick from the base of the ruck for winger Mike Robinson to chase. Robinson had the pace on the Cornish defence and was able to touch the ball down to take the Dursley youngsters into a commanding lead. Muir converted again to leave the score at 17 – 3 with 15 minutes to play.
The Dursley pack started to dominate and from one line out Max Cooke and Martin Tudor showed their fresher legs and the forwards drove perfectly to allow Morgan to dive over the line for his second of the day and to round off a perfect afternoon for the Dursley side.
Team:
Laurence Mills, Sam Fitzjohn, Harry Williams, Jack Robson, Ben Morgan, Mike Tree, Simon Camm, Fergus Kirby, H Pullin, Jamie Muir, Tommy Gannon, Steven Kirk, Andy Sprague, Mike Robinson, Barney O’Dowd, Dan Meredith, David Jenkins, Max Cooke, Dominic Leppier, Lawrence Dungworth, Richard Cox, Martin Tudor.
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