Bournemouth 2^nd XV 25 – 20 Shelford Development Squad 

The development squad travelled the 3 hours to Bournemouth on Saturday with a depleted squad due to a injury, unwillingness to travel and two last minute drop outs. Fortunately Paul Giddings was released from the filming of ‘Goonies 2: Chunks Revenge’ to step into the back row and for a brief spell at tightehead whilst ‘Dandy’ Dan Conlon was patched up on the sidelines. This meant we went into the game with a squad of 17 and no forwards replacements.

Despite the long journey, low numbers and a rambling incoherent pre-match team talk we started strongly kicking for position and running the ball strongly. Quick ball from a ruck on the 22 saw the ball spun wide to Callum Russell who barged over in the corner for a try. The deficit was soon reduced as we gave away a penalty close to our own line which was converted. Bournemouth followed this up with a try thanks to some poor tackling to leave us trailing 10-7. Shelford responded well though working methodically down the pitch and being rewarded for their patience with a penalty 10m out which was quickly spun wide and Liam Russell was on hand to take full advantage of the disorganised defence to score under the posts.

Shelford nearly scored a third try when a well judged cross field kick fell into the arms of Tim ‘Chalkie’ White 5m out from the line, unfortunately it fell straight out again and the opportunity was missed. Bournemouth then converted another penalty to leave the score close at 13-14 at half time. The second half saw Shelford start strongly and some good breaks were made through the midfield, unfortunately the support was often not quite quick enough or the pass went the wrong way and with good cover defence promising attacks were snuffed out rather than converted into points. A penalty for Shelford extended the lead to 4 points but Bournemouth struck back with a converted try to leave Shelford trailing by 3. Quick hands in the backs which saw a break out by Charlie Worthington led to Bournemouth killing the ball 5m out and the points were taken to tie the score at 20-20 with 5 minutes to go.

Bournemouth then camped on the Shelford line for what seemed like an age with the defence working incredibly hard to keep out the opposition, unfortunately we ran out of numbers and conceded a try with 2 minutes left on the clock. We managed to collect the restart and camped on the Bournemouth 22 for the remainder of the game unable to break down the defence.  The game was disappointing mainly for that fact that the team of players who made the long journey to Bournemouth and did not let each other or the club down deserved a result. However deserving and getting a result are two different things and we must continue to develop at training, stick to our game plan and have the confidence to close out these tight away games if we are to prove ourselves in this league.

Next Saturday we travel to Staines for a 3:00 kick off. The Saturday (31^st October) after we will be playing Basingstoke at home and all squad members must get their passes sorted for a ‘social’ evening.aq