Saturday 29th September
Christchurch 18 – 18 Romsey
After a bruising season opener against Southampton, captain Harrison Scott led his troops through the New Forest to face a strong Christchurch team who fell short of a win by the narrowest of margins in their first game. With several key players injured in the hard-fought draw the previous week, Romsey’s squad included three debutants and more than a couple of grizzled veterans, the most infamous of whom was celebrating his 375th 1st team appearance – congratulations Nick Creal. 12 of the match day squad were not born when he first played for the 1s vs Rosslyn Park u21s back in April 1992. Knowing the team was unfamiliar with playing together, instructions from head coach Jason Berry were to fight for every yard and make use of the narrow pitch, taking any points available to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Romsey came flying out of the blocks, pinning Christchurch in their own half and forcing early penalties, one of which was converted by Aidan Cleland for a 3-0 lead. The set piece was much improved from the previous week, with hooker Alfie Lawrence providing excellent service in the line-out. Bolstered by this, captain Scott elected to kick for touch from another penalty and Romsey found themselves within 10m of the try line. This decision was rewarded as the forwards executed a catch and maul to perfection, with the strength of Ian Milanak and Elliott Johnson driving over to give Lawrence the first try of the game. With the conversion missed from out wide, Romsey now had an 8 point lead.
This lead was far from secure however as Christchurch began to switch things up, including a short restart which was excellently fielded by a soaring Caine Latham. Once Christchurch gained possession back, they spun the ball wide and a floated pass sent their winger over for an unconverted try. Alerted by this threat, Romsey reverted to their original gameplan and marched back down the pitch marshalled well by experienced 9-10 combo Ollie Soundy and Jim Lamont. A penalty in range of the posts was too tempting for Scott to dismiss and with a successful kick from Cleland, Romsey went into halftime with a deserved lead of 11-5.
Coach Jason Berry was pleased with the first half performance and encouraged his players to finish the job. Creal was substituted at this point, penalty free for the first time in 375 caps, as was winger Alex Watts who had a strong debut.
The second half began tense and cagey, with both sides defending well. As fatigue began to set in, Christchurch found themselves in the ascendency. After a period of sustained pressure, their centre burst his way through for a converted try to give them the lead for the first time in the match. Romsey fought back valiantly, using the pace of back three Locryn Williams, Dylan Scott and replacement winger Bill Smith, but the resolute Christchurch defence held firm and a penalty stretched their lead to 15-11. The situation was not helped by an injury to scrum-half Soundy.
With the demands of forwards coach Roger Cornish in mind, the engine room of Brad Hughes and Lewis Cartledge stepped it up a gear and carried strongly to drag Romsey back into the opposing half. When a penalty was awarded, the captain elected for touch to give Romsey an attacking set piece. The well-oiled lineout pivot of Scott, Hughes and flanker Ryan Daly executed well, with the subsequent driving maul splintering the defence. Lamont latched onto the rear to dive over – his second try in as many games. The conversion was nailed to give Romsey the lead once more.
Christchurch yet again fought back to win a penalty which was converted to put the game on a knife-edge at 18-18. With seconds left, a bone-shattering hit from Ben Hewitt was followed by a huge turnover penalty from Simon Garraway to give Romsey an opportunity to snatch a victory, but the kick went agonisingly wide to end the game as a draw.
Whilst frustrated with the honours shared in back-to-back matches, Romsey should hold their heads high as the season continues undefeated with a solid foundation to build upon. After the final whistle captain Scott philosophically stated that if played last season, both games would have likely ended in losses without the grit of this new look side.
A special thanks to team manager Tim Clayton who managed to forget the VEO equipment, meaning this match report is unfortunately the only record of events.
Team
- Elliott Johnson
- Alfie Lawrence
- Ian Milanak
- Lewis Cartledge
- Brad Hughes
- Nick Creal (MoM)
- Ryan Daly
- Harrison Scott ©
- Ollie Soundy (VC)
- Jim Lamont (VC)
- Alex Watts
- Caine Latham
- Aidan Cleland
- Locryn Williams
- Dylan Scott
Finishers
- Ben Hewitt
- Simon Garraway
- Bill Smith