Bonus point win for Darts against a sturdy Deal team

Darts had their penultimate home match

Darts had their penultimate home match against Deal on a perfect day for rugby. darts opened the scoring when Deal bravely tried to move the ball out from under their posts which allowed Darts to earn a penalty which was converted by Jonny Regnier. 3-0. Deal came back almost immediately when they had a chance to equalise but the penalty was slightly short. The visitors them put some great play together alternating their play between backs and forwards really stretching the home defence. The Darts defence has been really solid this season and they kept Deal at bay but then were penalised for kicking the ball out of the back of the ruck and Joe Scott was yellow carded. From the resulting lineout Deal put on the pressure and eventually Darts ran out of players and had to concede the try. 3-5. This shook Darts and although being a man down started to exert their own pressure and were moving the ball well in the backs. A clever chip saw Jonny nearly get a score but sturdy defence kept him out. Darts had the ascendancy in the scrum and it was from this pressure that they scored their second try. consecutive scrums disorganised the deal defence and when these were followed up by strong driving mauls it was only a matter of time before Ollie Edwards received the ball out wide to score unopposed. 8-5 . Again it was almost immediately that Deal hit back when they had a penalty close to half way and their fly half stepped up to coolly slot home the kick. 8-8. This ended the scoring for the half in what was an intriguing match.
Darts started the second half strongly and seemed to have got into their rhythm moving the ball wide to their wings but always keeping a threat close in . Eventually after going through their phases Louis Chapman went over in the corner. 13-8. Again it was Deal who came back at Darts and had a 5 minute spell inside the Darts 22 driving strongly through their forwards but Darts were very solid. When the ball went loose it was picked up by Ashley Hadler who raced away and it looked like a certain try when the referee called play back and sin binned Sam Cooksley and the Deal prop and give Darts a scrum. Darts cleared their lines and then almost immediately a great attempt to turn the ball over forced the visitors to concede a penalty. darts kicked to the corner and from the lineout they moved the wide to the left and it was Joe Scott who straightened and scored the third try. 18-8. Darts were now on top and using their speed, passing and movement to stretch the tiring Deal pack and although the defence was determined and making Darts work for every inch of ground again it was Joe Scott who cut a great line to score his second and the team's bonus point try. 23-8. It was now pretty much all Darts as the visitors had put all they had into the match and when they tied in players the space out wide was their for Ollie to score his second and the final try of the match. Jonny converted. 30-8
Connor Sutherland was given player of the match following a solid performance in the centre where his defence was outstanding and always looking dangerous with the ball in hand.
A really tough match where for the first half Darts couldn't get their act together as Deal closed them down quickly and tackled very strongly. Another bonus point win which is good for confidence ahead of our next three away matches against very tough opposition.