Eastleigh 2s vs Bognor RFC

Eastleigh 2s vs Bognor RFC
Saturday 23rd March 2019
By Thomas James

Bognor started off slowly away to Eastleigh who looked a well oiled outfit compared to the home fixture at the beginning of the season. The home side making the most of an early scrum and crashing over in the midfield after a missed tackle. 7-0.

Tackles were being missed frequently in the Bognor defence but George Castleton and Dave Sweeney made early amends to these mistakes with some crunching hits around the fringes and out wide. Unfortunately for the away side, tight-head prop Tom James was shown a yellow in what was a surprising and questionable decision from the popular referee. 10-0 pen.

Chris Webb and Adam Groome were putting themselves about and hitting breakdowns regularly and powerfully. Frankie Jolley had a lot of work to do on his second 1st team start, enduring heavy pressure from the Eastleigh counter ruck.

Sweeney then slotted an easy penalty after some great work at the breakdown by Tom Orchard and Nathan Archer. 3-10.

Sam Newcombe looked lively with ball in hand but the whole team struggled to provide any real threat all day, with the exception of Webb. However, Castleton managed to turnover a wayward Eastleigh lineout and dot down for possibly his most bizarre try ever. 10-10 great kick by DS.

Next came a massive blow for the men in green, captain and talisman Josh Burgess was forced off with an ankle injury and watched on nervously throughout as his team struggled to make inroads against an extremely fiery Eastleigh side. Adam Knight was introduced and made an immediate impact with 3 excellent chop tackles in a row, the back row really staking a claim for a starting spot in the next game.

In the second half the scores were 10-10 and Bognor needed a spark from somewhere to get them going. Shane Stevens and Dan Robinson both made weaving runs from deep but didn’t have great support to conjure up anything.

Webb was penalised for a high tackle and the home side slotted a pen to make it 13-10.

George Hutchinson was now on for Tom James and the youngster was holding his own in the scrum and was getting stuck in to the rucks. James Barlow looked fired up and made a few aggressive tackles that slowed Eastleigh down. Unfortunately for Bognor the penalty count did not stop rising and we conceded again. 16-10.

Darren Bidwell was his ever savage self in the tackle area and breakdown, he didn’t get his carrying game flowing as usual and Bognor could have done with some of that from the young tree surgeon.

Paddy Burnett had a very rare off day, the flashy winger not getting any ball and didn’t look himself after a game without a try; I do not doubt however that he will be back with a vengeance and scoring tries with ease. Chris Hay was brought on and quickly into the thick of things, catching a high ball well and carrying low and hard.

One positive for Bognor was Webb’s fight and determination to always make yards for the team, the loose head devouring his opposition and finally being brought down after heavy contact. Archer had a few strong carries at the line but couldn’t free his hands up and Eastleigh carried back after a turnover and managed to win another penalty. 19-10.

Bognor never really got going but still showed heart in what could have been a bigger scoreline for the home side, the team will learn from this and get stronger as a unit.

Team line-up

1. Chris Webb
2. Adam Groome
3. Tom James
4. James Barlow
5. Tom Orchard
6. George Castleton
7. Darren Bidwell
8. Josh Burgess
9. Frankie Jolley
10. Dave Sweeney
11. Shane Stevens
12. Nathan Archer
13. Sam Newcombe
14. Paddy Burnett
15. Dan Robinson
16. George Hutchinson
17. Adam Knight
18. Chris Hay