On Saturday afternoon, Chichester made the long journey to Gillingham, for the first away game of the 2024/25 season, and their first ever match against North Dorset. Blues made 7 changes to the team that beat Newbury on the first day of the season, with Rich Ives and Robbie Hawkshaw joining the pack, Jo Amin and Isikeli Waqa coming into the backs and Adam Geal, Dan Heriot and Jamie Kinnimont, making his 1st XV debut, on the bench.

On a glorious late summer afternoon Chichester kicked off into a slight headwind. They immediately had North Dorset under pressure and a knock on resulted in a 5 metre scrum and, after a couple of resets, the hosts cleared the ball up the pitch. It was taken by Rhys Thompson who advanced into the opposition half before offloading to Joel Andrews. The young winger put on the afterburners, evaded 3 tackles, and dotted down in the corner. Conversion missed. 0 - 5 after 4 minutes. The Chichester supporter’s jubilation was short lived when a scrum penalty was conceded on the 10 metre line, allowing the hosts to open their account. 3 - 5 with 8 minutes on the clock. With Chichester conceding more than 100 kilograms in the scrum it quickly came apparent that North Dorset would use their dominance at every opportunity. Blues weathered the storm for 20 minutes but a string of scrum penalties saw the referee produce a yellow card. The hosts opted for the scrum and pushed Chichester across the try line to score. Conversion missed. 8 - 3. On 35 minutes, Blues lost their replacement prop to injury and scrums became uncontested. Blues conceded a penalty in the red zone forcing North Dorset to change tactics and kick for the corner. Winning the lineout, they used their weight advantage to drive Chichester back across line for their second try. Conversion missed. 13 - 5. With 3 minutes left, both teams resorted to the boot, looking for a 50/22, before Chichester mounted an attack moving the ball across the back line at speed for what looked like a certain try. However the referee deemed the final pass forward.

Half time, 13 - 5. A torrid 40 minutes of rugby for the Chichester scrum but great defensive work by the whole team to limit the damage.

The second half started with a try for North Dorset, after an infringement at the breakdown. They reprised the kick to the corner but this time Blues stopped the maul and the hosts moved the ball across the field, with a series of pick and goes, before finding a gap in Chichester’s defence to score. Converted. 20 - 5. From the restart, Chichester recovered the ball and won a penalty in the red zone that Rory Minton kicked into the corner. Dan Heriot secured the ball at the lineout and Tyler Babb burst through the North Dorset defence to touch down in the corner. Conversion missed. 20 - 10. The next 20 minutes were fairly scrappy, with Chichester under the cosh but North Dorset struggling to penetrate Blue’s dogged defensive line. Finally, the hosts got their bonus point try after a Chichester infringement and yellow card in the red zone. Conversion missed. 25 - 10 with 12 minutes left. On 72 minutes, Blues were handed a lifeline with the referee signalling a free ball on halfway. Minton kicked forward but it bounced off a player into the hands of Josh Stops who burst through the North Dorset defence, heading the try line. With the full back and winger closing him down he passed out to the supporting Jamie Kinnimont, who had the legs to dot down under the posts, for a try on debut. Converted by Minton. 25 - 17. With time running out, Chichester upped the pressure and an opposition infringement saw North Dorset lose a player to the sin bin. Blues huffed and puffed, won a scrum against the head, and were rewarded with a penalty on their own 10 metre line which they elected to tap. With great carries from Huw Binfield and Heriot the ball was moved into the North Dorset half and then advanced into the red zone by Andrews, Stops and then Luca Fleming, before being recycled to Tyrese Makasi. With a lot of work still to do, Makasi bulldozed his way through the defenders to cross the try line in the corner, touching down close to the posts for an easy conversion by Minton, before the referee blew the final whistle.

Fulltime, 25 - 24 and 2 very valuable points!

Man of the Match was Tyler Babb.

Chichester squad: Manley, Binfield, Ives, Tucker, Hawkshaw, Hunter (capt.), Makasi, Babb, Stops, Minton, Amin, Fleming, Waqa, Andrews, Thompson, Geal, Heriot, and Kinnimont.