1st's lose away to Old Dunstonians

Old Dunstonians 40 Pulborough 19

Without getting into a full detail match report of Saturday’s disappointing loss away to Old Dunstonians, there are still many positives to come away with.
Not ideal preparation as Frazer rolled his ankle in the team warm up and unfortunately could not start the match but made an appearance 30 minutes into the game. Losing your Captain, goal kicker and go to man in the backline certainly didn't help for this period of play. From this we had to make 4 positional changes with Henry Lee to 10, both Simon Burfiend and Ollie Burnett pushing out to 12 and 13 and Fenn Caddick coming off the pine into number 8.
No excuses as Pulborough started slowly and O Dunstonians putting on 5 tries in the first half and Ollie Burnett scoring a good individual try for Pulborough, so was always going to be tough playing catch up footy down 33-7.
Halftime couldn't come quick enough but after a few positive words spoken....pride one of them, Pulborough went about correcting the damage caused in the first half which they admirably did. Two classy tries from both Hugh Ragg and Henry Lee and Dunstonians scoring on only one occasion we certainly had the better of the 2nd stanza.
Special mention must go out to Harry Short, Joe Serna and Jack Leddra who worked tirelessly in the forwards and in the backs Hugh Ragg, who once again proved what a outstanding prospect for the future he is and Ollie Burnett who oozes class whenever he gets his hands on the ball. Special mention to Andy Bates, who put in a great cameo performance off the bench. Also to our captain Frazer Oliphant-Hope who went against the advice of our physio and went back out injured. Not ideal but what I will say is Frazer is one of those players that can play injured. He has been battling with this ankle now for weeks on end. Whether you agree or not he should have played I'll say one thing, over my years of playing rugby I have seen many a player pull out with only niggly little injuries.
To summarise the first half of the season you could say it's a pass from me as we currently sit 4th on the ladder in a 12 team comp. We have good depth in the club with Stuart and Ian doing a fantastic job with the 2nd team.
What I have found to be the biggest challenge is getting the right team balance for game day in terms of selection and players playing in the right position and this is something I'll be working with both Kelly and Frazer in the back end of the season.
On a more personal note I would like to thank Harrison Short on a fantastic effort he is doing with the lads on the training pitch and on game day....100% this guy will be coaching at a much higher level in the future. To Frazer our captain who has led both on and off the paddock and I don't think a lot of the squad realise how many times we are in contact either by text or conversation.....I'll let you work out whether that's a good thing or bad thing for me. To Kelly Russell who I enjoy working with and his company. To Stuart and Ian for once again doing a fantastic job with the 2s and for being understanding of when I have to bring some of 2nd squad players into the 1st team on match day.
Thanks also must go out to our President Alex Steele. Alex travels to pretty much all our away games and I enjoy our little chats....I'm sure Alex has Australian blood in him as I like the way he just tells you how it is.
Also to Clive Sadler from Southern Cranes, one of our major sponsors. Clive's son Ben who has been out injured for the most part of the season still continues to support the 1st team at every game so far this season.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and look forward to the 2nd half of the season.

All the Best
Dean