BARKING RFC   31   HRFC   21

National 3 South

This was previewed as a ‘must win’ for Havant against a team struggling to make an impact in the league. They didn’t, and now they are facing an uphill battle to stay clear of the relegation fight, whereas their opposition must have created a confidence from which they can rise out of trouble.

Hav made several changes from last week’s drubbing by Cinderford. In the pack Matt Morgan was available to add his impressive presence in the back row where Jon Barfoot was also given a start. Out back, centre Neil McGovern made a welcome first start of the season, and Matt O’Shea was given a start on the right wing. Disappointingly, backs coach Pucs Ngapaku declared himself unavailable, which once again forced centre Jamie Knowles back into service at ‘10’.

Hav kicked off down the gentle slope, but it didn’t take long before they found themselves defending close to their line when, from half way, an excellent up-field kick bounced into touch two metres out. It looked like the danger had been averted when scrum-half Liam Davenport made a good clearance kick to the 22. However, winning the resultant line-out, and with an effective interchange of passing against some ineffective tackling, Barking were able to cut through and score on the left. A good conversion attempt just failed to reach, and it was 0-5 after 8 minutes.

Hav struck back almost immediately. With the help of a couple of free kicks in quick succession, the forwards drove down into the home 22. Poor back play meant the initiative looked to have been lost, but fortunately, Hav were awarded a penalty from which they kicked to touch a few metres out. The catch and drive worked and, from near the line, flanker Steve Cruddas broke off and dived over. A low kick from Jamie Knowles just went over, and Hav had their nose in front at 7-5 after 12.

Things had started to look good for the visitors, and the forwards at this point had the measure of their opponents. However, ‘shooting themselves in the foot’ has become a feature of Hav's play this season, and it was from an individual act where ‘both barrels were used’ that Hav found themselves behind again a few minutes later. The execution of a clearance kick for touch from inside the 22 went badly wrong. It went across field straight into the hands of the Barking No 7, who must have thought that ‘Christmas had come early’ as, with no-one near him, he was able to run in 22 metres under the posts, enabling an easy conversion, to make it 7-12 on 16 minutes.

From this point on, for as long as they kept the ball in the forwards, Hav dominated the half, taking advantage of the slope. It took a while before there were tangible results. They touched down over the line a couple of times from forward drives that were not given. The first time the American referee was right, for the touch down by Steve Cruddas had been preceded by an obvious knock on. For the second he probably wasn’t, as he was positioned wrongly, was ‘unsighted’, and gave a ‘held up’. However, Hav gained some advantage from these incidents for Barking were reduced to 14 men for repeatedly coming in at the side, and, from the resultant penalty, having kicked for touch, they were able to make a legitimate touch down from a strong forward drive, with no 8 Matt Morgan coming up with the ball. Jamie Knowles conversion made it 14-12 with half an hour gone.

With Hav’s forwards in the ascendancy, the Barking 14 were unable to get out of their own half, but it took Hav almost until half time before they added to their score. From another penalty kick to touch, this time nearer the 22 metre line on the left, Matt Morgan took a good catch and set up the drive. However, seeing an opportunity down the blind side, Steve Cruddas broke and found scrum half Liam Davenport in support, who jinked in on the left. Another low, but accurate Jamie Knowles conversion made it 21-12, the last real incident of the half.

Whatever was said to the sides at half time, it was what was said to the home side that had the most effect. Playing with the slope, their confidence grew by the minute as they gradually pulled the score back, due mainly to their backs realising that strong running against their counterparts would pay dividends.

From the restart, it was only some good last ditch defence that prevented the home side from finishing off some strong running in the corner. However Hav were caught offside in front of the posts, and an easy kick made it 21-15, with 41 minutes gone.

Barking were now showing their intention to run at all opportunity, although Hav were able to thwart the next run out of defence by bundling a man into touch on half way. Matt Morgan was banged on the head in the incident, and took a few minutes to recover, before Hav threw the ball in. It was a surprise was that the ball was thrown to him: what wasn’t a surprise was that he wasn’t able to collect and, taking advantage Barking again moved rapidly down field and were awarded another penalty in front of the posts. Another easy kick and it was 21-18 on 47.

The home side were now beginning to play with the confidence of knowing that a win was in their grasp. However, Hav managed to hold out for another 10 minutes before Barking were able to draw level, from another penalty under the posts. And it took them another 15 minutes before they deservedly got their noses in front thanks to a combined backs and forwards interchange resulted in a try under the posts, from which the conversion made it 21-28.

Hav were now fighting to hold on to just a bonus point, but even that was taken away from them when, with 4 minutes on the clock remaining, the Barking no 10 converted a more difficult penalty to make it 21-31.

With the game moving into injury time Hav’s backs made their first real breakthrough of the match as first centre Neil McGovern, then fellow centre Richard Buck took the ball towards the home 22. The ball came out quickly left to an overlap, but with an execution of the basics that let them down yet again, a loose pass was eagerly intercepted by a Barking prop who ‘strode’ forward ‘majestically’, and, just before being caught, sent a well executed kick downfield into the Hav 22 and effectively that was that!.   

For once, Havant Director of Rugby, Simon Morgan, had difficulty in finding the right words to express his feelings after the match. ‘We really needed that one, and the result means we’re going to have a long winter trying to keep our heads above water. We are going to have to put extra effort in on the training paddock to improve the execution of some of the obvious basics which are letting us down, and we will.”

Havant:

Steve Stapleton, Matt O’Shea, Richard Buck, Neil McGovern, Richard Adams, Jamie Knowles, Liam Davenport

Stu Ingram (capt), Tom Drewett, Karl Randle, Nick Whittle, Ollie North (Ben Morgan), Jon Barfoot, Steve Cruddas, Matt Morgan (Tommy Horn)

Replacements not used:

Al Davenport, Grant Morris 

Hav Scorers

Tries: Steve Cruddas, Matt Morgan, Liam Davenport  Cons: Jamie Knowles

Barking Scores

Tries: 3   Cons: 2   Pens: 4