DINGS CRUSADERS RFC   27   HRFC   0

National 3 South

For the second week in succession Hav were unable to put points on the board as they struggled to come to terms with the heavy underfoot conditions and gave one of their least convincing performances of the season.

Hav were able to field the same backs as last week, but the forwards again suffered from injury and unavailability, particularly up front where props Al Davenport, Karl Randle, Rupert Grant and Tom Wells were all out injured, Omeed Matini got his first start up front with new boy Pierre ‘Legrand’ on the bench. Tom Drewett returned to hook enabling Steve Cruddas to play at open-side where he was joined by Jon Barfoot and Matt Morgan, Dylan Raubenheimer returning from injury was on the bench. Neither Ali Ramus nor Ben Morgan were available, so Nick Whittle got a start alongside Ollie North in the engine room.

Dings had their visitors on the back foot from the kick off and it took only a couple of minutes before it was 0-3, when scrum half Waylon Glasson slotted over an easy penalty from the 22.

Although Hav did manage to find their way near the home line on a couple of occasions, it continued to be mainly one way traffic for the rest of half as the home side made the best of the difficult conditions and Hav, as on so many occasions this season gave away possession too easily.

Dings capitalised by scoring three tries without reply. The first came after 17 minutes when, from the 22, the home fly half Neil Dipple jinked past several pairs of outstretched arms to score under the posts. An easy conversion from Glasson made it 0-10.

On the half hour the second came from the familiar penalty, kick for line-out 5 metres out, catch and drive over out on the right, with the No 8 Mike Panoho getting the touch down. No conversion left it at 0-15.

The third came in first half injury time from one of the few Hav incursions into the home half. The forwards had done the good work but, as soon as it came out to the backs, it was easily stolen from them, and from well within their own half Dings ran the ball using both forwards and backs to enable the left wing Sylvan Edwards to score left of the posts. A good conversion from Glasson made it 0-22 which brought the half time whistle, and time for the visitors to re-group.

Hav looked a little more determined at the start of the second half and for the first few minutes had a territorial advantage. However they were lucky not to go further behind when another dropped ball when on attack enabled Dings to kick up-field, and with the following up attackers easily outnumbering the defenders in the 22, Hav survived by winning a penalty and then clearing back up field.

The list of Hav errors was added to by a new one when, after winning a penalty, the kick for touch failed to cross in front of the corner flag causing a scrum back to the home side. Much to the amusement of the home support this happened twice in the half.

For a while longer Hav continued to have more of the territory and the possession, and had a player advantage when the home fly half was ordered a ten minute rest. However they weren’t able to capitalise on any of it, and on 58 minutes they were shown how it should be done. Taking a line-out just inside their own half, the Dings forwards made an excellent drive into the Hav 22 where they were stopped illegally. A touch, 5 metres out, was followed by a good catch and drive over that made it 0-27 and a bonus point. The conversion missed.

There was still half an hour to go, but that was the end of the scoring. Hav did have their moments and went close from a catch and drive, but it was held up. They also tried to move the ball out wide a couple of times when near the 22, but the backs weren’t having a good day and every attempt was easily snuffed out. However it was the home side who came closest. As the game moved into injury time, they looked like they were about to run in after following a cross-field kick, but they were pulled back for their own penalty – no-one was quite sure what had happened to advantage. They attempted another line-out catch and drive move, but this time they were thwarted. Winning another penalty, they this time kicked for goal, but just missed, and that was it.

Perhaps unsurprisingly on their own pitch, Dings came to terms with the heavy underfoot conditions and we didn’t, and our ability to make unforced errors made it even easier for them. We’ve got to take this one on the chin, learn from it and go to a hopefully more hospitable Ealing next week determined to give our supporters something to be pleased about!    

Hav:

Steve Stapleton, Richard Buck, Neil McGovern, Sid Claffey, Matt O’Shea, Pucs Ngapaku, Liam Davenport (Grant Morris).

Stu Ingram (capt),Tom Drewett (Steve Cruddas), Omeed Matini (Pierre ‘Legrand’) Ollie North, Nick Whittle (Tommy Horn), Jon Barfoot, Steve Cruddas, (Dylan Raubenheimer),  Matt Morgan

Hav Scorers:

none 

Dings Crusaders scores

Tries: 4  Cons: 2 Pens: 1