Match Report for Lytchett Minster 1 Vs Ventnor on 23 Sep 2006
Lytchett Take First League Win
This was viewed by Lytchett as the first real match of the season and everyone (well nearly everyone!) turned up early to prepare.
From the kick off the home side carried on from where they had left off against Stoneham and took the game to Ventnor and camped on their line for an early series of scrums. A good blindside break nearly resulted in a try but unfortunately, there just didn't seem to be the composure and control there from the previous weeks.
Ventnor showed how dangerous they could be with a number of breaks which would have resulted in tries were it not for the sterling work of Andy Edwards and Red, which at times ‘bordered on the edge of legality’ and resulted in Red getting sin binned, as he hasn't learnt Andy's habit of apologising to the ref when he gets up yet!
The first try came as after a strong run by No. 8 Dave Vallender opened up a gap and after a quick ruck open side flanker Tom Boulter pounced for a well taken try. Unfortunately flanker Daryl Cormack had to go off as Ventnor had accidentally head butted his ‘open hand’ causing damage to his knuckles.
The scrappy play continued with neither side able to put much continuity together until an ‘intentional’ handling move by the Lytchett backs which just seemed disorganised (hmm!) created space for Scott Ricketts to score an excellent try down the left wing.
This left Lytchett 12 nil up at the break and with the game far from safe they still had a lot of work to do. Some more strong running by the home pack started to create space in the loose. The home forwards then started to turn the screw in the tight and following a turnover at a scrum by the Lytchett pack Harry Boulter went over for a try. Unfortunately however Ventnor scored a try back after an unusual clearance kick by Full back Scott Ricketts who standing on his own line kicked the ball 2 meters forward straight to the opposition (obviously taking a leaf out of his coaches’ book from the Stoneham game!).
The scrappy play returned and poor clearing out at rucks and a lack of organisation by both sides resulted in a lot of nothing! At one point however the Home pack decided to wake up and score a proper forwards try from a rolling maul before going back to sleep again! A number of the home forwards were caught dosing off with one in particular dropping a peach of ball after doing a seal impression when trying to catch it, but lucky for him we won't name the culprit will be Lloydy?
Late on the Lytchett backs made the result safe with another try for fly half Harry Boulter, and a successful conversion from Scott Ricketts making the score 29-7.
There were no more scores from either side with the end result 29-7 which probably flattered the Lytchett side as this was a bit of a mixture of a performance and certainly a step down in places from the previous games. Hopefully though this was just a blip in what is surely an upward trend...?
