Here is a report of the first match of the season with a few photos.
Chichester 41 V Dover 8
Dover kicked off their 2012/13 league season with a long away trip to Chichester. New signings Richard Eldridge, Lee Ambrose, Josh Erskine and Leighton Docherty all made their debuts with glorious conditions let the season begin.
Greg Phillips got the game under way and it was he who put Dover on the scoreboard at the earliest opportunity. Dover turned over a scrum through Erskine causing his opposite number to fumble the ball, with Chi scrambling they conceded a penalty 45 metres out. Phillips opted for posts and converted his chance confidently to give Dover a 3-0 lead. The Chi restart was fielded by Foster, Chichester were again penalised at the ruck and Phillips boot rewarding Dover with a lineout on half way. Dover's lineout was plucked out the air by Matt Suter but as Dover set the drive the ball was knocked on returning possession to the home side.
Chichester were starting to win some good possession but didn't use it effectively the backs handling letting them down as Dover pressed hard in defence. Dover however didn't seize their opportunities all too often handing possession back to their opponents within 2 phases. Dover allowed the Chi forwards to start to dominate the set piece their No.8 in particular always making the gain line when in possession. Slowly Chi made their way into Dover's 22.
Dover did defend valiantly but it at a cost firstly Charlie Halls slightly unfortunate to be sin binned for an attempted one handed interception that was knocked on, Dover conceded a succession of penalties which led to a second sin bin this time Suter for collapsing a maul. Dover were now up against it with only 13 players on the pitch gaps started to appear, Chi exploited this as attacking the spaces, a dogged Dover rear guard began to creak eventually relenting as Chi forwards drove the ball over the line to score the try out wide, a good conversion saw Dover trail 7 -3. Dover continued to soak up the pressure with success and with the sin bins both back on looked to try and move the ball but they lacked the killer instinct to add points on the board. Chichester was enjoying a higher proportion of possession and when their backs managed to string some passes together they looked dangerous. Richard Eldridge preventing a certain try with a tackle which secured Dover possession and a chance to clear the danger. Dover started to show some belief and took play back to the Chi 22 but when it mattered Dover didn't attack with numbers and their threat was snuffed out. The first half drew to a close with Chichester holding a slender 7-3 lead, Dover could take great heart from this considering they had played a 16 minutes of the half without a full complement of players.
Head Coach Tonks spoke about passion, desire and belief at half time this game was for the taking but Dover would have to nullify the threat of their dominant No.8.
Chi got the second half under way and managed to steal possession from indecision at the restart. Chris Lucas managed to steal it back and took play back over halfway, Foster took over to make 20 metres but a lack of support saw him exposed in the tackle and Chichester would have the put in. Dover's pack fired and turn over the ball but the backs were to flat as they tried to attack wide. Dover retained possession but lost yards. Dover were however awarded a penalty out wide, Phillips opted for posts and was unlucky not to score with the ball hitting the posts. Chichester scrambled the ball to touch, Dover however were still in the danger zone. A solid lineout Dover set the maul, Chichester managed to stop it but the ruck was set and Dover looked for quick ball, Chi prevented this and Dover were awarded another penalty but Dover's indiscipline saw the decision reversed with Cooper trying to take the law into his own hands and sent to the sin bin. This seemed to knock the stuffing out of Dover and put wind in the sails of Chichester. The home sides backs started to fire with plenty of quick ball they soon rattled up 3 tries and a conversion whilst Dover were depleted in numbers taking the score to 24-3. Dover's heads started to drop with too many players blaming others rather than shouldering some of the responsibility themselves. Things didn't get any better as Cooper returned with Chi seemingly scoring at will running in two further tries.
Now all Dover could do was play for pride. It was one of the debutants that stole the show, Richard Eldridge at full back joining the line and show great pace and awareness as he sidestepped through three potential tackles to score a fine try. The conversion missed Dover trailed 34-8. Chichester had totally outplayed Dover in the second half and were deserved winners as they ran in a final converted try for a 41-8 victory.
Despite the result there were some good performances notably Eldridge at full back, Nathan Annakie who tackled hard all game but Dover's man of the match is awarded to Prop Chris Lucas for a solid performance.
Next week Dover host Sidcup at Crabble with a 3 o'clock kick off. A large home support is expected with only a point splitting the two sides last term its sure to be another nail-biting encounter.
TEAM:
COOPER, AMBROSE, LUCAS, D TONKS (Capt.), SUTER, DOCHERTY, FOSTER, BLOWERS, ERSKINE, PHILLIPS, HALLS, N. ANNAKIE, TOWNLEY, McNAMARA, ELDRIDGE, CRAWFORD, M.BURR & l Tonks (unused)
Scorers:
Try: Richard Eldridge
Pen: Greg Phillips