Bournemouth v old redcliffians

Team Selection: Two changes in the backs; Ben Meaden replaced Richard West at fly-half
and Sammy Veneroso replaced the unavailable (Dubai 7s with the Police) Grant Hancox at
scrum-half. In the pack Jake Guildford came in for the unavailable Robbie Heath. On the bench, Dan
Boer replaced Sammy Veneroso as the back replacement and Luca Firetto returned, after a three-match
absence, to replace the injured Henry Turner as the front row replacement.
Bright overhead with a north-westerley breeze that had abated during the day. Underfoot it
‘took a stud’ – although cold, pretty good playing conditions.

Considering that it had been agreed between the two clubs earlier in the week that, as the
visitors, Old Redcliffians would wear their ‘clash’ colours of white, it was something of a
surprise to us lookers-on that the two sides lined up in their given style of red and black.
After the Old Reds had scored wide out on the right in the first three minutes, it was
decided that the similar colours was causing confusion and Old Reds turned their shirts
inside out to present a suitably contrasting white.
3m: 0 v 7/tc; OR/n/t, OR/10/c.
Bournemouth, however, soon struck back when Old Reds conceded a penalty. Full-back Josh
Wickens found touch to his right on the Old Reds 5m. From the line-out, the Bournemouth
forwards drove for the line and were almost over when referee Darren Hopkins pulled play
back to an earlier Old Reds infringement and Wickens repeated his earlier effort. Crabbing
left infield, as they drove off the line-out, patient ball retention saw Bournemouth drive lock
Jake Guildford over for him to score for the first time. Wickens kicked the goal and
Bournemouth were level.
6m: 7/tc v 7/tc; Guildford/4/t, Wickens/15/t.
With the two defences making life difficult for the attackers, little progress was made by
either side as the probed for a way through. Bournemouth did finally have an attacking
line-out on their left on the Old Reds 5m. Disastrously they knocked the ball on which lead
to the most remarkable passage play seen at Chapel Gate, or at least, in the opinion of
your correspondent. Enterprisingly, Old Reds ‘ran’ the ball from this deep defensive position
and almost effected a breakout beyond their own 22m. Quite remarkably, Wickens, as the
last line of defence, wrenched the ball out of the arms of the ball carrier and made off with
quick footwork to bounce off the despairing attempts to grab him and then he was in the
clear. He then had enough ‘gas’ to out sprint what defence was left to score left of the
posts. To rub it in, the same player picked himself up and kicked the goal to take his side in
to the lead. Watch the video – mere words of mine are totally inadequate to do the passage
of play justice. Save it for posterity Dave. Quite remarkable. Thrilling.
28m: 14/2t2c v 7/tc; Wickens/15/tc.
Old Reds weren’t taking any of this lying down and they put the Bournemouth defence
under enormous pressure. When Bournemouth kicked to relieve the pressure they found
themselves having to defend a hard-running thrust by the backs which saw them almost in
the lefthand corner but at the cost of a penalty and referee Hopkins having a wee word with
captain Alan Manning. From a scrum on their own 5m, the Bournemouth forwards struggled
to contain the Old Reds shove when Old Reds opted for a scrum and did the same when
Bournemouth had seemed to have saved the situation by nicking the ball at the base of the
scrum but apparently illegally. This time, Old Reds maintained their driving momentum and
they were over under the posts. The Old Reds fly-half’s conversion levelled the scores.
37m: 14/2t2c v 14/2t2c; OR/8/t, OR/10/c.
Old Reds attacked strongly right from the restart, stretching the Bournemouth defence.
When Bournemouth did kick it deep they found the dangerous Old Reds almost capitalizing
on the possession conceded only for a knock-on to thwart their ambitious play. Outside
centre Jack Young got hurt in defending one such foray and was forced to retire.
40+3m: 14/2t2c v 14/2t2c; Jack Young/13 head injury replaced by Dan Boer/
bench.
From the restart scrum, Bournemouth went right with a promising attack and when Old
Reds were penalised for a high tackle, Wickens pushed them even further back when he
found touch to right for a line-out on the Old Reds 22m. The attempt to catch the ball was a
bit untidy but the forwards did well to tidy it up and retain possession. The forwards
‘crabbed’ infield but the ball was lost forward and an Old Reds player unceremoniously flyhacked the ball off the field of play for Hopkins to blow his whistle to end the half.
40+5m – Half-time: 14/2t2c v 14/2t2c. Bournemouth reshuffled their front row by
moving Manning to hooker and brought Luca Firetto off the bench to replace him at
tighthead. Hooker Kimber moved to blindside flanker in place of Ben Russell who was
moved to the bench.
Bournemouth started the second half promisingly when, with the referee playing
advantage. they went right from what appeared to be an Old Reds knock-on but when they
made no further progress wide out, play was brought back to the Old Reds 10m for a
Bournemouth penalty. Wickens found touch to his right back where Bournemouth had been
held up. Knocking the ball back from the line-out resulted in Old Reds recovering it and
setting up an attack through their threes. A kick was fielded by Wickens and the full-back
‘dinked’ the ball through. Old Reds recovered and attacked left before kicking. Again the
ball was fielded by Wickens but his attempts to run the ball were quickly swamped by the
Old Reds chasers. He was inevitably dispossessed, Old Reds went right and were under the
posts in a trice. The goal was kicked and Old Reds were back in the lead.
48m: 14/2t2c v 21/3t3c; OR/n/t, OR/10/c.
Bournemouth knocked on the restart and then conceded a free kick at the scrum. Scrumhalf Sammy Veneroso fielded the kick and sent the ball right. A chip through did not gain
enough advantage and Hopkins brought play back to a Bournemouth penalty on the halfway line. Wickens found touch to his right beyond the Old Reds 10m. Bournemouth drove
off the line-out and were awarded the put-in at a scrum when Old Reds knocked on in the
contact. Old Reds found it difficult to contain the Bournemouth shove before it was
eventually released and Veneroso went right. The enterprising Wickens joined the line
before the the attack switched left and left-wing Oli Grainer-Williams was almost in at the
corner, having being bundled, rather unceremoniously, into touch. However, Hopkins
brought play back for an earlier Old Reds knock-on and Bournemouth had the put-in at a
scrum just ten metres out from the Old Red try-line. Going left, a determined Old Reds
defence forced play into touch for an Old Reds line-out on their own 5m. Bournemouth
countered the drive and Old Reds were forced to kick right for a Bournemouth line-out but
still inside the Old Reds 22m. Bournemouth secured the ball at the back of the line-out but
Hopkins stopped play and showed a yellow card to the Old Reds openside flanker.
59m: 14/2t2c v 21/3t3c; OR/7 yellow card.
Bournemouth opted for a scrum and drove it only to lose the ball but Hopkins penalised Old
Reds and the scrum was reset. This time Bournemouth’s drive was inexorable and with the
ball at his feet, No8 Joe Rees spotted the ball at the appropriate moment just left of the
posts. Disappointingly, Wickens dragged the ball wide of the near post but Bournemouth
had almost levelled the scores.
61m: 19/3t2c v 21/3t3c; Rees/8/t, Wickens/15/c miss.
Old Reds restarted left and Bournemouth ran the ball back but a knock-on conceded the
put-in to Old Reds at a scrum beyond the Bournemouth 22m. The Old Reds No8 had a
strong run off the back of the scrum and Bournemouth were penalised in their efforts to
stop the rampaging back-row man. From just outside the 22m, the Old Reds fly-half kicked
the goal to stretch the Old Reds lead.
66m: 19/3t2c v 24/3t3cp; OR/10/p.
Bournemouth restarted left and when Old Reds kicked the ball back it was fielded by
Meaden. The fly-half fed Rees to his right and the No8 took the ball into contact where Old
Reds were penalised. Wickens failed to find touch to his left and Old Reds kicked it back to
be fielded by Ciaran Smyth. The openside flanker was tackled high and, from the penalty,
Meaden found touch to his left for a Bournemouth throw-in outside the Old Reds 22m.
Bournemouth drove off the line-out but Old Reds turned the ball over and kicked. The ball
was fielded by Grainger-Williams and the winger went in field looking for a way through the
defensive wall. Veneroso, in support, almost got through before being swallowed up but still
managed to release the ball left. In the face of the Old Reds resistance, the focus of the
attack went right and Veneroso was there again (as any good scrum-half should be of
course it should be said) doing very well to get over in the corner through a melee of
players to score that vital fourth try. Wickens pulled his kick across the face of the goal but
at least Bournemouth had tied up the scores.
74m: 24/4t2c v 24/3t3cp; Veneroso/9/t, Wickens/15/c miss.
This minor advance was soon nullified however. Wickens ran the Old Reds restart back and
linked with Veneroso. The scrum-half kicked but Old Reds recovered the ball, ran it back
and scored through their strong running backs well supported by the forwards.
78m: 24/4t2c v 31/4t4cp; OR/n/t, OR/10/c. Meaden replaced by Russell.
Bournemouth’s restart didn’t go to ‘ten’ for a scrum back. The Old Reds No8 caused more
alarms with another strong run off the back taking play to the Bournemouth 22m. They
released the ball left but when they came back right, they were penalised allowing
Bournemouth to lift the siege, however temporarily. Nonetheless, the penalty gave the
opportunity for a last Bournemouth hurrah. Bournemouth found touch to their tight on the
half-way line. Driving off the line-out, Old Reds were penalised and Wickens found touch to
his left just ten metres out from the Old Reds try-line. No happy ending however. Old Reds
‘stole’ the throw-in and the ball kicked off the park for Hopkins to blow for ‘no time’.
80+8m – Full Time: 24/4t2c v 31/4t4cp.
Realistically, Bournemouth cannot have any complaints about the score but at least they
matched the opposition’s try-scoring. They might have even tied the scores up at the end,
but they didn’t Being a little philosophical, a try-bonus points plus a losing bonus point is
only one point less than a draw plus a try-scoring bonus point. Look on the bright side
folks.
Congratulations to Jake Guildford on winning the Bournemouth Man of the Match Award and
scoring for the first time. Jake is one of 16 new players who have played for the 1st XV this
season. We hope they are all enjoying their football with us.
Bournemouth remain sixth on 34 points and Old Redcliffians remain third on 49 points.