Bournemouth v Weston-super-mare

There are inevitable changes from season to season but with the unprecedented voiding of a whole season has exacerbated the change as perhaps indicated by the fact eight players were making their debut. In addition, notable absentees stalwarts Scott Chislett and Sam Hardcastle have also decided to hang up their boots, rather wistfully if Sam’s reaction on Saturday was anything to go by.

The weather was overcast but bright and warm with little if any detectable breeze from the East. Hardly a beast. Underfoot the pitch was very dry and firm as might be expected from the prevailing meteorological conditions in this early September.

Bournemouth (full-back Alex Sutherland) kicked off from left to right as viewed from the stand and to his left.

With Bournemouth pressing they were almost immediately penalised enabling Weston to clear left. Pressing their advantage they worked the ball back right and scored wide out on the right. IS centre James MacKay pulled his effort across the face of the goal but his side led 5-0 after just five minutes. Full-back Sutherland fielded the restart return and went right but a loose pass back inside saw Bournemouth scrambling to recover. IS centre Adam Higgins made a dent in the opposition defence coming back right but his pass right didn’t go to hand, to the obvious disappointment of the home crowd, and it was a Weston line-out instead. Attacking right, the Weston threat was broken up and left wing Ollie Grainger-Williams had the ball. He broke out and outsprinted the Weston defence to score on his debut halfway out on the left. Scrum-half Grant Hancox kicked the goal to complete the timely Bournemouth riposte for the home side to lead 7-5 after nine minutes. Bournemouth put themselves under pressure by knocking the ball on at the restart and found themselves defending a scrum on their own 10m. Hancox did well to snaffle the ball at the back of the Weston scrum as their forwards struggled to contain the home side’s shove and the scrum-half went right. Weston were promptly penalised in their attempts to close off the break. Hancox hardly interrupted his run by taking a quick penalty but a mishandling error gave Weston the put-in at a scrum. However, they were penalised for some misdemeanour in the scrum giving Sutherland the opportunity to find touch to his right just some eight metres out from the Weston line. Prop Luca Firetto showed some considerable athleticism at the back of the line-out to secure the ball and went left. Retaining possession Bournemouth worked the ball further left and Matt Warwick was somewhere there in the mix as he and his fellow forwards drove over the line for the lock to score for the first time since the 2014/5 season. Clearly a rare occurrence but a gem nonetheless. Hancox couldn’t apply the polish to make that rare gem sparkle as he pulled his effort at goal from close to that left-hand touch line across the face of the goal to leave the score at 12-5 just on the quarter-of-an-hour. No 8 Joe Desmond fielded the restart but Weston managed to turn the ball over and went right. Bournemouth managed to prevent any progress being made and referee James Dowds decided not enough advantage had been gained pulling play back to an earlier Bournemouth high tackle. From some 30 metres out, and more or less in front of the posts, MacKay kicked his first goal of the afternoon to reduce the arrears to just four at 8-12 after 20 minutes play. Bournemouth knocked the ball on at the restart but recovered the ball at the Weston scrum and took play to the Weston 22m where the visitors were penalised. Hancox, assuredly, kicked the goal and Bournemouth had quickly nullified that earlier Weston gain at 15-8. Bournemouth came straight back from the restart when the lively Hancox kicked and regathered going right. He manged to put right wing Ryan Morrell away but he stumbled when half-tackled but managed to regain his feet and crash over the line for his debut score. Hancox kicked the goal from some ten or 15 metres in from the line and Bournemouth had gained a two-score advantage at 22-8 after some 22 minutes play. Weston soon struck back and Bournemouth were penalised for being offside at the breakdown on their own 10m line. MacKay’s kick at goal struck the left-hand upright and bounced clear to be recovered by Sunderland. His kick didn’t gain as much ground as, I’m sure, the full-back would have liked as he sliced the ball into the right-hand touch on the Bournemouth 22m but it was safe. However, Bournemouth recovered the situation when Weston were penalised for ‘holding on’. Sutherland did better this time kicking right and finding touch inside the Weston 10m. Bournemouth then messed that up by first not throwing the ball in straight and secondly getting penalised at the resulting scrum. Not a good result. That gave Weston the opportunity to strike back with a strong running attack right before coming back left. A miss pass put the Bournemouth defence under pressure but a determined tackle put the ball carrier into touch rather unceremoniously much to the obvious relief of the home supporters. The move illustrated that Weston remained a potent force and they were far from being out of this game. The point was reinforced when Bournemouth were penalised at the line-out and Weston had an attacking line-out just 5 metres out from the Bournemouth try line. Danger threatened. Nonetheless, Bournemouth defensive pressure forced the error and Bournemouth had a scrum 10 metres out from their own line. To make things even better they ‘won’ a penalty enabling Sunderland to kick right for a line-out beyond the Bournemouth 22m. Joe Rees wasn’t able to gather the throw-in cleanly and Weston had a scrum. Bournemouth scrummaging pressure forced a reset but the second time the Weston No 8 Tom Sugg broke off the back and made a few too many yards before a Bournemouth knock-on saw a Weston put in on the Bournemouth 22m. This time the Weston scrummaging was secure and they went right where Bournemouth were penalised for not releasing. MacKay from some 23 metres out and in front of the posts kicked his second goal to leave the score at 22-11 with a couple minutes left of ‘proper’ time. Sunderland’s restart return was fielded by fly-half ben Meaden but his overly ambitious kick went straight out. However, Warwick retrieved the situation by securing the Weston throw-in and Weston were penalised in their attempt to retrieve that situation. Sunderland enabled Bournemouth to maintain the pressure by finding touch to his right on the Weston 22m. Bournemouth drove off the line-out and releasing left Higgins made a half-break in conjunction with Meaden but the former was hurt in the contact to be replaced by Alex Peel. Weston were penalised in their efforts to stem the Bournemouth tide and Sunderland pressed them even further back when he found touch to his left on the Weston 5m. The throw to the font was gathered and Bournemouth drove for the line but stoutly resisted by Weston although flanker Sam Fisher was ‘yellow carded’ for his part in the defence. Weston ‘nicked’ the Bournemouth throw-in and promptly kicked the ball off to end the half after six minutes of extra time.

Weston attacked strongly right from the kick off with a strong three-quarter movements left and right which was to be a feature of their ambitions in the second half with a series of attacks by their strong running backs particularly down the left flank which Bournemouth, with a scrambled defence, did well to keep out. The result was the defences effectively nullified their opponents and it was scoreless until the end of normal time when Hancox kicked a penalty from the Weston 22m to make the score 25-11. Then three minutes later, when the option might have been to go for a bonus point try, the scrum-half kicked another goal from the Weston 10m line to make the score 28-11. However, there seemed to be oodles of time. An injury to Sutherland needed attention and a Bournemouth scrum restarted the match. Going left, the threes made a great break with good support to see outside centre Ash Taylor score his debut try wide out on the left. Hancox was able to polish this gem to make the score 35-11 and referee Dowds saw fit to blow the final whistle as the ball sailed between the uprights to end the match and, in the end, to seal a satisfactory afternoon out for the Bournemouth players.

Good to get back into action and get some idea how we might fare over the coming season. Weston are always a challenge and at times Bournemouth were stretched to face that challenge, doing well to keep them out for that second half and not let them cross their line again after that score in the first five minutes. Making his debut, Ben Kimber impressed and thoroughly deserved his Man of the Match award. I’m sure there will be more.

Next week we entertain Brixham, KO 3pm. See you there. How can you possibly stay away?

Doug Warren