Another 8 try victory for Gos

Gosport & Fareham v Basingstoke

Exciting new ground for Gosport & Fareham under 13s squad as we fielded 2 full 15 a side teams for the first time. We took a bare 15 players away to this rapidly arranged fixture. Though we were warmly welcomed by Basingstoke, head coach Steve was putting a brave face on an impending feeling of doom when 20 minutes after the meet time, only 8 players had turned up. He couldn’t decide whether to field a full set of backs, or forwards.

After successfully redirecting many mums from … wherever it was they were heading, a full team was ready & raring to go & the coach was revived to resume his duties. Note for future fixtures – dads; do the driving!

Basingstoke fielded 26 players who quite frankly looked liked they’d signed all of Hagrid’s body doubles & squeezed them into rugby shirts for the occasion.

In excellent conditions, a hard fought, yet good natured game ensued. From the start, Gosport & Fareham looked hungry for points & capitalising on quality possession & support, ‘Big’ Jake Moseley opened his stride, finding space from nowhere to open the Gos account. Matthew ‘Dids’ Symington added the kick to take us into a well deserved 7 point lead.

Basingstoke fought back well, but Gos exerted early pressure in the scrum, taking 2 well worked scrums against the head in quick succession. Both occasions were exploited up the blind side with James-Harvey Kirwan at 8 picking up & linking effectively with scrum half Matthew John, taking Gosport & to the Basingstoke 22m line. After quick ruck ball, another blind side wide spin on the other side of the pitch saw Cameron Holling cross the line in the corner for his 1st of the season. Two tries up after 11 minutes was the dream start Gosport needed to set the tone for the day. Symington put in a huge kick to take the score to 14 – 0.

Basingstoke weren’t done yet & fought back with a well worked try only a few minutes later taking the score to 14 -5.

The match hung in the balance for a while but Gosport & Fareham remained solid under the high ball & taking advantage of every opportunity to surge forward. Backs & forwards combined with a fluidity that left the watching coaching team open mouthed. Every probing Basingstoke attack was met with a solid defence with all players doing their fair share of tackling. Seeing no easy way through the effective tackling & rucking from the increasingly mobile Gos pack, Basingstoke tried to move the ball wide but were forced backwards with superb commitment & aggressive pressure from the combined efforts of Symington, Stephen Cheatle & Moseley in midfield.

Gos gained in confidence after every phase of play, turning over ball & making the most of any opportunities up the middle & out wide with all forwards involved as much as the backs in flowing attacks. The reward came on 25 mins when Moseley pounced on quick 1st phase ball to create his own space. Once the first tackle was slipped, Moseley accelerated into space to make a well worked try look far easier than it was. Despite fresh legs from Basingstoke, Gos desire was tangible, epitomised when Jake Ellard, a hungry hunter from fullback, made a determined run, breaking through two tackles before finding himself in space. The final defender was fended off & Ellard was in under the posts in the 37th minute to take a well deserved 5 pointer that Symington readily converted. With their tails up & victory in sight, Gos were ruthless from the restart & contrived to work the ball up the field through the forwards before releasing speedster Moseley who needed no encouragement to stretch his legs, finding space from nowhere & completing his hat-trick on 38 minutes.

With more fresh legs from Basingstoke & a solid set piece scrum, the ball was worked forward into Gos territory where a momentary lapse of concentration from an understandably tired Gos allowed Basingstoke space out wide. After a damaging break from the Basingstoke open side flanker, he utilised a well worked overlap to release his runners for their second 5 pointer on the 40 minute mark.

Gos confidence & dominance remained unphased however, competing for everything & forcing a flagging Basingstoke ever backwards. Joe Bunn completed a reciprocal expoitation of the overlap from the wing barely 2 minutes later which effectively killed off any remaining fight left in the Basingstoke team.

Despite missing the conversion, Basingstoke had no more resistance to offer an imperious Gosport & when Cheatle went over to complete one of his many breaks after another 3 minutes of relentless attack, the final whistle couldn’t come too soon for Basingstoke.

Ruthless to then end, Ellard, one of the smallest players on the pitch, charged down a clearance kick on the 22, then cheekily & deftly collected the ball to run in for his 2nd try on the 50 minute mark to seal the honours.

Post match, Basingstoke treated Gos to a man of the match ceremony where 2 players from each team were nominated by opposing team coaches to receive recognition for man of the match performances.

** To get me out of any lawsuits, the author reserves the right to use a little bit of poetic licence in case he got the tries in the wrong order on account of the fact that he’s not especially good at taking notes **

Basingstoke MoM:
Openside flanker: Ewan Watson
Inside centre: Gabriel Glynn

Gosport & Fareham MoM:
Scrum half: Matthew John
Outside centre: Jake Moseley

Well done to all players who gave us all a spectacle we’ll remember for some time. Fitness & team cohesion were key factors in this solid victory. Every one on the team contributed with a massive effort today & the MoM awards in this case were a reflection on the performance of a whole team effort.

Final Score:
Gosport & Fareham 48 Basingstoke 10.

Tries:
Jake Moseley 3
Jake Ellard 2
Joe Bunn
Cameron Holling
Stephen Cheatle

Con:
Matthew Symington 4

Team:
1. Michael Smith
2. Joel Bowers
3. Chris Wallis
4. Scott Craik
5. James Rowe
6. Matthew ‘Pepper’ Salt
7. Connor Parkinson
8. James-Harvey ‘Shotgun’ Kirwan
9. Matthew ‘Matthman’ John
10. Matthew ‘Dids’ Symington
11. Cameron ‘Ziggy’ Holling
12. Stephen Cheatle
13. ‘Big’ Jake Moseley
14. Joe Bunn
15. Jake Ellard