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Sat 08 Nov 2014
Dartfordians 
3rd XV
17
5
Spirit of Gannets demonstrated in hard fought match
Ben Baker9 Nov 2014 - 13:51
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A reduced Gannets team turned up for a friendly fixture at Dartfordians and played their part in a quality game of rugby
11 Gravesend Gannets travelled to Dartfordians for a friendly fixture on a windy Saturday afternoon and each of those 11 players put in a committed performance to show encouraging signs of progress to carry forward for the rest of the year.
In a return to traditional pre-match preparations the 11 Gannets and their 4 adopted Dartfordians played a few minutes of touch and did a couple of stretches leading up to the start of the match. This appeared to confuse Martin Riley, who is clearly more accustomed to a thorough warm up, leading him to wonder why everyone was removing their training tops ready for kick off as the ref called in the captains for the toss.
Gravesend won the toss and elected to play against the wind and up the slight hill in the first half. Dartfordians kicked off and the first half played out with Darts having the majority of the ball and Gravesend showing impressive organisation and commitment in defence against a well organised and strong Dartfordian side. The big ball runners in the Dartfordian side tried to target the Gravesend backline and work overlaps but the black and white defence held strong. The home side's scrum half did manage to cross for a try about mid way through the first half following a well worked penalty move that left the Gannets defending on their try line when arguably they should have stepped up to meet the attack. This was converted giving Darts a 7-0 advantage.
To the credit of the Gravesend team this did not cause any player to become disheartened and the high level of commitment and team spirit was maintained, allowing the side a couple of opportunities to attack. On one such occasion a quick tap penalty from Ben Baker gained a number of metres before the ball was moved through the hands of Vid, Oliver, our guest Fullback and Ryan Donoghue to make ground up to the opposition 22. Unfortunately the ball was turned over meaning that the G's weren't able to capitalise on the ground made.
Before half time the Darts scrum half scored again giving a half time score of 12-0.
At half time the Gannets forwards hatched a plan for the line outs that would have looked like it was straight off the training ground, if we did not already that most of the team do not train. This plan saw Martin Taylor take over throwing duties from John Sargent, having a good game at the less familiar position of hooker, and regularly find Martin Riley, having a fantastic game in the fourth team, and Sam Holden to provide the platform for improved attacks from the Gs in the second half.
Following a number of penalties kicked to touch by Ben Baker the away team were able to utilise this line out move to create a number of chances in the second half. One of these was grabbed by one of our guest props who was able to force his way over the line following good phase play by the forwards. The conversion was missed by Ben Baker who remembered to account for the strong wind blowing across the pitch, only for it to stop as the kick was taken to see the attempt pass the wrong side of the post.
Further good ball carrying from Martin Riley, John Sargent and Martin Archer ably supported by Sam Holden, Vid and Matt Abbott ensured that Gravesend were able to exercise a greater degree of control in the second half, but this did not stop the opposition scrum half completing his hat trick from a scrum on the Gravesend 5 metre line with about 15 minutes of the game remaining.
Gravesend still had opportunities to strike back with good running from Dave Sargent and Oliver Karabardak unfortunately not leading to scores.
The final score was 17-5, but this does not reflect the whole story of a game which managed to demonstrate the spirit of the game of rugby as well as the Gannets squad. Thanks must go to Dartfordians for providing us with the chance to have a game when for a number of reasons, the number of players available was limited, but also for providing us with a challenging and enjoyable match, despite the score.
As the season carries on I hope that the 11 players who participated in this match will be able to continue to match the level of performance and commitment that they showed because that can only serve us well in future matches, especially if we manage to extend it to 15 players at a time.
In a return to traditional pre-match preparations the 11 Gannets and their 4 adopted Dartfordians played a few minutes of touch and did a couple of stretches leading up to the start of the match. This appeared to confuse Martin Riley, who is clearly more accustomed to a thorough warm up, leading him to wonder why everyone was removing their training tops ready for kick off as the ref called in the captains for the toss.
Gravesend won the toss and elected to play against the wind and up the slight hill in the first half. Dartfordians kicked off and the first half played out with Darts having the majority of the ball and Gravesend showing impressive organisation and commitment in defence against a well organised and strong Dartfordian side. The big ball runners in the Dartfordian side tried to target the Gravesend backline and work overlaps but the black and white defence held strong. The home side's scrum half did manage to cross for a try about mid way through the first half following a well worked penalty move that left the Gannets defending on their try line when arguably they should have stepped up to meet the attack. This was converted giving Darts a 7-0 advantage.
To the credit of the Gravesend team this did not cause any player to become disheartened and the high level of commitment and team spirit was maintained, allowing the side a couple of opportunities to attack. On one such occasion a quick tap penalty from Ben Baker gained a number of metres before the ball was moved through the hands of Vid, Oliver, our guest Fullback and Ryan Donoghue to make ground up to the opposition 22. Unfortunately the ball was turned over meaning that the G's weren't able to capitalise on the ground made.
Before half time the Darts scrum half scored again giving a half time score of 12-0.
At half time the Gannets forwards hatched a plan for the line outs that would have looked like it was straight off the training ground, if we did not already that most of the team do not train. This plan saw Martin Taylor take over throwing duties from John Sargent, having a good game at the less familiar position of hooker, and regularly find Martin Riley, having a fantastic game in the fourth team, and Sam Holden to provide the platform for improved attacks from the Gs in the second half.
Following a number of penalties kicked to touch by Ben Baker the away team were able to utilise this line out move to create a number of chances in the second half. One of these was grabbed by one of our guest props who was able to force his way over the line following good phase play by the forwards. The conversion was missed by Ben Baker who remembered to account for the strong wind blowing across the pitch, only for it to stop as the kick was taken to see the attempt pass the wrong side of the post.
Further good ball carrying from Martin Riley, John Sargent and Martin Archer ably supported by Sam Holden, Vid and Matt Abbott ensured that Gravesend were able to exercise a greater degree of control in the second half, but this did not stop the opposition scrum half completing his hat trick from a scrum on the Gravesend 5 metre line with about 15 minutes of the game remaining.
Gravesend still had opportunities to strike back with good running from Dave Sargent and Oliver Karabardak unfortunately not leading to scores.
The final score was 17-5, but this does not reflect the whole story of a game which managed to demonstrate the spirit of the game of rugby as well as the Gannets squad. Thanks must go to Dartfordians for providing us with the chance to have a game when for a number of reasons, the number of players available was limited, but also for providing us with a challenging and enjoyable match, despite the score.
As the season carries on I hope that the 11 players who participated in this match will be able to continue to match the level of performance and commitment that they showed because that can only serve us well in future matches, especially if we manage to extend it to 15 players at a time.
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