Mad Dogs Quick Out of the Traps

The GRFC Under 13s (aka 'The Mad Dogs) enjoyed a successful trip all the way down to the Kent coast for their initial foray into 'Youth' rugby at Dover.

Despite an early need to defend valiantly against a clearly decent Dover XV, as the first half progressed the Gees began to look more and more in control. First to score was mercurial lock Patrick Murray who was made his presence felt with a string of strong carries. Similarly effective blindside flanker Finlay Povey can claim the assist for the Gees first points of the season as a great offload in the tackle allowed Paddy to power through two defenders and touch down between the posts; leaving a straightforward conversion for fullback Ben Hope to steer between the posts.

In fact, Hope sprung eternal as the nippy 15 ran and stepped around Dover players from deep on a number of occasions during the half. However, speed and a step is not always enough to score tries; a player needs to 'back themselves' and Ben clearly has this quality as he ran in the Mad Dogs' second try from his own half. Unfortunately, Ben was unable to secure the extra points from the boot this time.

But there was much more to the Gravesend play than strong and/or fast running with the ball. There was some delightful movement of the ball through the hands; plays orchestrated by half-back duo Ben Stelfox at 9 and Charles Martin at 10 with the latter notably also putting in an impressive shift on the tackling front. One play towards the left wing saw the Gravesend back line draw player after Dover player in field until wing Sam Hiskett had nothing but space to run straight into and place the ball down for the Gee's third try of the game. Ben Hope stepped up to convert from a difficult angle and slightly against the wind to take the boys to a 19 point lead at half-time.

Half-time saw a number of changes to enable all of the boys who made the long journey to benefit from a decent amount of game time. The new look black and white line up did allow Dover to gain a firmer hold on proceedings during the second-half. Nonetheless, a sterling defensive effort by Gravesend kept Dover at bay and perhaps unfairly, considering their second half dominance, denied them points of any kind on the day. Final Score 0-19.

This was a great team performance by Gravesend and aside from those already mentioned, also worthy of note are: Ben Cooper and Henry Bowler for finding their voices as leaders on the pitch, Alfie Howden for another display of commitment and high work rate, the lines ran through the midfield by Rajan Poonian, and finally replacements Cole Bartlett, Dane Gillingham and Ian Titmuss who all showed increased levels of confidence as they enjoyed more competitive game time.

However, despite a good win and a good performance, it is early days for this team. Work is needed to reduce the penalty count and to avoid over commitment at the breakdown.

Next stop Old Colfeans.