Bournemouth Lions sponsored by
Wood of Bournemouth
Match Sponsored by David Errington of Goadsby, Estate Agents.
Bournemouth 53 v 5 Maidenhead
The English Clubs Rugby Union Championship – South-West 1
The weather was fine and sunny but with a gentle cool South-Easterly breeze blowing sllghtly
across the pitch. Underfoot the pitch was well grassed and firm after a few days respite from
the appalling weather of late. The whole scene was a wonderful spectacle being bathed in
the spring-like sunshine and a perfect setting for a game of great rugby football.
Bournemouth kicked-off from right to left as viewed from the stand and thus with the breeze.
Bournemouth were soon on the offensive following up their kick-off but a promising driving
maul was stopped when the contrived to knock the ball on. The front row were penalized in
the subsequent scrum and fly-half Mark Ruddick was able to find touch down his right on the
halfway line. Bournemouth managed to steal the throw-in and scrum-half Sam Hardcastle
kicked deep into the Maidenhead 22-metre but Maidenhead full back Simon Swadling ran the
left and made a great clearance back the halfway line this time on the left. The Bournemouth
forwards drove their counterparts backwards but when the ball was eventually released going
left it was knocked-on by the Bournemouth mid-field. From the scrum, No 8 Greg Riley broke
off the back to feed scrum-half Simon Carter as he went down the blindside. With
Bournemouth failing to find their first-time tackles, Maidenhead, with a sharp interchange of
passes tight on the right-hand touch, broke through for blindside flanker Alex Gallina, to the
obvious dismay of the Bournemouth supporters, to score what amounted to a very soft try.
Echoes of what ha,ppened at Braywick Park back in October! Fortunately, outside centre
Warren Abrahams who had scored that opening try in that earlier match, was not as
proficient with the boot as he obviously was with the ball in hand and pulled his effort across
the face of the goal to leave the score at 0-5 after just three minutes play. Not a good start.
This feeling of apprehension was reinforced by Maidenhead continuing to look very lively and
dangerous . Clearing from the kick-off they forced full back Domenick Davies into touch and
as the ball was moved right the aforementioned Abrahams reinforced his dangerous
reputation when he made a half break but Bournemouth managed to rescue the ball and flyhalf
Scot Chislett was able to clear with a long kick down field. After a long chase they
pressurized the Maidenhead defence who were penalized for handling on the ground and the
found touch on the Maidenhead 22-metre down the left. Despite the Bournemouth threes
looking very lively as they probed the Maidenhead defence they weren’t able to break
through and were forced to concede a scrum. Scrum-half Carter was ‘done’ for ‘feeding’ and
from the quickly taken free kick, captain Chris Hughes was driven over to score wide out on
the left. With a very finely judged kick five metres in from touch, left wing James Flynn added
the two points for Bournemouth to lead 7-5 after ten minutes play. Poor receipt of the ball
from the kick-off gave Maidenhead a scrum but Bournemouth won the ball and Hardcastle
was able to clear down field. Chislett in following up was unlucky not to be able to get the
ball away to inside centre James Payne and Maidenhead were able to rescue a dangerous
situation.
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From the scrum, Bournemouth broke left and as they stretched the Maidenhead
defence, outside centre Tim Gray drew the last man and rather than simply pass to ball to
the unmarked Flynn he decided to test the tall man’s basket ball skills and, despite a huge
leap, the winger wasn’t able to gather the ball and it went into touch. A golden opportunity
went begging! All didn’t seem loss nonetheless when openside flanker Iain Crombie stole the
ball at the back of the line and setup a drive. Maidenhead were penalized in trying to stem
the tide but, from the quickly taken penalty, Bournemouth in turn were penalized, this time
for holding on. Maidenhead with some enterprise took a quick penalty of their own and
suddenly Bournemouth from a promising attacking position were on the back foot deep inside
their own territory. This was, however, to set the stage for a demonstration of some
brilliance. From a line-out deep inside his own 22-metre, Hardcastle received the ball and
went left. He appeared to stumble at first but a shimmy here and shimmy there and he was
through. With Payne straining every sinew to be up there in support. he was past the halfway
line before he met full back Swadling but with a deft dummy to Payne he was past him and
to the roars of a delighted crowd he was soon under the posts spotting the bal. Brilliant!
Flynn didn’t fluff his lines and Bournemouth were 14-5 seventeen minutes into the game.
After the earlier alarums, Bournemouth were beginning to play with more confidence but
Maidenhead were still able to disrupt the scrums but this advantage was nullified when for
the second time referee Steve Johnson awarded a penalty for ‘feeding’ and backed this up
with a ‘chat’ to offender Carter. Flynn was unable to capitalize on the transgression and
rather ‘got under the ball’ and the kick, from some thirty metres, was well short. With
Bournemouth maintaining their territory advantage, a patient build up by the threes first by
Gray who looped wide to the right to find tighthead prop Alan Manning in support. Then
when they were stopped the ball was worked back left and Domenick Davies, coming into the
line, was put clear by Hardcastle for the full back to crash over wide of the left-hand post.
Flynn pulled an, otherwise, excellent kick left of the nearside post to leave the score at 19-5
twenty-three minutes into the game. Straight from the kick-off the ever-alert Hardcastle
made a break with a deft chip but Maidenhead were penalized and Flynn found touch on the
Maidenhead 5-metre line down the right. Maidenhead resisted the drive for the line forcing
Bournemouth to move the ball left. The increasingly confident Chislett, with a show of the
ball here and a sidestep there, almost broke through but Payne with typical strength was able
to maintain the momentum and he forced his way over just left of the posts for Flynn to kick
his fourth goal of the game to put Bournemouth 26-5 up after twenty-eight minutes. Despite
the increasing Bournemouth dominance, they were thwarted by a determined Maidenhead
defence and forced, on occasions, to look to their own laurels in the same aspect of the
game when Maidenhead were always prepared to run quick ball from the penalty when the
opportunity arose. Nonetheless 21 points was healthy lead to take into half-time.
Right from the restart, Bournemouth showed their intentions when lock Tim Seward broke
and ran some thirty metres to put Maidenhead under immediate pressure. They were
penalized for not rolling away from the tackle and Flynn had a very early chance to kick at
goal. However he badly pulled his kick wide of the left-hand post. Enterprisingly Maidenhead
took a tap 22-drop-out and were awarded a scrum as Bournemouth stopped them virtually
on the 22-metre line. Winning the ball against the head, Hardcastle kicked right deep into the
dead ball area where right wing Joe Frost, following up, was only just beaten to the ball by
the covering Swadling. With Bournemouth still keeping Maidenhead in their half, referee
Johnson had a long talk with captain Hughes but didn’t reach for his back pocket.
Maidenhead immediately made a dangerous break down the right where they were forced
into touch on the Bournemouth 22-metre line. As Bournemouth tried to clear, Maidenhead
charged the ball down but it bounced quite kindly for Davies to gather and boot the ball into
touch. At the line-out, Bournemouth were penalized for pulling the jumper down and
Maidenhead opted for a scrum. Again Bournemouth were awarded a free kick which was
quickly taken and Chislett eventually got the ball into touch on the halfway line. Bournemouth
put Maidenhead under enormous pressure with typical charges by Hughes and hooker Chris
Ulu almost got through as a result of one his dents. The score eventually came when
Bournemouth were first stopped going right but the ball was recycled going left and with the
Maidenhead defence being fully stretched, Chislett was able to ‘step through’ and score wide
out on the left. From the touch line, Flynn’s kick was just short but Bournemouth were
stretching away ay 31-5 after forty-nine minutes. Bournemouth made a mess of the kick-off
receipt and then knocked the ball on to give Maidenhead a scrum some 30 metres out.
Bournemouth managed to nick it and a long kick down field saw Flynn chasing the ball deep
into the Maidenhead 22-metre. However Hughes was again spoken to by the ref and this
time he was shown the yellow card. The loss of a player seemed to make little difference and
three minutes later Bournemouth set up a wonderful attack with everyone seemingly
involved. Gray first kicked the ball back into the Maidenhead half as they cleared from the
penalty. The ball was recovered to first go left but then it was quickly back the other way and
through the hands for Frost to crash over wide out on the right. A great score! From the
touchline, Flynn pulled his kick across the face of the goal and the score was left at 36-5
fifteen minutes into the half. Bournemouth continued to play some exciting rugby with
Hardcastle proving to be slippery as an eel and from a typical tight situation Manning wasn’t
able to hold on to his pass much to the disappointment of the crowd. Down the left Flynn
was almost in as Bournemouth began to run Maidenhead ragged with some exciting running.
They won a line-out on the Maidenhead 5-metre line and at this point Hughes was restored
and Cawley came on for Jayson Kenny. Then with his first touch of the ball he was put free
by Manning off the back of the line-out and the erstwhile captain crashed over under the
posts. Flynn added the two points for Bournemouth to lead 43-5 twenty-five minutes into the
half. Coach David Dunn took the opportunity of the break in play to put ‘Eddy’ Edwards on for
Joe Frost. With Bournemouth continuing to excite the crowd with another charge by
Manning, although he wasn’t quite able to link up with Hardcastle, they still took any
opportunity to score and when Maidenhead were penalized for being offside at a ruck, Flynn
added to his personal tally with a well struck goal from some thirty metres. Maidenhead,
nonetheless, still showed how dangerous they were when their threes broke down the right
and a classic full back try-saving tackle saved the scorer reaching for his pen. The
Bournemouth defence still had to be fully alert as Maidenhead went left and were delighted
to get the scrum on their own 5-metre line when the ball was knocked-on in the tackle.
Hardcastle almost broke away from the scrum but Bournemouth were penalized only for
Maidenhead to knock the ball on as they took the penalty. Bournemouth were thus able to
take play back into the Maidenhead half and were awarded a line-out down the right on the
Maidenhead 22-metre line. There was still more to come. With Seward again securing the ball
to feed Hardcastle, the scrum-half was through the line-out where a very tired set of
forwards was unable to stop him touching down under the posts. Flynn had an easy
conversion and Bournemouth ran out convincing winners at 53-5.
Sponsors Goadsby, celebrating their fiftieth anniversary, awarded their Man of the Match to
Sam Hardcastle but the choices were very hard in such a convincing team performance. It
was, unsurprisingly, our best win against Maidenhead and in South-West 1 but the whole
game was a testimony to some hard work by everyone involved and Bournemouth supporters
have much to enjoy at the moment.
Referee – Steve Johnson, North Midlands. Referee’s Assessor – Terry Friend, Cornwall.
Touch Judge – Steve Buffery, Bournemouth.
Bournemouth Team - 15:Domenick Davies; 14: Joe Frost (‘Eddy’ Edwards 65); 13: Tim
Gray; 12: James Payne; 11: James Flynn; 10: Scott Chislett; 9: Sam Hardcastle; 1: Troy Siaki
(Jo Burns 56); 2: Chris Ulu; 3: Alan Manning; 4: Jayson Kenny (Cawley 65); 5: Tim Seward;
6: Chris Hughes (c); 7: Iain Crombie (1T); 8: Matt Kiely.
Scorers – Tries (8): 2 Hardcastle; 1 Cawley, Chislett, Davies, Frost, Hughes, Payne. Con (5):
5 Flynn. Pen (1): 1 Flynn.
Yellow Card – Chris Hughes 52-64m.
Milestones – James Payne plays, and Alan Manning is selected, for the 50th time in all
matches for the 1st XV.
Maidenhead Team - 15: Simon Swadling; 14: Simon Cripps (James MacDonald); 13:
Warren Abrahams; 12: Jonny Hammond; 11: Stuart Mackay; 10: Mark Ruddick (c); 9: Simon
Carter; 1: Cormac O’Bryne (George Blackwell); 2: Richard Barber; 3: George Blackwell; 4:
Roko Babich; 5: Mark Meuller; 6: Alex Gallina; 7: Mark Parkhouse (James Cox); 8: Greg Riley.
Scorers – Tries (1): 1 Gallina.
Scoring sequence – 3m: Maidenhead try (Gallina) 0-5; 10m: Huges try, Flynn con 7-5;
17m: Hardcastle try, Flynn con 14-5; 23m: Davies try 19-5; 28m: Payne try, Flynn con 26-5;
40m: Half-time: 26-5; 49m: Chislett try 31-5; 55m: Frost try 36-5; 65m: Cawley try, Flynn
con 43-5; 70m: Flynn pen 46-5; 77m: Hardcastle try, Flynn con 53-5; 80m: Full Time: 53-5.
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