Sun 3 Oct

New Milton Festival

Torrential rain throughout England meant that this was probably one of the few sporting events taking place in the entire country.  The weather was horrible at the start, but brightened by the end of what was a long day; at least it gave us a chance to experiment with Richard’s new tent.  Surprisingly, despite the weather the pitches stayed in a reasonable condition.  In spite of a late start the Festival was well run with a good team of pitch officials.

Overall – Salisbury played very well, but were unlucky.  They deserved better results than they got.  All credit to the coaches for the work they did between games because the play improved with every match.  As has often happened in the past, Salisbury fell victim to a ranking mechanism which, in the semis, pits the second team from any pool against the victors of the other pool.  So many times last season Salisbury lost out to this rule, always the Bridesmaid, never the Bride (in a macho-rugby sort of way).

Pool B

Tottonians failed to turn up, so Salisbury gained a ‘bye’ in Pool B against that team.

Match 1: Oakmeadians 1 Salisbury 0

For a Festival that started at 1000 hrs, Salisbury’s first game didn’t begin until 1128 hrs.  Despite this, the team played very well, getting to grips with subtle changes in the rules now that they have moved up a level.  Kicking gave the games an entirely new dimension and the boys’ understanding of when and how to kick developed as the match progressed.  Early in the first half a good kick by Ben Richards rescued Salisbury from some touch-line drama.  But sadly, Salisbury’s valiant efforts were insufficient to prevent a woolly mammoth playing in an Oakmeadians’ shirt breaking through and opening the scoring for the opposition.

In the second half Salisbury dominated play and deserved a try on several occasions, but failed to make that last desperate half-yard.  Oakmeadians won, but they must have been relieved.  Salisbury gained a point for having a 1-try score difference.

Match 2:  Trojans 1 Salisbury 1

Salisbury’s players improved their game again.  I don’t know what happened during the summer holidays, but something has clicked into place for these boys and the results are impressive.  It was only a lucky interception in the first half that enabled a Trojan player to steal the ball and make and unchallenged sprint for the line – with Tom McFarland snapping at his heels, but unable to make the tackle.

Salisbury dominated the second half and deserved more tries, but it was left to Angus Lorimer to make it over the line levelling the score.  Again, the tight scoreline belied a strong Salisbury performance.

Match 3: Swanage and Wareham 1 Salisbury 2

Our first victory of the season.

Again, as our knowledge of kicking improved, a good kick from Ben Richards rescued Salisbury from a dangerous situation.  The opposition scored first, but Salisbury fought back valiantly and a penalty incurred close to S&W’s own try-line allowed Salibury’s strong forwards to power through, with Ben Richards at the front, to level the score.

The opposition continually surrendered possession through silly infringements and lapses of discipline.  One of these errors in the second half gave Angus Lorimer a chance to dive over the line and secure Salisbury’s first victory of the season.  Minutes later he was felled by a high tackle, but he recovered and played on.  Well done Angus and Salisbury.

Salisbury finished second in the Pool with eleven points.

Semi-Final

Wimborne 3  Salisbury 0

Wimborne have always been a strong team and ‘the ones to beat’.  They played excellently with first class off-loads (crucially – because there was always someone there to offload to!). 

Salisbury kept Wimborne at bay for the first half, with Harry Mould nearly causing an upset with a solo try.  It was a valiant effort all round; one lucky break by Salisbury could have upset the balance.  But in the second half Wimborne made 2 rapid tries, the second marred by allegations of hand-offs and punching by Wimborne.  With a psychological advantage, Wimborne managed to secure one further try before closing the match.

Salisbury will undoubtedly face Wimborne again this season.  We shall have to work hard to overcome these all-black demons.