Laying their bodies on the line to prevent the white wash from being crossed was:
1. Ash 'One night stand' Hollingworth
2. Simon 'Straight as a die' Pengelly
3. John 'Stand back I'm a trainee physio' Warren
4. Martyn 'He's done it again' Peel
5. Rulzy 'Mad-eye moody'
6. Rob 'I will train' Woods
7. Stefan 'My nail hurts' Pittman
8. Tony 'You can live off one tackle all your life' O'Connell
9. Dan 'Stop shouting at yourself' Cree
10. Tom '3 from 5' Clifford 11. Dudley '110%' Morris
12. Toby 'To you bro' Waddington
13. Roly 'Back to you bro' Harris
14. Hugh 'Big tackle' Pryce
15. Rob 'Back yourself' Grassby
16. Mark 'Didn't want to play anyway' Adams (60 mins for Warren)
17. James 'Get out of the channel' Harries (50 mins for Peeley)
18. Jordan 'New number again' Mockett (40 mins for Dudley)
19. Andrew 'One last hooray' Drake (60 mins for Pryce)
20. Karim 'Have it' El Kanouni (40 mins for Rulzy)
21. Bill 'Wind up' Gates (40 mins for Cree)
22. Ben 'I won't let you down' Hull (50 mins for Woods)
Supporting from their sick beds was:
23. Alex 'Sulky knickers' Duncan
24. Ross 'One shoulder' Maclaren
25. Rob 'Mad dog' Goodfellow
Gone but not forgotten were:
26. James 'You can do it' Newsom
27. Joe 'Hard hitting' Gower
28. Jamie 'dot dot dot, dash dash dash' Morgan
Missing in action in Cardiff was:
29. Dan 'Mr Incredible at the beginning of the film' Underhill
30. Sam 'Mr Incredible at the end of the film' Keel
As you can see from the list above, having narrowly lost the reverse fixture earlier in the season by three points, this was the game that everyone wanted to play in. Losing Newsom the night before was a big loss as we all knew he'd have a massive point to prove, but just as big a loss were Ross and Alex before kick off having both having failed late fitness tests. This resulted in a rejigging of the team and Jam having to step down onto the bench just before kick off, with further confusion when Peeley ran off the pitch as the whistle blew due to some unforeseen sharting incident.
This match was never going be described as 'the beautiful game', not with local bragging rights at stake, but as with the earlier match, it was a hard physical encounter played in the right spirit. Both teams attacked at every opportunity, but as one spectator put it, with the brothers grim in the centres, this was never going to be a game for the faint hearted (or for wingers). Dorchester forwards for the most part had a mixed game, dominating the first half set pieces, but all to often allowing Bridport to either slow the ball down steal it at the point of contact meaning there was a lack of fluidity to the game, especially as the Dorch backrow were doing their best to steal back as much ball as possible too. Stef and Woody in particular were getting around the park well as were the front row, whilst Rulzy and Peel continued to give everything at the scrum, and the salmon like Peel securing the restarts.
With Toby or Roly taking most of the ball the backs got via route one and Bridport having to commit two players each time to bring them down, something was eventually going to give as when the forwards could serve up quick ball we looked dangerous. So it was that Toby was able to cut back inside, break two tackles and then power through the fullback to score under the posts to give TC an easy conversion: 7 - nil.
Bridport were a constant threat though but in all honesty our tackling was up to anything they had, and on the one occasion they did break through the back row were there to make the tackle and steal the ball back. What we needed were calmer heads, quick ball and to release the young and very quick wider players we had, but given the opposition and the number of new players in the team again there was a general lack of cohesion that prevented us taking a bigger lead into the break.
Now playing up the slope the plan was simple, kick to the corners, target their wingers and attack from their half and in TC we have a brilliant kicker from hand. With Bridport just looking to get points on the board, and Dorch looking to extend their lead there was a swapping of penalty kicks so that with 20 minutes to go the scores were locked at 10 - 3. Once again after great Dorch pressure, Toby once again cut back inside, broke the tackle and scored under the posts, but his one handed celebration was a cause for concern. Bridport to be fair also had a very good kicker, and one 22 drop out of note deserves a mention after he kicked his team to our 5 meter line to relieve the pressure on his team, but our line was not to be crossed. Every tackle was made, every drive driven back, and when they did cross our line the ball was held up on more then one occasion by Pengelly. With a little over 10 minutes left the opposition 8 was knocked out - thankfully John our trainee physio was on had to take charge - and an ambulance was called so we swapped pitches (we wish him all the best in his 6 weeks out) and again Bridport threw everything at us, not helped by Addo's yellow card for running over one of their players, or John's disappearance so we had no front row replacement to come back on but still we defended the white wash and they did not pass.
Whilst not being able to mention everyone's contribution, this was a team effort and everyone played his or her part so thank you to you all, especially those that turned up to support, 1st team, A team, Gladiators, friends and families alike: It is always nice to be cheered on, I just hope you enjoyed the show.
Finally 'Man of the Match' and 'Dick of the Day': Many contenders for both this week with candidates including the entire front row for a fantastic all-round performance, Roly for lasting the entire game and making some big hits and the back row including replacements who never let the Bridport half-backs settle. Whilst Toby gets a nod for his one handed ball carrying especially when hit hard and driven back past everyone at a rate of knots, Addo for his brief cameo role, Peeley for threatening to chunder in the first half or John Warren for pretending he was a Dr.
Man of the Match - Stefan Pittman (played like a terrier all game) Dick of the Day - John Warren (second to Stefan for Man of the Match by the narrowest of margins too)
