MARLOW 9 NORTH DORSET 24

NORTH Dorset travelled to Marlow to represent Dorset & Wiltshire in the Southern Counties semi-final and RFU Intermediate Cup last 32.

Along with the 22-man squad, North took with them a staggering 80-plus supporters, who had all made the two-and-a-half hour journey.

Marlow is located on the banks of the River Thames and, considering the rain in recent weeks, their pitch was in a good condition, however consistent rain made the game one for the rugby purists.

North’s fly-half, Sam Baker got the game under way as the visitors started strongly.

Harry Collis immediately bought the catcher down and North’s Stacy Dyer pounced on to the isolated player, winning a penalty.

Electing to go for goal, Baker slotted the kick to give North a 3-0 lead after less than a minute.

For the first 20 minutes, it was all North, with the forwards on top, however, Marlow’s well-organised defence held strong seeing Tom Hooper, Robbie Sampson and Tom Stewart all being stopped inches from the line.

Marlow’s line speed in defence and the conditions meant the game was kept tight.

The home side stayed strong until they gave away a penalty under the sticks and Baker made no mistake in taking the three points on offer, North were now 6-0 up.

At the restart, Marlow kicked long and Baker cleared, only for the referee to judge a chaser was offside, allowing the visitors to reduce the deficit to three points with a penalty.

Soon after, during an aerial duel, North countered. Baker released Lewis Munster, who sped down the wing and scored in the corner, Baker added the extras taking the score to 13-3 to put the away outfit well in the box seat.

At the restart there was a sense of déjà vu, Baker cleared and an offside North player gave away a penalty, Marlow took the three points taking the score to 13-6 but those points were soon cancelled out as North went in 16-6 ahead at the break.

At half-time, North introduced Will Willoughby to the game and he immediately started to make dents in to the Marlow defence along with number eight Adam Trevis, centres Sam Trevis and Adam Geal.

The second half started to follow the same pattern as the first, with North in control and Marlow’s defence initially standing firm.

For the first time in the half North gave away a penalty which Marlow converted, taking the score to 16-9 with 25 minutes remaining.

The aerial dogfight between the sides continued. North’s back three led by Jay Westcar, held firm and mixed their game up kicking when needed and counter-attacking when the option was on.

This meant North always had good field position and on one particular kick chase, pressure from Charlie Gunning and Tom Stewart led to a stray pass, which fell in to Adam Geal’s arms, he sprinted clear and scored for North to make it 21-9.

As conditions deteriorated, multiple phases seemed impossible for the two sides.

North kept on attacking and, with five minutes left they got their reward, a penalty, which Baker happily converted taking the score to 24-9 and his personal tally to 14 points for the afternoon.

North were good money for their win, playing the elements perfectly and showing great commitment in such appalling conditions.

The other bonus being that, out of the 22 players in North’s squad, 18 of them had come through the club’s youth system.

  • North will now face Reading Abbey in the final at Slaughtergate on February 6. Abbey overcame Bicester 13-12 in their semi-final.