Bognor 17 Andover 29
Saxon Safety sponsored Andover produced their best performance of the season so far, to come away from league leaders Bognor with a convincing victory.
Indeed the home side were unbeaten at home for over a year and had defeated the ‘All Blacks’ in their own back yard in October, but there was to be no repeat of that as Andover dominated from the off.
In their first game since the Christmas break, Andover could have been forgiven for being a bit ring rusty, but instead the rest seemed to have rejuvenated them, and with the return of the excellent Rich Retallick at fly half and Stan North at centre, Andover had both control and a real threat in midfield that Bogor couldn’t match.
Andover also welcomed back Harry Scobie on the wing after two years in Australia to add even more power to the already impressive back three options Andover have.
Andover began well with a solid scrum and powerful running from Nic Reed, Tom Erskine and James Reeder set the tone for the afternoon.
Bognor did take the lead with a penalty after ten minutes, but they were already struggling with the pace and power of Andover.
Promising young winger Joey Yates was forced off with an early injury, to be replaced by Ben Black who had a very solid game on his debut.
With the returning Callum Barber Starkey now finding his range at lineout time, Andover poured forwards and from a quick tap penalty, North stormed over with Retallick adding the extras.
Andover looked in complete control and despite losing flanker Louis Shinton to injury, they dominated possession. Then came a moment of magic that sent Andover away.
Retallick kicked a penalty to touch for a lineout, but Bryn Waite got there quickly, and as man of the match Kieran Bush sprinted up the middle, screaming for the ball, Waite produced a long miss pass from the quick lineout, setting Bush away for a fine score.
Retallick was wide with the conversion but made amends with a penalty Just before the break, awarded after Andover missed a golden chance for a third try.
Andover went into the second half in confident mood. Callum Hollinshead was nullifying the threat of the home back row and with North and skipper CJ Feirn closing the middle Bognor lost their way.
From a series of penalties Andover gained field position and this time did go for the catch and drive, impressively finished by Jake Dixon.
Retallick was again wide with the conversion but again soon made amends with a fine penalty strike.
Bognor are not top for nothing however and the expected counter attack had Andover in trouble for a period. Sean Higgins marshalled his team well however and a combination of some good game management from Feirn and a stunning try saving tackle from Scobie, kept the home side to just one try in reply.
In the last fifteen minutes it was all Andover. Winning a string of penalties Andover closed up shop and played for territory. Retallick added two more penalties to put the game out of sight as Andover sensibly chose to take the win rather than try for the try bonus point.
After the game Director Rugby Andy Waite said ‘As a coaching group we are very proud of what these lads achieved today. We asked them to go back to the system we’ve worked so hard on and they were very disciplined in doing that. It’s a sign of a maturing side that they managed and closed out the game in the way they did.’
Images Courtesy of Martin Denyer.
