Andover 28 Winchester II 15
On a great day for Rugby in front of a big Christmas crowd, Saxon Safety sponsored Andover overcame a good Winchester side to gain a five point bonus point win at the Goodship ground last Saturday.
Andover began the first half playing down the slope, but in the face of a strong sun which made life difficult for the back three under the high ball. Never the less, Bryn Waite and youngsters Joey Yates and Isaac Demesi, coped well with everything thrown at them and showed their pace and quick feet with some electric counter attacking.
Up front too Andover looked very strong, with a flow of lineout ball from Callum Hollinshead and it wasn’t long before the pressure told when man of the match Kieron Bush crashed over from a ruck after a series of penalties on the Winchester line. Yates stepped up to strike a fine conversion for Andover to take a lead they were not to lose.
The front row of Samson Earle, Alex Arter and James Reeder dominated the scrums and with Hollinshead, Nic Reed and George Watson carrying hard Andover looked impressive.
Winchester were not top of the league without reason though and they came back into the game well, but met a defence, led by skipper CJ Feirn, in no mood to give ground. Bush was everywhere making key turnovers, but on 30 minutes the visitors finally struck from a well worked lineout move.
This seemed to galvanise Andover however who upped it a gear, forcing Winchester to concede ground.
Brothers Alex and Jake Kane marshalled the troops superbly with their pace and skill and with Sean Higgins orchestrating attacks from scrum half Andover poured forwards.
From a catch and drive Reed went over for the second try again converted by Yates and just before the break, a lovely chip and chase from Feirn, with Yates again successful, gave Andover a comfortable half time lead.
After the break Andover lost replacement Jacob Demesi to injury and moved the versatile Waite to the back row, to join Bush and the inpressive Hollinshead in his first game in the number eight role, and together they outplayed the Winchester back row.
Andover then lost George Watson to injury and Hollinshead then got a team yellow, and as Andover reorganised Winchester took advantage with a converted try and soon followed with a penalty to draw within six points.
Restored to fifteen, normal service was resumed for Andover. Youngsters Matt Gates and Jamie Banks both showed plenty of promise as Andover again took control.
Forcing their way up field Andover exerted a lot of pressure on the Winchester line but unlike other games recently, stayed patient and when they finally went for it, James Reeder smashed his way over for the winning and bonus point score again converted by Yates.
Afterwards Director of Rugby Andy Waite said ‘Injury and unavailability have caused us huge problems in the past couple of weeks, but the lads who’ve come in, alongside some of the regulars, have been immense. Today we had Callum in his first ever game at eight, CJ kicking for touch for the first time and Joey kicking for goal for the first time in an adult game. For a team in transition the spirit of the side is fantastic and the future looks bright.’
