Sidcup 40 - Gosport & Fareham 17

From the Gosport & Fareham website
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The 1st XV were destroyed by three first half tries in six minutes thanks to defensive frailties and despite a fight-back that was worthy of a bonus point, they lost 40-17 at Sidcup yesterday and came away with nothing writes Brian Seeney

Gos made a flying start with a second try in successive games for Kiwi centre Levi Hui Hui after only four minutes and dominated completely until Sidcup made their first sortie into the Gos 22 in the 16th minute, courtesy of missed tackles that gave the home side a 7-5 lead.

In the next six minutes Sidcup repeated that twice more thanks to more woeful tackling and on 33 minutes it was 28-5 and a minute into the second half 33-5.

Successive lineout infringements put the Sidcup main jumper in the sin bin (47 minutes) and sparked a Gos recovery. Within four minutes prop Justin Powell powered over from 10 metres and fly half Sam Foster's conversion made it 33-12.

The game had long gone as Sidcup scored their fifth converted try on 62 minutes but having sensed a bonus point could be theirs, debut making wing Darren Pankhurst scored their third try on 71 minutes and it was 40-17.

The remaining 13 minutes saw Gos pound away and be frustrated by consistent infringements which brought a second Sidcup yellow card on 79 minutes but not the penalty try that Head Coach Neil McRoberts would liked to have seen after numerous penalties in the red zone.

Said McRoberts: "I thought for the first 15 minutes we were fantastic.

"Sidcup were lucky to get out of their half in the first 20 minutes. But we probably didn't get enough points on the board after that amount of possession and that amount of territory.

"We started strongly and set the tone for the game and they struggled with it. And as a good a side as they are and they are second for a reason, they didn't really have an answer for it.

"It was a lack of accuracy in the last third of the pitch that probably cost us.

"Three tries in six minutes were gifted to them. Everyone was a missed tackle as they took a long deep line and we didn't react well enough. That's about concentration levels and we've said time and time again against these top teams that you've got to concentrate for the full amount of time the ball is in play. We didn't do that and in those six minutes we paid the price.

"It gave them the upper hand when we turned around 28-5 down.

"We should have had a fourth try and I think that would have been nothing less than we deserved.

"The guys knuckled down and played very well and yet again made a top two team look very average. We just need that extra 5% that would make us a bit more clinical and if we can start doing that then we will really start competing in this league.

"The flip side of that is we've scored another three really well worked tries and spent a lot of the game in their half so I don't really think the attacking side of things is our problem. We just need to get mean defensively and if we can do that we stand a good chance of getting results."

McRoberts says the build-up to Sidcup was "a difficult week" with a long list of injuries and unavailability exacerbated by David Cleary's late withdrawal due to his ankle problem, forcing back row Sean Shepherd to be a make-do centre.

"Sean did fantastically well playing out of position but you are a back row player for a reason and you are a centre for a reason so it makes it a little bit difficult.

"We've got a squad of players who can definitely finish in the top half but it's a case of being more clinical in the last third and shutting teams down defensively.

"I do firmly believe that we will always score points in games but we need to stop the opposition scoring. It sounds simple but it is key for us because if we do that we will win games because we do attack well."

The defeat sent Gos back to next to bottom, four points clear of Twickenham with tenth in the table Maidstone - next Saturday's visitors to Gosport Park - and Dover and Charlton Park ahead on points' difference but also with seven points from five games.