Dartmouth 23, Plymouth Argaum 20

Just the result Dartmouth wanted writes Jeff Hunt. We often hear coaches and the like saying that, in friendlies like these, the winning wasn't that important, yet the after match conversation often refers to the fact that they wanted to win. Name me a team who doesn't mind losing. Dartmouth took on a team from league one, which was another good test for them and a well-picked warm-up arranged by director of rugby Steve Atkins. Dartmouth dominated in the scrum and the line-out, with Adam Sharam again showing coaches Chris Chater and Lee Chase just why he was picked to play for Devon last year, alongside flanker Karl Caunter. Sharam leapt like a salmon in the line-out, keeping fellow team mate Andy Williams on the bench for most of the game. A new player making his debut on the right wing, albeit for the last few minutes, was Jake Lomas, but no doubt Jake will be coming on a lot sooner in the near future. A good coaching ploy to keep the young lad keen for the next game, which will be at home again, this Saturday, against Kingsbridge seconds. Another familiar face, filling in at tighthead prop, was Lawrence Searle, who gave his all to keep the pressure on his opposite number. Dartmouth started well against a good Argaum side, with both teams trying to play expansive rugby, but it was 20 minutes before the deadlock was broken. Nick Shillabeer was given a yellow card and 10 minutes to reflect on the fact that an Argaum player ran into his shoulder. The referee awarded a penalty and Argaum's fly-half opting for the three points to put them in the lead. Just four minutes later Dartmouth were awarded a penalty after an Argaum player or two were adjudged to be offside. Up popped, inside centre Richard Lobb, who calmly slotted the penalty over to bring the scores level. Argaum were unable to make use of the extra player they had, not down to a lack of trying, but more to Dartmouth backing each other up in the mauls and giving the backs a bit of ball. With Shillabeer back on and wanting to make amends for his misdemeanour, Dartmouth started to turn the screw, pushing the Argaum scrum off the ball and dominating the mauls. With Martin Sharam, who has shed a few pounds, stepping in at scrum-half and asking his forwards to keep going in the mauls, quality ball was spun out to the backs. Dartmouth didn't want the first half to end, but with the temperature rising to 23 degrees, all of the players required much-needed refreshments at the interval. John Dingle, Dartmouth's skipper for the new season, gave an uplifting half-time team talk, thanking his players for putting in a brilliant first-half performance, but reminding them the job was only half done. John asked the players to be there for each other and to shut out any attempt that Argaum would be throwing at them. With the restart, Dartmouth did just that and with 10 minutes of the second half gone they pushed Argaum off their own scrum ball. A moment of brilliance saw John Dingle pick the ball up from the base of the scrum and pop it to Scott Silsbury, who showed the Argaum full-back a clean pair of heels to go over and make the score 8-3 to Dartmouth. Ten minutes later Dartmouth were at it again, this time winning the ball from a line-out and getting it down the line to Luke Bridgwood, who dotted down under the posts, Richard Lobb converting for 15–3. Unfortunately though, in games like these, it was necessary to bring on some fresh blood and that tends to upset the rhythm. This allowed Argaum to hit back with two quick tries to lead 15–17. A penalty for each team, in quick succession, then took the score to 18–20, but the way the Dartmouth players were feeling, nothing was going to interrupt this home winning performance. With 10 minutes to go, up popped Scott Silsbury with another Usain Bolt-like run, receiving the ball from the forwards again and sprinting over the whitewash for an unconverted try, enough to give Dartmouth a well-deserved victory. If the lads play like this every week, there's absolutely no reason why they can't challenge for the top spot this season and, even if they don't, if they continue to play mouth-watering rugby like this, at least they can enjoy a jar or two knowing that they did everything they could to win. Many thanks go to all of the supporters and particularly to the hockey ladies, who turned out to cheer the lads on. Don't forget Dartmouth are at home again this Saturday with a local derby against Kingsbridge seconds.