Tribute Devon One

Dartmouth 27

The pitch at New Cross was in surprisingly good condition considering all the rain that has fallen this week so the match went ahead with no concerns.

Dartmouth kicked off the match and it was a very scrappy first 20 minutes from both sides as they tried to get some momentum going.

It was a mistake from Dartmouth that gifted New Cross the lead on 24 minutes as a loose pass was intercepted by the New Cross winger and he sprinted half the length of the pitch to score between the posts. The conversion was made and New Cross took a 7-0 lead.

This seemed to be the wake-up call that Dartmouth needed as they then went on to dominate the rest of the first half.

With Dartmouth camped on the New Cross five-metre line, it was it was prop Dec Hammond who managed to get over the line for his sixth try of the season. Jack Clark scored the conversion and the score was level.

Two minutes later and Dartmouth were on the five-metre line again. This time the ball fell to winger Jack Gordon to score and put Dartmouth into a 7-12 lead.

With two minutes left of the first half a nasty injury to flanker Ricky Seymour saw him carried off and taken to hospital, but luckily nothing was broken and just badly bruised ribs. There was still time before half time for Dartmouth’s best move of the match with John Dingle, Jason Gibbs, Luke Chase and Richard Lobb all involved in the build-up play before finding Luke Bonstow on the wing, who at full stretch ran into the corner to score and put Dartmouth 7-17 up at half time.

A couple of half-time changes for Dartmouth saw Nick Shillabeer and Jack Stirk being replaced by Dan Jones and Dom Calvert.

Dartmouth carried on where they left off in the second half and on 45 minutes some good link-up play between Jack Gordon and Luke Bonstow sent captain John Dingle clear to score Dartmouth’s fourth try and secure an attacking bonus point.

Dartmouth added a fifth try with 20 minutes to play when Jack Gordon kicked a loose ball clear and chased half the length of the pitch to score in the corner to put Dartmouth 7-27 in front.

New Cross did break away to score an excellent try with nine minutes to play, but by then Dartmouth had done enough to secure victory.

Captain John Dingle, who is having an excellent season so far, was awarded man of the match for his performance that keeps Dartmouth in third place in the league.

With no league game this Saturday, Dartmouth will send a development squad to play the BRNC in a friendly at the college.