Hinds XV Match Report
Winchester II 34 - Andover II 16 - Reports Simon Tedridge
For their final match of the season, SSI Schaeffer sponsored Andover Hinds made the short trip to local rivals Winchester. Unfortunately, it was again a very changed team to the previous Saturday, however having had some good results against Winchester previously the team was still optimistic.
Winchester started the game strongly, putting the relatively inexperienced Andover side under huge pressure. However the Andover pack was managing to hold their larger opponents in the scrum and even drove them backwards on a couple of occasions.
Eventually, the deadlock was broken and the strong Winchester centres and back row managed to break through the Andover defence. The Hinds then started to come back into the match, enjoying some good possession, with some excellent strong running from the returning Pete McDowell and Matt Withycombe.
This pressure eventually led to Winchester conceding a penalty, which was kicked by skipper Tedridge. The fly half then intercepted the ball and raced towards the Winchester line, offloading as he was tackled to Pete Bennett who touched down under the posts. With the conversion successful, Andover managed to finish the half with the scores locked at 10 a piece.
The second half started poorly, as Winchester broke through to score their third try, which was again unconverted. Spurred on by this Andover enjoyed their best period of the match, forcing Winchester back deep into their own half. This pressure caused Winchester to give away penalty after penalty, and should have seen the yellow card used by the referee. As it was, Andover managed to take the chances offered to them and went into a slim 1 point lead with the skipper slotting two further penalties.
The game eventually turned away from Andover in the cruellest fashion. A great breakaway by the Andover’s winger almost saw them take a significant lead. However some desperate defence from Winchester stopped the break and the clearing kick took a wicked bounce to land straight in the arms of a Winchester player who raced in to score. Winchester capitalised on this to take the game out of reach of Andover as they scored a further two tries, giving the final score a more one sided look.
There were many great performances in the side, particularly from those 4th team players making their debuts for the Hinds. The 2nd team stalwarts of Andy Dawkins, Mark Chillek and Neil Brewer also had very strong games, particularly in defence.
Finally Luke Wilcox showed how he has improved from his time with the 1st XV, scrummaging brilliantly against a much bigger opponent.
Scorers
Tries: Bennettt
Cons: Tedridge
Pen: Tedridge (3)