3rd Team - Bognor Rugby Club

Bognor 3rd team play in the Sussex 'Late Red League West.

To contact Bognor 3rd team email - 3rd.team@bognor-rfc.co.uk

3rd team captain - Dave Parsons
 

12/01/2013 Holbrook 2's 14 v 14 Bognor 3's

Due to flooded pitches the game was switched to the neutral venue of Cranleigh for this top of the table clash between the teams placed 3rd & 2nd.

With the teams level on points in the league it was destined to be a tough, close match but the pitch conditions didn't make for much of a spectacle. Holbrook started strongly with their forwards dominating the match but when Bognor managed to get clean ball out to their backs Bognor looked threatening.

Halfway through the first half Holbrook got the ball wide with an overlap scored the first try of the game which was then converted. Bognor started to come alive after that score and pushed forward with strong runs from Spurle, Nama and Reed. A little way before half time Rich Hay took the opportunity of a quick penalty to score close to the posts & Reed converted.

In to the second half Bognor continued improving and looked more settled at scrums and commanded more of the ball but found themselves conceding too many penalties which kept pushing them back. However, a good attack with good ground made by Nama once again resulted in Rich hay taking another quick tap penalty to score & again Reed converted to put Bognor 14 - 7 ahead. Holbrook then started to get the better of the game again and near the end of the match Bognor conceded a penalty with a late tackle on a Holbrook back after he kicked the ball. This saw Holbrook gain a lot of ground right in to Bognor's half and a subsequent line out & a couple of scrums (including one where Bognor had a chance to clear their lines but Matt Smith passed the ball in to Rich Hay's head on it's way to Tom Spurle) brought about a try for Holbrook with only minutes remaining. The conversion brought the teams level and that's how if ended.

The teams remain in 3rd & 2nd place in the league on equal points & it looks like they will battle for the second promotion spot fight to the end of the season.

Squad: Langridge, Matjuk, Cooper, Baldwinson, Parsons D, Parsons T, Hull, Smith, Hay, Spurle, Pigden, Gordon, Nama, Reed, Warner, Perry, Brown, Trent, Mitchell, Elliott.

Tries: Hay x 2
Conversions: Reed x 2

Bognor 3 22 v 5 Holbrook 2

The weekend saw a top of the table clash with Holbrook in first place visiting Bognor in second.

Right from the kick off Bognor showed that they were ready and immediately found themselves pressurising Holbrook in their own half. Scrums were hard fought with the experienced props of Bognor providing some lessons to the youth of Holbrook. After a period of sustained pressure Ben Blewitt was able to score the first try from a short way out.

Bognor continued in the same vain, closing Holbrook down quickly when they had the ball and getting the Ball moved out through the backs when the ball was in Bognor's possession. The mixture of a generally mature pack and a young back line proved to be to Bognor's benefit and mid way through the first half saw the try machine, Adam Collyer, over the line out wide for Bognor's second try before a quick tap penalty by Richard Hay gained their third.

Holbrook battled as you would expect a top of the table team to do & scored their own try in the second half which, briefly, saw the typical Bognor 'whinging' start but this was soon quashed and a penalty late on in the game from Ben Blewitt sealed the game for Bognor.

Despite the win Bognor remain in second place with Worthing taking top place after a walk over. This leaves 3 teams on 23 points battling for the coveted top place.

Squad: Greenslade, Matjuk, Dowle, Hull, Parsons, Doick, Russell, Johnson, Hay, Hares, Lancaster, Collyer, Watson, Fleming, Brown, Elliott, Luxton, MacFarlane.

Tries: Blewitt, Collyer, Hay

Conversions: Hares x 2

Penalty: Blewitt

Sussex Salver: Brighton 3's L v W Bognor 3's

Bognor travelled to across country to reach Brighton due to ongoing roadworks on the A27 and were welcomed with a very strong aroma of sewage in the changing room. Despite being highly unpleasant the effect seemed to be very positive as Bognor were dominant from the off commanding possession and winning balls against the head in set pieces.

After about 20 minutes Bognor were already 3 tries to the good and Brighton heads were dropping. However, in the usual Bognor way, the team still found things to whinge about and managed to turn the referee against them and for Brighton to gradually come back in to the game and deservedly scoring just before half time.

Early in to the second half the Brighton hooker had to leave the field of play due to an undiagnosed injury and the ref allowed the game to go to uncontested scrums as their replacement front row player was unable to take the role of hooker. Brighton were now winning ball that was previously going Bognor's way and found themselves first of all catching up with Bognor and then overtaking them in the score.

By the end of the game, with Rich Hay grabbing a late consolation try for Bognor, the score had reached 42 - 32 but Regulation 10iii meant Bognor were handed the win as in a cup game a team that is unable to provide a suitable replacement to avoid uncontested scrums concedes the game.

Scorers:-

Tries:
Tom Watson 2
Adam Collyer
Matt Cox
Rich Hay

Penalty:

Hares

Conversions:

Hares 2

Squad: Cooper, Robinson, Langridge, Cox, Bailey, Rimmer, Davis, Smith, Brown, Hay, Hares, Lancaster, Collyer, Watson, Pye, Pigden, Patsy & Parsons

DICK OF THE DAY: Gordon Bailey for doing a Baz Mitchell special and dropping on the 5 metre line at the back of a maul to momentarily claim a try!

Horley 2's 7 v 71 Bognor 3's

Bognor made their furthest trip away of the season up to Horley to play their third game of the season.

The game started with Horley only fielding 12 players as 3 of their players arrived a little late and by the time they took the pitch Bognor had already gone 2 tries up thanks to Darren 'Fresh' Brown and Lee Russell. In addition to this Horley had conceded 10 points for not having a full front row.

Bognor dominated throughout with the pack controlling line outs and rucks allowing Fresh at scrum half and Rich Hay at fly half to regular get the ball to the heavy weight centre pairing of Craig Broome & Nama. Horley battled hard and did threaten to score before the break but Bognor defended well and woke again.

With ability to roll subs on & off and scrums being uncontested the Bognor pack saw some interesting changes especially in the second half when an inspired substitution saw Paul Brown come on at Prop (a position most might say he looks like he should be playing anyway!) only to realise, after JB won a 5 metre line out, that he could be the one to clear up the ball on the drive & flop over the line for a try with his first touch. Baz Mitchell, please note here which is the correct line to put the ball down.

Bognor continued to score regularly but Horley continued to battle and managed to get on the scoreboard with the last play of the game.

Squad: Greenslade, Matjuk, Cooper, Baldwinson, Parsons (T), Mitchell Smith, Russell, Brown (D), Hay, Broome, Nama, Fleming, Lancaster, MacFarlane, Brown (P), Parsons (D)

Scorers (adjusted to fit refs score):
Tries: Brown (D) 2, Russell 2, Broome 2, Hay 2, Fleimng, MacFarlane, Brown (P)
Conversions: Broome 2, Brown (D)

Worthing Senior 2's 24 - 0 Bognor 3's

This week saw a depleted third team travel away to Worthing. With 8 changes from the previous week, only a couple of natural backs and 1 substitute it was obvious it was going to be a test against what is possibly the strongest team in the division.

From the off it was a tough fought game with heavily contested rucking & scrummaging. Worthing maintained the pressure closing ball carriers down quickly & being quick, almost too quick, to be up on the backs. Bognor found themselves being penalised regularly in rucks whilst Worthing made the most of their opportunities.

Worthing scored twice in both halves whilst Bognor lost a valuable prop during the match when Joe 'The Haymaker' let frustration get the better of him and managed to miss twice with a punch and took himself off to prevent further embarrassment.

In all, with the limitations on the team Bognor fought valiantly and did the club proud with their effort. On another day the score could have been reversed and we look forward to the return fixture later in the season.

Bognor 3's 69 - 5 Pulborough 3's

On a fine sunny day the season got off to a warm start for the 3rd team with the visit of Pulborough to Hampshire Avenue. Bognor fielded a strong side with a blend of youth and some more (very) experienced players. Pulborough, unfortunately, arrived with 14 players and saw another member of their team have to leave the field before play even started so had their ranks boosted by the Trent family.

With the ground still very hard under foot Bognor started the game strongly, dominating possession and territory but took a while before the pressure paid off with Adam Collyer running in a try on his debut. By the time half time arrived the score had been increased to 24 - nil. This could have been more had Barry Mitchell waited another 5 metres before deciding to fall on the ball at the back of the scrum. Also, by this time, Pulborough had seen their numbers depleted by another 2 injuries and Bognor provided another player to assist.

The second half saw a few replacements come on to the pitch including the long awaited return of Mark Challis. Bognor continued to dominate in all areas of the park & kept the scoreboard ticking over but Pulborough's determination saw them score a well earned try in the last play of the match.

The totting up of points at the end of the game didn't match those claimed by the Bognor players so the captain will have to keep a closer eye on the claims of try scorers for the future.

Tries (claimed):

Ben Blewitt 5
Adam Collyer 3
Joe Greenslade 2
Rich Hay 1
Nama 2

Conversions:
Ben Blewitt 2
Sam Blewitt 5

So, that's the first win for a Bognor team this season & 2 players still to buy a jug!