Warriors win at Polson Bridge

With a large squad Devonport Warriors play a good game in front of a reasonable crowd that had only small travelling support.

All Blacks Dev. 10
Devonport Warriors 12

With a large squad Devonport Warriors play a good game in front of a reasonable crowd that had only small travelling support.

Doug Sanft made his debut at inside centre and worked well with Steve Johns until late in the match when the Ross Allan/Arran Cruickshanks came on and showed how well they would work together in the 1st team.

The stars for me were Mark Lee and Steve Johns. Mark played most of the match playing well at full back filling the spaces and making the runs that remind me of Tom Arscott a few years ago at the same fixture.

Gareth Evans played a full 80 minutes firstly at 2 and then later in the match in the back row. He had trouble convincing the referee at times that he was throwing the ball in straight but was working well in the scrum and in open play. He showed that he could run with the ball and played well with Matt Newman.

Talking of Matt he used his long accurate passing that he has little time to show for Albion. He was able to take control of the game both in his role as 9 and captain. It would be really nice to see him playing more than 10 minutes before the end of the season.

Jake Childs showed that he is back to his old self, such a shame the season is nearly over. Lets hope that he will still be here next season, he is certainly one to watch.

Warriors kicked off the match in a calm night that was not too cold, it helped that we had had almost the last portion of chips to keep us warm. Before the forth minute was up the All Blacks had broken through the Warriors defence in front of the posts to touch down which was converted by "guest" fly half Tony Yapp added the extra 2 points.

8 minutes in and the visitors were handed the opportunity to pull back 3 points with a penalty 30 metres out in front of the posts but Ross Laidlaw kicked for the corner to give a 5 metre lineout.

A good defence from both sides stooped any more players crossing the line attacks, mainly from Warriors were blocked and stopped short of the whitewash.

With just 6 minutes left of the half a high tackle on Warriors 10 metre line gave Tony Yapp the opportunity to put the hosts 10 points ahead at half time.

With no changes for the visitors at half time it took the All Blacks being reduced to 14 players for 10 minutes before the visitors put points on the scoreboard. Devonport upped the pressure passing the ball left to attack the line put when Mark Lee was stooped short they switched the attack to the right for Doug Sanft to break through the stretched defence and touch down. Ross Laidlaw added the extras.

Warriors went into the last 20 minutes still behind and on 26 minutes the replacements started bringing on Arran and Ross Allan on to play in the centre. The fresh legs and experience made an instant difference. Doug moved back to fullback and Steve Johns onto the wing and within minutes Darren Ritchie made a run down the left win to score just metres from the corner flag.

10 minutes to go and the 2nd row was replace with Jamie Tripconey and George Fleming. 

Steve Johns made a run into the same corner that Darren had a few minutes earlier and whilst he made it across the line he the ref decided that the ball was held up and no points were awarded.

With a number of fresh legs the pace increased for the last 10 minutes but no further points were added to the account. Ross Laidlaw did have the opportunity to add three points with the last play of the game but the penalty went right of the posts.

Team: Mark Lee, Darren Ritchie, Steve Johns, Doug Sanft, Jamie Shone, Ross Laidlaw, Matt Newman, Chris Steer, Gareth Evans, Danny Porte, Ed King, Colin Stewart, Rory Watts-Jones, Replacements: Cory Moore(used), Arran Cruickshanks(used), Ross Allan(used), Nick Holmes, Jamie Salter(used), George Fleming(used), Jamie Tripconey(used), Joe Hayes(used)

Scorers :- Tries Darren Ritchie Doug Sanft Conversions Ross Laidlaw