On A Roll!

Ongoing injuries to Aaron Blair, Tom McGovern and Ed Bygrave necessitated a slight reshuffling of personnel for Panthers' trip to Dinnington this weekend.

Max Woolgar -Norton stepped into the Fly Half birth, and Jake Wright made yet another appearance at Fullback to face the well drilled, forward dominant Dinnington team who had taken the spoils on both occasions when these two sides had met last season.

From the off the home side employed their main attacking weapon of 'pick and go' from every ruck, maul and scrum. This was met with sound resistance from the well organised Panthers'defensive line. With guards positioned around the fringes of the breakdowns, excellent line speed and strong tackling Dinnington made little headway, hampered also by a strong headwind and the uphill slope of the pitch.

For the first 10 minutes or so the two sides traded blows with the majority of the time being spent just in the Dinnington half. Panthers gradually edged deeper into the opposition's territory before Will Bygrave made a blind side break from the back of a ruck near the 22. With a deft sidestep of the remaining defence he put the first points on the board with 13 minutes gone. Jake Wright then successfully added the extra points.

More of the same ensued but no matter how many hammer blows Dinnington's forwards dealt Panthers held true. Good tackles particularly from Harvey Sturman, Sam Wass and Joe Leah stopped them firmly in their tracks. Panthers though were able to break the gainline with strong carries from forwards Joe Hipkiss and Connor Rimington. This gave them some front foot ball to work with allowing Max Woolgar - Norton and Centre Archie Taylor to make good yardage, assisted by Jake Wright entering the three quarter line from the back.

Dinnington started to feel the pressure and knocked on whilst trying to run the ball out of their own 22. With good field position from the resulting scrum Harvey Sturman was able to exploit the blind side opportunity from Number 8 and used his strength to get over the whitewash, with a couple of defenders in tow. Despite a good strike, Will Bygrave was unable to add the conversion from the wide position.

In the final 10 minutes of the half Dinnington managed to exert some pressure of their own, spending most of it in Panther's red zone. Wave upon wave of attack were repelled as the defence stood firm.

Dinnington were awarded a penalty but the tap and go was held up over the line. From the resulting scrum Dinnington's Fly Half cut to the blind side , performed a dummy scissors move with his Centre and finally breached the Panthers' line. As the conversion fell well short in the strong wind the ref blew for half time leaving the score at 12 - 5 to Panthers.

The second half gave Panthers the wind and slope to contend with , and expected Dinnington to pin them back with some tactical kicking.
This approach didn't materialize and any attempts were readily dealt with by the back 3. Indeed Panthers continued to disrupt Dinnington's attack, particularly targeting their 9 and 10.

With 15 minutes gone, excellent line speed from Max Woolgar-Norton saw him pick off an interception and break free from around half way. A try saving tackle from Dinnington stopped his progress just inside the 22 but a supporting run from Will Bygrave allowed Max to pop the ball up giving Will an easy run in under the sticks. Despite slipping, Jake Wright was able to add the 2 points giving Panthers some daylight in the scores.

Dinnington made heavy work of the rest of the half as Panthers continued to play a controlled game both in offence and defence. Sustained pressure in their 22 dragged the Dinnington players out of position and the gaps started to appear. With a ruck over towards the near side Panthers switched play back across the field . This gave Ben Carley and Elliot Sears-Piccavey a 2 on 1 situation. With a well timed dummy Ben accelerated through the gap, leaving the Dinnington winger standing.

Dinnington refused to capitulate though and indeed clawed themselves back into the game during the last 10 minutes. Fighting to the end they managed to score a second try of their own as the final whistle blew.

Overall, a well contested, physical battle saw Panthers emerge victorious with the final score sat at Dinnington 10, Panthers 24