Match report: Puddletown

With two key players unavailable and a still depleted squad through injuries the Daggers with only two substitutes lost their second successive match to a full strength Puddletown side in a close game 22-17 gaining a losing bonus point with the last kick of the match.

The game, which was disrupted due to the problems of obtaining a match referee, started with a referee who had not officiated for a few years due to injury. It was soon apparent that he was not able to keep up with the pace of the game with decisions made affecting both sides but more so Daggers when he awarded Puddletown their first try when it was clear to all on the pitch that the ball was dropped in the act of scoring the try.

This said Daggers were not at their cohesive best in the first half and were not able to sustain pressure on the Puddletown defence when they broke into the 22.

Both set pieces were functioning well but the issue was getting across the gain line and despite some promising breaks Puddletown scored their second try when the impressive number 10 broke the defence and scored for a 14 point lead. Daggers lost their returning ex captain Harry Richardson who showed he hadn’t lost his appetite for the game despite a 2 year absence and had to reshuffle the pack with Kian Bentley coming in as flanker. The half finished prematurely when the referee pulled up injured and couldn’t continue. Fortunately for the match Puddletown did surprisingly have a substitute referee available and the match continued in a far more structured way.

Thankfully the Daggers lifted their game in the second half and started to put their opponents defence under pressure with good breaks by Andy Easton and Jack Pellow and with the scrum still dominant they were looking the more likely to score. However they were penalised for holding on in their half and Puddletown slotted the penalty.

From the kick off Daggers continued to press and with Charlie Samways moving the ball well the backs came close when Jack Pellow was held up short. A penalty turnover taken quickly allowed Easton to give an excellent pass to Pellow to score in the corner superbly converted by Sam Petchey.
Daggers now enjoyed their best phase of the match with forwards and backs linking well to keep the game in their opponents half. James Bickley made a clean break over half way, offloaded to Pellow who found Daragh Mcloughlin who was just held up.

Puddletown cleared their lines but Daggers kept up the pressure and after a series of drives were held up by good defence a quickly taken penalty enabled Guy Wyndham to drive over by the posts to bring the Daggers within 3 points.

Sadly their momentum was stopped when the kick off was knocked on and from the resulting scrum Puddletown scored and unconverted try. Daggers kicked off, Puddletown knocked on and were penalised in the scrum allowing Petchey to get bonus point with a successful conversion.

Daggers now face their fourth successive match away to Swanage and Wareham and with injuries continuing it remains to be seen what squad they will have available.