Home vs Christchurch

Round 7

22nd May 2010 - 2:45pm

Venue : Rawhiti

Result : 20 - 17

Match Report

The game of the round saw Brighton take on Christchurch at Rawhiti Domain. The scene was set with plenty on the line, with both teams being unbeaten, the DCL Shield up for grabs and pride of place at the top of the ladder.

There was a deceptively strong wind that benefitted the visitors in the first half and they used this to their advantage in the early stages earning a penalty in front of the up rights, only for the fly half to unbeliveably pull the kick wide. Brighton then had their own spell of pressure but it was short lived due to frequent turnovers inflicted by an impressive Christchurch loose trio.

Christchurch worked their way down field into Brighton territory through a series of indiscretions at scrum time by Brighton, however it looked like the home team had relieved the the pressure when a turnover gave them an opportunity to clear, the attempted clearance kick was charged down and some what fortuitously bounced into the arms of a Christchurch players for an unopposed canter under the posts. This was soon followed by a penalty kick to Chrictchuch who took a 10-0 lead after 15 mins.

Brighton then began to take the game to Christchurch and had a good spell of territory and posession but crucial errors at crucial times and good defence enabled Christchurch to limited Brighton to few clear cut opportunities. Eventually the pressure told and Brighton got on the score board with a penalty. Brighton continued to press and were awarded a number of other penalties that were squandered when against the run of play Chrictchurch turned the ball over on halfway before moving the ball to space and scoring a well worked try. The conversion made it 17-3 late in the first half.

Not for the first time in recent weeks Brighton were to go into half time behind having had the better of the half. However credit should go to Christchurch who had taken their chances well and turned over the ball at crucial times which made it difficult for the home side to gain much continuity. Brighton were clearly getting some dominace upfront but were moving the ball wide much to early and were paying the penalty.

The second half begun with Brighton using the wind to great effect and starving the opposition of possession, this eventuated in a well constructed try following a number of good phases and some good interplay between backs and forwards. The conversion was missed to leave the score at 17-8.

It was clear that a change of tactic had occured with Brighton no longer going too far away from the forwards which eliminated the threat of turnovers that had been such a big problem in the first half. Christchurch were living on scraps and were trying to use the ball at every occassion when they would have been better served playing field position, especially as they were still 9 points ahead!

Brightons dominace continued and a lesser team may have folded but Christchurch defended with great determination and protected their lead with everything they had, Brighton to their credit stayed very patient and continued to press knowing that cracks would have to appear eventually, and so it proved when a close range lineout resulted in a clever short side move with hooker Mitch Alcock diving over, again the conversion was missed leaving the score at 17-13 with 20 mins to play.

Chrictchurch continued to show why they have been so successful of late with some more outstanding defence and with time running out it looked like all of Brighton's territory and possession may not be enough until with 5 mins to play a piece of Misi Selave magic resulted in him standing up the defence, when nothing looked on, to scamper under the posts. The conversion giving Brighton a deserved 20-17 lead with 3 mins to play.

In the last few minutes Christchurch gave it everything they had and eventually managed to gain some field position, they forced a few linouts and a 5m scrum with Brighton responding by defending their line well, however Christchurch expertly retained possession and eventually with time on the clock up worked their way into a position to take a drop goal, fortunatley for the home team the attempt slipped wide and the final whistle sounded.

So Brighton took the honours on this occassion and finished the day still unbeaten, top of the league and with the DCL Shield in the trophy cabinet. It was a well contested game but on the balance of play a fair result. On another occassion Brighton may have won by more, a number of kicks at goal were wasted and the persistance in going wide for the first 50 mins put pressure on the home team, but when they settled into a pattern that was successful it was just a matter of time before the excellent Christchurch defence was breached, even if it took something special late in the game.

It is pleasing that Brighton continue to win without producing anything near a complete performance, they will need to continue to make positive steps as they work towards the second round.        

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