The West Dorset Magazine, February 25, 2022
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Sport Sherborne Oxford Harlequins
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The First XV manager hailed the showing against Oxford Harlequins as ‘one of the best defensive performances in Sherborne’s history’ as they pushed the promotion-chasing visitors all the way at The Terraces. Jim Gower was full of praise for his team, and proud of their ‘unbelievable commitment’ in this gripping encounter. Sherborne’s heroic rearguard was particularly impressive as they played for 40 minutes with a man down due to separate yellow card offences, and ultimately, only a disputed penalty try proved to be the difference between the two sides. Quins came to The Terraces having lost just once this season and showed their quality from the first whistle. With the strong wind at their backs and keeping the ball well in hand, they enjoyed the majority of possession and spent long periods camped
RUCK AND ROLL: Action from Sherborne v Oxford Harlequins and, right, Sherborne v Witney
Sherborne battle in vain to contain mighty Quins in Sherborne’s twentytwo. The home defence, with Ben Austin outstanding throughout, repelled wave upon wave of Quins’ attacks with a fine display of committed defending and last-ditch tackling, and despite their dominance, Ewan Fox’s 12th minute penalty was the visitors’ only reward at half time.
The hosts remained under pressure after the break, although with the advantage of the wind, they were now able to clear their lines and provide more of an attacking threat. The decisive moment came just after the hour mark when referee Stew Kilby awarded the visitors a penalty try, following
the collapse of a maul after a lineout. Although Rhodri Hopkins kicked a penalty to get the home side back to within a score of the visitors, they could not find a way through Quins’ defence to salvage anything more than a losing bonus point, leaving the high-flying visitors to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Red-hot Cole stars to seal double over Witney Sherborne 10 Witney 5 Having edged Witney 17-14 earlier in the season, Sherborne completed the double against their midtable rivals in a hardfought encounter, with the busy, tough-tackling Aaron Cole the hosts’ star man. The home side failed to make early possession and territorial advantage count until Max Harvey crossed
in the corner on 30 minutes after a spell of sustained pressure. AJ King added a superb conversion, and then stroked home a penalty from in front of the posts to make it 10-0 at half time. In an evenly contested second half, the visitors fought back, and reduced the arrears on 55 minutes, scoring a try in the corner after a fluid
move by their back line, although they failed to add the conversion from the angle. Sherborne defended well as both teams tired and had few major alarms to hold on for the win, their fifth from seven games in 2022. n Sherborne have accepted a league decision to deduct them 25 points for fielding an unregistered player due to an
administrative error. A club spokesperson said: “Whilst we feel the scale of the points deduction is incredibly harsh, we accept it, and our focus is solely on enjoying the remaining games of the season and making everyone at SRFC proud.” The next home match for Sherborne Firsts is on Saturday, March 12 when they entertain Windsor.
