THIRD TEAM DEFEATED in SEASON OPENER

Tottonians 3rd XV kicked off their season with a narrow 33-35 defeat to higher league opponents, Counties 4 Hampshire outfit Chineham in an entertaining match played on a firm second pitch at Water Lane.

(header picture by Georgina Crawley of GC Sports Media (https://www.instagram.com/gc.sportsmedia))

Rugby finally returned to Tottonians’ home ground and, despite the conditions still decidedly solid under foot, the rain in the week had at least provided a little bit of grass covering and it made for a good contest which allowed over 40 players from both sides a good competitive run-out.

In a game played across four quarters, the home side were first on the scoreboard when debutant Chris Fox, a summer signing from neighbours Millbrook, crossed after eight minutes as some early dominance from Totts paid off, Fox driving his way and reaching over the line for the touchdown.

A Chineham try put them ahead but their lead lasted just five minutes when Ethan Sakala used his strength to drive over for a try which was added to by Seb Davis-Smith to put the home side 12-7 ahead.

However, the back end of the second quarter belonged to the north Basingstoke visitors who crossed three times before half-time, breaking through some lacklustre tackling to open up a 28-12 advantage at the interval.

Two tries in the space of two minutes – first from scrum-half Tyler Haward and then an outstanding score from Davis-Smith, zipping in off his wing and cutting inside to go under the posts – both of which he converted to slice the arrears to just two points at 26-28.

Chineham grabbed their fifth try of the afternoon with ten minutes to play but, try as they might, Totts were held to just Will Machin’s last ditch try with the final play of the contest with Rich Colmer adding the extras.

Team manager Dave Webb was pleased with the effort of his side but most of all giving plenty of players the chance to put some miles into the legs – you can hear his thoughts below in our exclusive interview.

TOTTONIANS POINT SCORERS:
Tries: Chris Fox, Ethan Sakala, Tyler Haward, Seb Davis-Smith, Will Machin
Conversions: Seb Davis-Smith (3), Rich Colmer

MANAGER DAVE WEBB and PLAYER of the MATCH TOM GREGORY REACT TO THE CHINEHAM DEFEAT

Here are a selection of Georgina Crawley’s outstanding pictures from the game ….