Tottonians 26 North Dorset 10 – Report

Tottonians secured a bonus point victory in their re-arranged game with North Dorset, moving them back up to third place ahead of the crunch fixture with Winchester next weekend.

TOTTONIANS 26 NORTH DORSET 10
Water Lane, Totton
Saturday 25th January 2025
Regional 2 South Central – match 15

It was honours even for the first five minutes before a penalty for the visitors gave them field positon.  North Dorset kept the ball for a few phases before Jamie Laing stripped the ball on Totts’ 22.  The ball reached Josh Raqio who outflanked the defence to reach the opposition 10 metre line and his kick ahead was chased down by Alex Robinson and he collected and went under the sticks for a try converted by Tom Tully.  7-0.

North Dorset soon responded, a missed penalty touch find from Totts was fielded and a cross field kick was collected by their winger who made decent ground to set up field position.  A few phases later the visitors barrelled over out wide for an unconverted try – 7-5 with ten minutes gone.

From the restart, Totts defended well forcing North Dorset to kick, Ethan Riley received and a decent kick behind forced a scrappy clearance kick which was fielded by Josh Raqio who ran the ball back before off loading to Alex Robinson who powered through to score his second try, converted by Tom Tully for 14-5.

Two minutes before half-time, good off the top ball provided by Charlie Quinn put our backs on the front foot to set up a ruck 40 metres out.  Josh Raqio picked up at the back and out sprinted the cover to score out wide.  A fine conversion from Tully brought the score to 21-5 at half-time.

Early second half brought concerted pressure from Totts with North Dorset unable to exit their half.

A deliberate knock on from the visiting winger earnt him 10 minutes in the bin.  Totts kicked to touch from a penalty and a catch and drive from eight metres out saw Cam Flint touch down for an unconverted try.  26-5.

Thirteen minutes into the second half, North Dorset’s prop then got a second yellow for tacking before ten metres on the Totts tap and go.  Despite spending the majority of the second half against depleted numbers, the home side could not increase their lead.

With five minutes remaining, North Dorset’s hooker made a decent run off a line out on half way and a couple of soft tackles laters, they were in at the corner.  26-10.

Totts were happy with the bonus point win although the players expressed frustration at the fluidity of their performance.  Next week would be a great time to rediscover their vigour in the local derby at Winchester.

TOTTONIANS POINT SCORERS:
2 tries – Alex Robinson (sponsored by The Hot Totties)
1 try – Josh Raqio (sponsored by MJG Mechanical and Electrical)
1 try – Cam Flint (sponsored by TCB Sports)
3 conversions – Tom Tully (sponsored by Brewpack)