North Dorset 19 Tottonians 33 – report
Tottonians produced a solid, if not overly unspectacular, performance on a glorious sunny afternoon in rural Dorset to defeat struggling North Dorset 33-19 in their penultimate league game of the season.
NORTH DORSET 19 TOTTONIANS 33
Slaughtergate, Gillingham
Saturday 22nd March 2025
Regional 2 South Central – match 21
With the dream of promotion extinguished, Tottonians’ focus for the remaining two league fixtures was to finish strongly ahead of a tilt at the Papa Johns Cup in mid April.
This performance was good enough to secure the bonus point and the victory but there will be plenty to consider ahead of the final league game against mid-table Chobham in a fortnight’s time.
Tottonians scored five tries, three of which came in an impressive first half showing, but they went off the boil in the second period, which gave the hosts plenty of encouragement and, but for some strong defence in the last ten minutes of game, denied them one or two bonus points which would have eased their relegation fears.
On a delightfully rural ground, surrounded by fields and tractors, it was the visitors who set the early tone but were occasionally a little too keen which saw balls fumbled or turned over.
This kept a strong North Dorset side, one of four teams in danger of joining Andover in relegation trouble, more than interested and they were making incisive breaks into Tottonians territory but were not making them tell.
The deadlock was broken on 11 minutes.
North Dorset had mounted a series of attacks but were let down just shy of their 22 by a knock-on. From the ensuing scrum, Harry Dolbear swung the ball straight to the onrushing centres Tom Tully and Alex Robinson and some quick hands allowed Josh Raqio to find space to burst through and found the supporting Leo Tongue to dot down wide out. Rich Colmer kicked an excellent conversion for 7-0.
The visitors had a very similar opportunity on 20 minutes only for a knock on to scupper the chance on the final pass but Totts continued to show plenty of endeavour, hammering the North Dorset defence with forceful runs through the middle.
The home side were reduced to 14 men with a yellow card on their own try line. From the five metre scrum, the forwards took the ball on and a brilliant pass from Dolbear found winger Tongue in plenty of space for his second to just fall over the line. The in-form Colmer again cracked the conversion from the touchline.
There could have been a hat-trick for the winger shortly afterwards as the ball came loose from a North Dorset attack. Dylan Kirk gathered and fired a pass to Tongue in space – but he couldn’t take it and knocked-on.
They were to make amends soon enough.
From their own 22, Totts played good phase ball and it was a beautifully weighted pass from Callum Turvey to winger Robinson that allowed him to slice through, taking the play deep into North Dorset’s half. Good support from Charlie Quinn and Turvey put Tongue out in space and he cut back inside and it was Robinson who benefitted, seeing the space open up infront of him to score an excellent team try. Colmer made no mistake with the extras.
At 21-0, Totts were looking to secure the bonus point before the break. From a Totts scrum though, the ball shot out and was quickly secured by the hosts and they moved the ball quickly out into the midfield where Thomas Stewart showed a clean pair of heels to give his side some hope, cutting the arrears to 21-7 at the break.
The second half started as the first half finished, with the home side causing problems. And they deservedly scored a second when an excellent pass inside from the back row player released the winger in acres of space. He found Stewart to race on further and although he was hauled down by Tongue, they weren’t to be denied, taking the ball the short distance over with James Kennedy getting the final touch.
With the score at 21-12, the game was wide open but Totts finally secured their bonus point and eased their concerns about a concerted comeback from the hosts. From a line-out catch and drive, Totts manoevered their way up the field, the forwards in complete control as they pushed their opponents all the way from 35 metres out. The final push came and skipper Liam Murphy was on the end to secure the fourth try.
Any hopes that North Dorset had of making a comeback were effectively ended when an assured Tottonians handling move, which swung the game from right to left. Tully’s incisive break through the midfield set-up his side on the five metre line which was taken on by Quinn and replacement prop Tom Gregory was on hand to bundle over from close range for try number five.
Totts could have gone for the jugular at this point and stamped their authority on the game but their handling and decision making let them down and it was home side that played the much better of the rugby in the final quarter.
So much so that, once again, fly-half Stewart was at the centre of the action again and his run took his side to within metres of the line and they weren’t to be denied a third as Robert Sampson got the ball over the line.
They were, however, to be denied a fourth which would have given them a much needed bonus point and brought them close to being within seven points for a second as Tottonians defence held firm as the home side mounted some serious attacking intent in the final third, hammering the Tottonians line in search of that illusive score.
It didn’t come and Totts held out for a hard fought 33-19 victory which moves them to 80 points and 16 victories, more than last season, but not quite a record in a 22 game campaign (that’s 99 points in winning London 2 South West in 2014/15) but a win in the final game will give them the second most in a 22-game year
TOTTONIANS POINT SCORERS:
2 tries – Leo Tongue (sponsored by New Forest Architectural Services)
1 try – Alex Robinson (sponsored by The Hot Totties)
1 try – Tom Gregory (sponsored by Everyway Solutions)
1 try – Liam Murphy (sponsored by Osman Originals)
4 conversions – Rich Colmer
PLAYER OF THE MATCH NIC JANSEN and KEV RAQIO REVIEW THE GAME
COACH TIM OSMAN LOOKS BACK ON THE GAME
