Cobhams match against bottom placed Gosport and Fareham could well be described as a 'curates egg'- good in parts, in fact very good in parts !
Centre Charlie Rooke and second row Joe Goddard were making their respective 80th and 70th starts for the first XV and brothers Tienan and Declan White, who have been regulars for the second XV, were making their debuts.
Visitors to Gosport and Fareham are always up against the weather with the pitch exposed to the elements but despite falling temperatures, which inevitably resulted in more dropped passes than would have been expected, there was no appreciable wind.
Cobham therefore had no excuses when within the first five minutes Gosport who had gained some early possession and territory took the lead when their centre broke the tackle 7-0.
The visitors restored some dignity when fly half converted a penalty but Gosport restored their lead with their own penalty within a few minutes 10-3
Cobham's pack looked strong in the first scrum but cold hands in the back line were preventing the final pass gaining any advantage however after settling into their stride Cobham built some phases to enable full back James Clement to go over with Weir converting 10-10 and the pressure was maintained as first prop Sam Matcham went over 10-15 and then set up by James Clement debutant Tiernan White scored 10-20 Not for the first time in the game the Cobham backlined looked as if it would extend the lead further but making the most of their possession Gosport and Fareham gained sufficient territory to benefit from a Cobham infringement and claw back a penalty 13-20
Gosport only won their first match of the season recently but their director of rugby will have been pleased with the spirit they displayed in the second half. Taking the initiative from the start they powered over for a try to further reduce the deficit 18-20 and although that was to be their final score they made Cobham work for their win.
Cobham had a purple patch which displayed the talent that has now been developed within the squad firstly a trade mark bonus point try from prop JoshBrown 18-25 then Doug Rodman taking an inside line to scrum half Robbie Kennard to launch centre Ross Jones Davies who is proving unstoppable with the line in sight Weir converting 18-32. Cobham's final score saw Ross Jones and Clement combine to scythe through the defence and provide the sixth try which was again converted 18-39
Having achieved a comfortable margin Cobham used their substitutes providing Declan White to join his brother on the other wing thereby emulating the MacDonald cousins. However fresh legs were not going to impact on Gosport & Fareham who put up stiff resistance for the last quarter of the match preventing further scores form Ross Jones Davies on the try line and then MacDonald.
As the final whistle blew both sides will have taken something from the game
Director of rugby Steve Pope commented 'A job done but far from the eighty minute perfomance we are working towards.Congratulations to those boys making first team debut's and to Charlie & Joe on reaching big milestones of 80 and 70 first team games each. Both important players for us.
1.Josh Brown
2.Jake McQuade
3.Sam Matcham
4.Tom Hilton-Stevens
5.Joe Goddard
6.Doug Rodman
7.Joe Davies
8.Matt Koep
9.Robbie Kennard
10.Oliie Weir
11.Tienan White
12.Ross Jones Davies
13.Charlie Rooke
14.James MacDonald
15.James Clement
Subs
16. Andy Alexander
17.Nathan Spratt
18.Declan White
Tries Clement (2),Matcham,White, Brown, Jones-Davies
Penalty -Weir
Conversions (3) Weir
