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Monday, August 25, 2008, 07:00
PLYMOUTH Albion chairman of rugby Graham Dawe admitted his side has been given a 'good workout' in their final pre-season fixture against Mounts Bay at the Brickfields yesterday.
Just 24 hours after defeating Neath on home soil, Dawe happily watched on as his side overcame the newly-promoted National Two visitors.
With the Albion chief using this weekend's double-header to work all his playing squad, the two victories will have given the former Bath and England hooker plenty to ponder ahead of the new season, which kicks-off this Saturday with the visit of Coventry.
Mounts Bay, meanwhile, were playing their second pre-season friendly having beaten Welsh outfit Pontypridd at the Mennaye two weeks ago.
Included in their ranks were six, former Albion players, while new scrum-half Greg Goodfellow also enjoyed a trial spell with the club last season.
It was, however, one of Albion's new recruits, Kieran Hallett, who had the chance to break the game's deadlock with just two minutes played. But, the former Bedford and Ulster fly-half was off target with a 40-metre penalty.
Opposite number Dan Hawkes saw a similar effort sail wide of the stick on nine minutes, before Bay were briefly reduced to 14 men when full-back Andy Birkett was sin-binned by referee Andy Bickle for illegally taking out Wihan Neethling as he looked to follow up a chip ahead.
With the man advantage, Albion finally secured their first points of the game when Hallett plundered a 25-metre penalty, after the visitors had been penalised for coming in at the side of a ruck.
Hallett's mixed half with the boot continued shortly after as he saw another penalty chance go wide, before he eventually doubled his side's tally with a kick on 27 minutes after Brett Stroud had infringed in front of the posts.
At the other end, Hawkes also squandered a penalty chance before Bay registered the first try of the game when a slick handling move, involving Callum McRae, John Griffiths, Birkett and Tim Mathias, set-up Stroud to go over from close range for an unconverted score.
Straight from the restart, though, Albion re-established their healthy buffer as a box kick from Goodfellow was gathered by Ross Allan, who in turn helped ship the ball across the home back line to Darren Ritchie, who raced in to score for a try, which was converted by Hallett to make it 13-5 at the break.
Hallett was soon adding to his tally just four minutes into the second half when, following a powerful forward burst through the middle by the Albion pack, the ball was worked to the number 10, whose clever grubber kick in behind the Bay defence saw him collect and dive over in the left-hand corner.
With both sides cancelling each other out for a period, it was Bay who were next to score on 66 minutes. Having worked their way to within a few yards of the home try-line, the visiting forwards worked well in the tight to send Stroud over for his second score of the game, this time converted by Hawkes to make it 18-12.
Bay huffed and puffed to try a find a winning score in the closing stages, but it was Albion who thought they had wrapped the game up in injury time when a great steal on the left flank helped release Steve Johns.
The replacement scampered almost the length of the field before he was superbly bundled into touch by a great cover tackle by Bay full-back Josh Matavesi.
"It was a good work out for us and Mounts Bay brought a lot to the party," said Dawe at the final whistle.
"Luckily, Dan Hawkes left his kicking boots in Penzance and we were able to manage a win.
"Obviously we are pleased to have come through two games of rugby this weekend with two wins, but we've suffered one or two injuries along the way.
"That, I suppose, is to be expected when you play sides of the calibre of Neath and Mounts Bay."
With Dawe blooding a number of his summer signings over the two fixtures, he admits selection for the Coventry game will be tough.
"It's good that we've been able to introduce those players this weekend," he added. "These games will give us something to focus on this week as far as talking rugby is concerned.
"You need games and situations like today to work on things. Not every ball that is given to the scrum-half is on a silver platter, so you need to go digging for it and come up with solutions on how you can try and break through defences."
Albion: N Saumi (S Manu 78); W Neethling, M Lee, R Allan (capt), D Ritchie; K Hallett (S Johns 75), M Newman (D Palu 64); T Hobbs, G Evans, R Hopkins (S Roberts h/t); G Fleming, E King; J Yeandle, J Hayes, P Robobuli. Replacements (not used): C Moore, A Davies, M Venables, J Salter, J Tripcony.
Mounts Bay: A Birkett (J Matavesi 64); B Harriss (N Hichens 64), S Parsons, C McRae, R Ley; D Hawkes, G Goodfellow (M Malloy 68); T Mathias (A Flide 71), B Taylor, D Clackworthy; J Griffiths, B Hilton; B Stroud (F Cliverd 68), S Dyer (J Hosking 71), N Burnett (capt, F Cliverd 40+4 – h/t).
Scorers: Albion: Tries – Ritchie, Hallett; Conversion – Hallett; Penalties – Hallett (2).
Mounts Bay: Tries – Stroud (2); Conversion – Hawkes.
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