Locksheath Pumas Prove Too Much for Alton 1st XV

On a stunningly bright day, Alton had an array of new faces among their numbers with 4 first team debuts for; Kieran Allen, Daryl French, John Crothers and Craig Dunn. All imposed themselves well on the game with Dunn and Crothers anchoring up the Alton scrum nicely in the second row. It would be fair to say with so many new faces and combinations for Alton this was going to be a hard match for any real cohesion to form amoung the players.

Alton started keenly and aggressively in defence with Alistair Dow leading the way nullifying a big central attack threat, enthusiastically partnered by his other flank, Rufus Bevan. Both worked doggedly making tackles and clearing out the breakdown something we have seen a lot of from the pair already this season. It was Locksheath however that had the lion's share of possession in this first spell and with 10 minutes on the board they spread the ball wide, where they had genuine gas and strength, rounding two players to score.

Alton set themselves straight back at them, received penalty after penalty for infringements from the Pumas, kicking nicely to touch to then not utilise their possession and field position in the line out. This was a theme that ran throughout for Alton, opportunities created and offered, but none sadly taken. Before the half was out the Pumas had converted a penalty and worked a similar move playing to their strengths outside, finding the gaps to cross. 17-0 halftime to Locksheath.

There were some promising individual performances, Sammy Bridger who played at fullback and wing was among them taking highball after highball in textbook manner, then making ground and recycling the ball well. It was sadly this area of the game Alton unsurprisingly struggled with, rarely managing to string together 4-5 phases of play with the ball. On a brighter note it was great to see Simon Ford return after a year out of rugby with a serious neck injury. He would probably not have relished the thought of being brought into action as quickly as he was, but he set to work in an aggressive manner making tackles and clearing rucks all over the field. It was his kicking from hand that gained Alton good distance to try to attack from.

Locksheath played very sensibly in the second half, sticking to their strengths out wide and making some impressive yards with jogging mauls from the lineout, much to the dismay of the Alton forwards. Three more tries followed in similar fashion, Alton being guilty of poor tackling and once more found lacking on the outside. To write anything else other than heart and soul about pitch leader Tom Smethurst is increasingly rare. Constantly talking to all around him and single handedly dealing with their mauls off the lineout, he did not stop. Captain Adam Hoxey was very much of the same ilk, carrying and tackling everywhere both of them inspiring a spark that so nearly resulted in a try for Alton that would have been thoroughly deserved. For the last 15 minutes of the game Alton camped in the Pumas half and pressured their defence getting up to their 5-metre line numerous times, but ultimately failing to cross.

Locksheath’s congratulations were thoroughly deserved by the visitors at the final whistle; and Alton will be looking forward to the return of players to bolster both teams with the 1st XV and 2nd XV at home in Anstey Park next week to Romsey and Basingstoke Griffins respectively; kick-offs at 14:30.