Below par Tottonians win ugly (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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Below par Tottonians win ugly
6:00am Tuesday 12th March 2013 in Southampton
Tottonians’ Mike Searle bursts through the Old Alleynians line
A ‘BELOW PAR’ performance by Tottonians was still good enough to give them victory over lowly Old Alleynians.
Totts eventually defeated their London 2 South-West visitors 13-5 in a game littered with errors from both sides.
Apart from a ten-minute period in the second half when Totts continually knocked on the tryline door, there was little rugby to get excited about with play struggling to get beyond a couple of phases.
Totts’ coach Gavin Williams said: “We were below par today and were uncharacteristically sloppy.
“We asked the players to step up in the second half and they did.
“With a bit more composure we would have put a few more tries away.”
A late change saw Tom Pearson step in for injured hooker Mike Wisnewski while fly half and regular kicker Robbie Searle was sidelined with an injured ankle.
Early on the injury list grew when No 10 Dave Wood went off to be replaced by Joe Jarvis, who moved to scrum half, and prop Nick Wood made way for Danny Drake.
Totts had the lion’s share of possession for the first 15 minutes but turned around 5-3 down after replying to a break-away try with a Bryn Marshall penalty.
The home side upped their game after the interval and crossed the line twice – but efforts from Matt Searle and Danny Drake were disallowed.
Continued pressure put Tottonians ahead with a second Marshall penalty before Dan Taylor got the ball over the whitewash off the back of a maul with Marshall converting.
Williams added: “Credit to Alleynians, they played well and I’m surprised they are where they are in the league.
“And fair play to Tom Pearson for stepping in at hooker as well.
“We’ll take the win. I would rather do badly and win than play well and lose – that about sums it up.”
Leaders Chobham and second-placed Guildford won their games while Sutton & Epsom’s match at London Cornish was postponed.
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