May 19, 2008

As a sporting feat it may have been overshadowed locally by Portsmouth FC recapturing the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium, but Hampshire’s county rugby team are justifiably proud of reaching this weekend’s County Championship Plate final with a record of four wins in four matches, 199 points scored and none conceded.

Hampshire won the Plate semi-final against Kent 37-0 at Basingstoke RFC last Saturday afternoon – even though five players had answered the call of the Pompey Chimes and were at Wembley instead to see Portsmouth defeat Cardiff City 1-0.

The squad rotation did not end there for Hampshire, who in the Plate pool stage had defeated Dorset & Wilts 55-0, Buckinghamshire 54-0 and Sussex 53-0. They had two more players absent sitting final exams, while Navy wing Andy Vance was on manoeuvres in Iraq.

Vance had intended to play against Kent on his return from the 24-hour operation due to begin on Friday morning but it was postponed by a day.

Basingstoke wing Karl Buttle was also unavailable as he was required for the London & South East Under-20s against the Midlands on Sunday.

So the resourceful Hampshire management turned for a new wing to another Navy man, Wayne Dugan of Gosport & Fareham, whose run set up the first of five tries.

Kent brought a strong pack based on the Westcombe Park and Canterbury clubs, and it was a tight affair for the first 25 minutes until two tries in five minutes by centre Simon Buckland and flanker Simon Appleby put Hampshire on the way to that familiar winning feeling with not a single point conceded.

The county side is referred to as Club Hampshire and assistant manager Jim Pearce, the Portsmouth RFC assistant coach recently retired from playing at 32, explained it has been a tight-knit squad of 33 players used in the four matches, making light of the changes forced upon them.

“The players’ ability in defence has been clear to see,” said Pearce. “They have not conceded penalties in kickable positions and if the opponents make a line-break, the cover defence gets across.

“We haven’t thrown those 50-50 passes which can go wrong and we have always kept the continuity going.

“Kent had a big, solid pack who threw everything they had into the game but they got no change out of us.

“To score 199 points and not even concede three has amazed us. The word ‘shutout’ is bound to be on the players’ minds in the final but the main thing against a Leicestershire side we do not too much about will be to put on another good performance.”

The County Championship Plate final will be on Hampshire soil at the Aldershot Military Stadium although the senior county side have not played there since a match against the Army in 1993.

And now that the football cup fever has receded, selection will be a topic of much debate for Hampshire’s management and coaches, although promotion to next season’s County Championship Shield is already in the bag.

Against Kent there were notable contributions from Southampton-born centre Russell Osman – the former Newbury and Henley man now with Old Albanian scored a try on his 25th county appearance – and Winchester-born Bath University and England Students full back / fly half Chris Ashwin, who has recently signed for Guinness Premiership club Bristol from Newbury.

Hampshire’s second row and captain Scott MacKechnie is a policeman in Gosport who is enjoying his first season as county skipper after formerly captaining the West of Scotland club.

Hampshire coaches Jason Ford – who handled the county side last season and is unattached club-wise – and Martin Humberstone, the Basingstoke backs coach, hope to finalise the team on Tuesday evening.

HERTFORDSHIRE were edged out of the County Championship Shield final by Cornwall on points difference despite Herts’ 42-3 defeat of Oxfordshire, who were relegated to the Plate.

Hertfordshire scored six tries through Brent Lemiere (St Albans), Jon Child (Welwyn), Ray Adde (Hemel Hempstead), Alfie Church (Hertford), Richard Gregg (Old Albanian) and Handre Schmidt (Hertford).

Gregg, the captain and fly half, kicked all six conversions, with only a penalty by Oxfordshire fly half Alex Stevenson in reply.

The news from Cornwall tempered the winning feeling, as did a dislocated shoulder suffered by Herts flanker Chris Rainbow (Newbury) just before the final whistle.

Cornwall ended the winning run of EASTERN COUNTIES in Camborne, with a 43-0 win played in torrential rain in which the home side led 36-0 at half-time.

Cornwall’s National League players had too much class for Counties in a match broadcast live on BBC Radio Cornwall who deemed the FA Cup final worthy only of a report inserted into the half-time break.

MIDDLESEX were relegated from the Bill Beaumont Cup to next season’s County Championship Shield after a 37-17 defeat by Somerset in Taunton.

County Championship 2007-08 fixtures/results:

April 26

County Championship Plate: Pool 1: Leicestershire 43 Staffordshire 16 (Syston), Essex 44 Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire 18 (Eton Manor). Pool 2: Buckinghamshire 24 Sussex 39 (High Wycombe), Dorset & Wilts 0 Hampshire 55 (Swanage & Wareham)(result expunged – Hampshire 20-0 win with four tries). Pool 3: Berkshire 0 East Midlands 66 (Reading).

May 3

Bill Beaumont Cup: North: Cheshire 13 Yorkshire 20 (Macclesfield), Lancashire 35 Warwickshire 25 (Preston Grasshoppers). South: Devon 19 Somerset 13 (Barnstaple), Middlesex 18 Gloucestershire 22 (Staines).

County Championship Shield: North: Cumbria 0 Northumberland 38 (Kendal), North Midlands 41 Durham 16 (Stourbridge). South: Cornwall 66 Oxfordshire 8 (Redruth), Eastern Counties 33 Hertfordshire 23 (West Norfolk).

County Championship Plate: Pool 1: Staffordshire 24 Essex 21 (Lichfield), Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire 21 Leicestershire 22 (Newark). Pool 2: Hampshire 54 Buckinghamshire 0 (Basingstoke), Sussex w/o Dorset & Wilts (20-0 win with four tries). Pool 3: Kent 45 Berkshire 14 (Westcombe Park).

May 10

Bill Beaumont Cup: North: Cheshire 21 Lancashire 23 (New Brighton), Warwickshire 14 Yorkshire 10 (Coventry). South: Gloucestershire 23 Somerset 29 (Lydney), Middlesex 20 Devon 34 (Staines).

County Championship Shield: North: North Midlands 36 Cumbria 19 (Stourbridge), Northumberland 39 Durham 17 (Alnwick). South: Hertfordshire 31 Cornwall 26 (Hertford), Oxfordshire 14 Eastern Counties 18 (Chinnor).

County Championship Plate: Pool 1: Staffordshire 53 Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire 10 (Stafford), Leicestershire 13 Essex 12 (Syston). Pool 2: Buckinghamshire w/o Dorset & Wilts (20-0 win with four tries), Sussex 0 Hampshire 53 (Horsham). Pool 3: East Midlands 18 Kent 0 (Bedford Athletic).

May 17

Bill Beaumont Cup: North: Warwickshire 31 Cheshire 8 (Coventry), Yorkshire 40 Lancashire 22 (Harrogate). South: Devon 10 Gloucestershire 7 (Plymouth Albion), Somerset 37 Middlesex 17 (Taunton).

County Championship Shield: North: Durham 20 Cumbria 21 (Darlington), Northumberland 29 North Midlands 5 (Tynedale). South: Cornwall 43 Eastern Counties 0 (Camborne), Hertfordshire 42 Oxfordshire 3 (Old Albanian).

County Championship Plate: Semi-finals: Leicestershire 31 East Midlands 8 (South Leicester), Hampshire 37 Kent 0 (Basingstoke).

May 24

County Championship Plate final: Hampshire v Leicestershire (Aldershot Military Stadium, 3pm).

June 1

Bill Beaumont Cup final: Devon v Yorkshire (Twickenham, 12pm)

County Championship Shield final: Northumberland v Cornwall (Twickenham, 10am).

Ends