Andover's fightback falls short as dominant scrum denied

Andover made the long journey to Swanage last Saturday in the first round of the Papa Jon's national cup, and came away empty-handed in controversial fashion.

A try for the home side with the last play of the game ended Saxon Safety-sponsored Andover's season, after a niggly game in which the referee simply would not allow Andover to utilise their very dominant scrum.

With a much-changed team Andover took a while to settle and found themselves two tries down in ten minutes.

As Andover grew in confidence they mounted repeated attacks with Callum Barber-starkey outstanding, but when a dangerous dump tackle on skipper Tom Waite yielded no sanction, Andover knew they were in for a difficult afternoon.

Andover continued to press with Tom Waite and Roman Barton Knott both going close but the home side survived and on the half-hour they looked like they had struck the fatal blow with another tryout wide well converted.

As though stunned into action by the injustice of some of what was going on, Andover suddenly upped the intensity and when Ioan Gwynne Davies pulled a try back things looked a little brighter.

Then just on the stroke of half time, quick ball saw Charlie Waite feed Stan North and the giant center finished neatly with Rich Retallick converting.

Andover lost Barton Knott to injury and Louis Shinton moved into the back row for his seasonal debut and the 19-year-old did superbly well.

Max Graham returning from injury took the full-back spot and as the game resumed Andover once again needed to reorganise.

The home team took advantage adding their fourth try but Andover with the wind now at their back didn't panic.

Ten minutes later Gwynne Davies grabbed his second after being put cleverly away on the blind side by Fin Waite.

Andover continued to go close but several times were judged to have been held up over the line allowing Swanage to clear with drop kicks.

Then with five minutes to go Andover drew level.

 A great break and good hands by Fin Waite and Tom Waite was finished excellently by Fergus Burtt and Andover were seemingly back in business.

Then came the moments that changed things.

Swanage themselves were judged to be held up by the Andover defence, but bizarrely instead of being awarded the drop clearance kick, the referee awarded the home side an attacking scrum and when they went blind Bryn Waite was adjudged to have tackled high and with the last play of the game Swanage grabbed the winner.

After the game, director of rugby said: "I felt our front five of Toby Dixon, Tom Waite, James Monck, Tom Erskine and Jake Dixon, completely dominated the forward battle, especially at scrum time, but that dominance was never rewarded by the penalties it deserved and allowed the home team into a game they shouldn't have been in. It was a tough one to take, but I can only praise the effort made by those who came into the side and especially Harry Foxwell who travelled just to make sure we had a bench."