Hove vs Old Alleynians (A)

Hove travelled up to London looking for back to back wins for the first time this season. As the men from the south coast left the sheds, the rain began to fall however this subsided in time for kick-off.

Alleynians started in the ascendancy and put good phases together with forwards and backs linking with ease. After a Hove lineout was overthrown Alleynians sniffed an early score, and this was only prevented after a great tackle from the returning Carl Buckland.
Hove started to get into their patterns and were making inroads in the backs through Morlen and Whiting, however a lack of support often led to turnovers or penalties for holding on.

With Hove having injuries to four props, Alejo Parraga made his debut in the front row however he was unable to stop the Alleynians pack getting the upper hand at scrum time and after sustained pressure they crossed for the first score of the game; 5-0. This was followed by a second score out wide and Hove were still on the bus! 10-0. Instead of going through the phases Hove were guilty of kicking away good possession stuttering their chances of getting back into the game.

Shortly before half-time captain Whiting was sent to the sin bin for retaliating at the breakdown after being kicked in the ‘meat and two veg’. With Hove down to 14 Alleynians put through a speculative grubber and a lack of communication from Hove led to the Alleynians centre getting his toe on the ball and the home side crossed for their third which was duly converted 17-0.

Strong words from the coaches at the break seemed to do the trick for Hove as after Whiting returned from the bin, Hove scored two tries in quick succession through Ian ‘Jeffrey’ Saunders and captain Sam Whiting, unfortunately both went unconverted from Rob Biggs, but Hove had their tails up; 17-10.

As Hove looked to close the gap even further, miscommunication at the lineout allowed the Alleynians jumper to run unopposed under the sticks for a converted try; 24-10. Straight from the kick off Alleynians crossed again, this time their number 9 noticed the mismatch of two forwards on the blind side. After burning them for pace, he drew the covering tackle to put in his support runner and Hove’s chances of coming away with something were diminishing quickly; 31-10.

Alleynians added to their tally with a penalty to complete their scoring and only a late Guy Patton solo effort improved Hove’s. A very disappointing game from Hove’s perspective after the highs of last week. Too many first up tackles were missed and supporting players were not clinical enough at the breakdown to allow Hove to generate the needed quick ball.

A break from the League campaign awaits next week with a trip to Old Colfeians in the first round of the National Cup before the Hove entertain the same opposition the following weekend at the Rec.

Hove: Cull, Peake, Parraga, Saunders, Buckland, Torres, Silcocks, Griffin, Biggs, Dugard, Patton, Macdonald, Morlen, Bath, Whiting ©
Subs: Ratana, Walker and Knott.