Bognor rack up 62 points to beat Alresford

The sizeable crowd nevertheless enjoyed some sparkling tries as Bognor consolidated their third place in Hampshire Premier, nine points ahead of old rivals Sandown & Shanklin, to whom they travel next month for the last game of the season.

With Conor Herrington unavailable and Nathan Archer out with a broken thumb sustained against Chichester, Bognor fielded a new-look centre partnership of Paddy Burnett and Chris Hay.

Bognor delighted to beat their old foes and neighbours.

The speedy Herrington will return next week but, regrettably, and despite Head Coach Karl Flinn’s speedy first aid intervention, Archer will not be back until next season.

The writing was on the wall for Alresford from the first minute when forwards and backs combined to put Tyrone Makasi away for his first try. Jack Lysaght added the points and the fly-half went on to convert another five of the afternoon’s ten tries.

Left wing Freddie Hayes scored Bognor’s second, re-gathering his own chip ahead to bamboozle the covering defence in what was a carbon copy of his two tries at Havant in January. Unfortunately, as he looked certain to score another try early in the second half, Hayes pulled up with a torn hamstring and is certain to join Archer on the sidelines for the remainder of this season.

How Matt Ratana's rugby vision could be realised in Sussex.

Alresford hit back briefly with a well-worked try of their own and, to pay credit to their weakened squad, they showed great spirit from start to finish even though they were never going to hold a rampant Bognor to the 12-point defeat they suffered at home in November.

Try machines Jamie Foote and Makasi were next to cross the whitewash, making the half-time score 31-5 in Bognor’s favour.

Another injury, this time to scrum-half Jack Hornibrook, forced Flinn into reorganising his entire back line, the home side ending up with hooker Mark Ubsdell and flanker Foote as the makeshift centre pairing.

With the result beyond doubt, the changes inevitably affected the fluency and intensity of the game but, to Bognor’s credit, the tries kept coming.

Skipper and joint man-of-the-match Josh Burgess deservedly scored the first of the second-half tries with one of many great individual efforts.

The inspirational No8 made 273 metres in total during the afternoon and he really is finishing the season in supreme form.

Makasi then cruised over for his hat-trick and Lysaght enjoyed an opportunistic interception try before Hay crashed through a tiring defence to touch down under the posts.

The final score went to co-man-of-the-match Charlie Jays who never stopped working all afternoon. Jays in another who is playing the rugby of his young life and who has made himself a vital part of the first team.

Another youngster, straight out of the Colts and deserving special mention is prop Charlie Weller who is improving week on week.

Tight-head is undoubtedly the toughest and most underratedly valuable position on the field, usually filled by battle-hardened warriors with many years experience.

While Weller is unlikely to near his prime for several years it is to his credit that he is listening and learning and growing in confidence with every new challenge.

The game ended in amusing fashion when, in front of a large crowd near the clubhouse, Foote created an overlap but, instead of giving a straightforward pass to allow Hay a simple try, he proceeded to inexplicably throw the ball on to the floor.

Foote was overheard in the bar afterwards to explain that he thought that top-scorer Makasi had been the player outside him and that he didn’t want him to get any further in front! For the record, Makasi has scored 19 tries this season to Foote’s 12.

For the remaining games Flinn will be looking to plug the injury-related gaps by blooding some of the exciting youngsters who have been starring all season for his successful Colts team.