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THE ARMY GAME<br />
WRITTEN BY DEVONIAN<br />
Army Vets/Dorset Giants 44 – 42 Devon County<br />
On Sunday 19th March <strong>2017</strong><br />
Devon County made a trip to<br />
Weymouth Rugby Club as part of<br />
their promotion of “Supporting the<br />
troops” to play a combined team<br />
Army Vets and Dorset Giants side.<br />
At the end of a pulsating 80<br />
minutes, the Army/Giants prevailed<br />
44-42.<br />
Devon started the better with an<br />
early try from Shaun East followed<br />
by a powerful effort from Andrew<br />
Smerdon for an 8-0 lead but two<br />
tries in as many minutes gave the<br />
Dorset side a 12-advantage thanks<br />
to two conversions.<br />
There was a period of stalemate<br />
before Dorset extended their lead<br />
with an unconverted try followed<br />
quickly by six more points to look<br />
quite comfortable 22-8 ahead.<br />
Jon Ross forced his way over for a<br />
County score converted by Jack<br />
Keiller to cut the margin to eight<br />
points at the break.<br />
Both sides looked weary at the<br />
break and Dorset were more<br />
relieved of the breather as the<br />
County looked to have the<br />
momentum.<br />
They were first to register points<br />
as the second half got underway<br />
and Troy Willis scored in the corner,<br />
Keiller adding a fine goal to make<br />
the score 22-20.<br />
A short kick into the in-goal on<br />
the next set was swooped upon<br />
by Jack Sweeney and County<br />
had the lead. They extended it to<br />
eight points with Ross’ second try<br />
converted by Keiller and looked to<br />
be in control of a fast and furious<br />
match.<br />
However, Dorset hit back with two<br />
tries, one converted, for a 32-30<br />
advantage and it was game on.<br />
Two more unconverted tries took<br />
the home side out to a 40-30 lead<br />
with 20 minutes remaining.<br />
County regrouped and shook off<br />
their tiredness to run hard and<br />
strong to give Ross his third try,<br />
again Keiller was on the mark with<br />
the extras to make the score 40-36.<br />
However, as a County player lay<br />
injured on the pitch, there was<br />
confusion over numbers and<br />
County were forced to withdraw a<br />
man giving Dorset the chance to<br />
take advantage of the confusion to<br />
score in the corner.<br />
The try went unconverted and once<br />
things were sorted out and both<br />
sides had the requisite numbers<br />
on the pitch, Chris Phillpot darted<br />
across the line, Sweeney adding<br />
the conversion to make the score<br />
44-42.<br />
In the final few minutes, Kye<br />
Munslow had a try disallowed for<br />
County and Dorset went close<br />
themselves before County had one<br />
last chance with two tackles and 90<br />
metres to go but they couldn’t do<br />
the impossible.<br />
17<br />
There are plans for two more<br />
encounters between the sides this<br />
summer. The two dates pencilled in<br />
are 1 July in Devon and 19 August at<br />
Swanage & Wareham RFC.<br />
Further details will be published on<br />
the Devon County Rugby League<br />
and Dorset County Giants Rugby<br />
League’s Facebook pages.<br />
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