Eating Turf #4

04 ISSUE

ALL THE SPORTS, ALL THE TIME

Surf and Turf:

basketball, rugby, football and more

REGULARS

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REGULARS

ISSUE 4: 1 NOVEMBER '13

CONTENTS MATCH REPORTS

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Match reports

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Solent Dominant in Southern Derby

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Saints go maur-ching on

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Coach Banks Says Rugby Women not ready

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“We Must Focus on getting promoted”

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Coach Banks on Raw Recruits

Design: Adam Storer/Adam Woodgate 3

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ROUND-UP

Match SOlent ease to victory Report over oxford Women’s basketball

Anna Bauge Torland

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olent women’s basketball team showed a ruthless streak after opponents Oxford turned up with just five players.

The south coast side made their numerical advantage count as they romped to a 79-34 win at St Mary’s Leisure Centre.

Coach CJ Lee did not see this as an easy win, he said: “It is a shame that Oxford only turned up with five players.

“I felt good from the beginning of the game since this was a game we could physically run them of the floor, but we still have to play together.

“We don’t take any team for granted, even if they turn up with five or 12 players.

“I’m very happy about the overall game, but I knew from the start that this was a game we should win.”

The match started evenly. Oxford were obviously affected by their lack of numbers and Solent pulled away in the second quarter and pressed home their advantage.

After Solent’s defeat to London South Bank last week the coach had been concerned that his team might be heading for another loss as they settle into the new season.

Illness and injuries have disrupted preparations leaving Lee unable to see the entire squad in action until recently. Coming in as the new coach five weeks ago there are a lot of things he want to bring into the team.

And he is confident he will get the

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preparations right and the girls focused on what needs to be done.

He said: “It is a challenge, but I’m really enjoying this team. I’m trying to get the mindset of the girls and the techniques right.

“Last game we had a shocker. Today I saw a really big improvement.

Hopefully I can bring a lot of structure

Solent keep strong defence

into the team. And today I think we were very competitive.

“The preparation is not where it should be. On the floor we are starting to learn about who can do what, but we are going in the right direction, but it is a slow process.

“The goal is to try and win the league, but at this stage it is difficult, we haven’t seen the results of all the teams. At this time we have no idea what the teams are like.

“But right now we know that we can be competitive and our aim is to go to the top.

“Over 50% of our team is new this year, that makes it challenging and we are working on the chemistry and getting the girls to be confident 4

about what needs to be done.

“The biggest thing we need to work on is the energy level. We are a very quiet group of girls right now and we need to be much louder, much more intense and much more focused.”

“we know that we can be competitive and our aim is to go to the top.”

With a team with so many new players, it is important for the coach to have players like the captain Melanie Curson in the team to add a lot of strength.

It is challenging to get the chemistry between the girls at this stage in the league.

The captain showed responsibility and brought her team to victory in today’s match.

Lee was impressed by what his captain showed on the floor adding: “I think Melanie did amazing work today, she played forty minutes without a break. She was consistently and strong at defence playing against Oxford toughest player.

Equally offensive she was running the floor, passing the ball. She was the all-round stand out for me today.

“I was really happy with the ability to push the ball in transition, a lot of fast ball, and a lot of lay-ups.

Defensively as well at times we looked really good together, so a side from not being loud enough we played with a lot of intensity, but we need to bring energy to our game.” 

ROUND-UP

Match Solent net big win to Report climb to joint top

basketball

Grant Elliot

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olent men’s basketball team thrashed the University of South Wales 106-80 to go joint top of the BUCS Western 1A division.

Solent are joint leaders with University of the West of England after both sides have made the perfect start to the campaign, winning each of their opening matches.

The south coast side dominated all four quarters and, after leading 47-42 at half-time, went on to win the match in convincing style.

Coach Sylvain Donneaud praised his side’s performance after the restart.

Donneaud said:“We had a good third quarter after we were up by five at half-time. We started very strongly after half-time and we controlled the game all the way through.”

Solent’s Mark Bridgeman was in superb form and netted 31 points, while newcomer Antonio Moffat notched another 23.

Although the American and Bridgeman were the stars of the show in terms of points scored, Donneaud was quick to point out that it was a good team performance.

“It’s difficult for me to pick out one player as they all played very well. The whole team did a good job. ”It was more of a team effort than a team of individual performers.

when they were driving to the hoop.”

The box-and-one strategy is usually used against teams with one dominant scoring threat. The idea is to try and shut that player down by forcing them to try

“more of a team effort than a team of individual performers.”

Donneaud pleased with win

The University of South Wales posed a threat early on and the sides were almost even going into the break before Solent pulled ahead.

Donneaud revealed that he had to implement a new strategy to deal with the threat of the opposition.

“They had some good players and we had to play a special defence on a couple of players. We had to use box-and-one because they had a few players who were very effective

to score against a dedicated marking defender.

But Solent had to adopt an unorthodox variation of the boxand-one system to ensure that they kept their lead. It worked.

Solent won the third quarter 3018, before winning the fourth 29-20 and Donneaud revealed his team were successful offensively and defensively.

“Defensively we were great and we made some good stops. But we were very fast at counter-attacks and I think that’s what won us the game.”

Next for Solent are games at home to the University of Exeter before their big one against jointtop leaders, the University of the West of England on November 6.

KEEP GOING FOR OUR FEATURES SECTION 5

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FEATURES

Solent

dominant in Southern derby

Oli Shapley and Calum Hill

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olent rugby coach Sheridan Easton was delighted with an emphatic 55-3 win over local rivals Southampton at Test Park.

He said: “Finishing in the top three is important this season as we still have some tough games to play.”

“Alex Tindall had a great game and scored three fantastic tries but the team’s performance all round was brilliant.”

The visitors took an early lead thanks to an Aaron Enoch penalty, but they were to be their only points of the day in a crushing defeat.

Tindall’s first try came after 10 minutes, a powerful run from deep saw him slip through the defence and dive over the line. Rob Walters got his first of five conversions to stretch the lead.

It was only five minutes before Tindall had his name on the scoresheet again. With an overlap on the right the winger went himself and was forced towards the line by the support to give Solent some breathing space.

Ryan Keary gathered Walters’ chip ahead to stroll in the corner for try number three. A neat move between them was rewarded with the ball bouncing in his hands to the delight of coach Sheridan Easton.

Matt Fox rounded off the first half scoring just

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before the break. After being camped in the 22, the flanker saw his opportunity and drove over the line from the edge of the ruck.

Five more tries followed after the break, the first of those courtesy of Matt Bishop. The scrumhalf went himself from close range, and Walters’ conversion gave Solent a 31-3 advantage.

Josh Syvatt found himself at the bottom of a driving maul to touch down for the sixth try, and captain Tom Brind joined in the rout when he sneaked in the corner evading the Southampton defence.

Tindall got his hat-trick after 65 minutes, he had plenty of space to run through unchallenged and a touchline conversion from Walters continued his good day with the boot.

Ashley Saunter who came off the bench in the second half also got himself a try before the scoring was rounded off by Brind to give Solent a huge victory.

Easton’s side were in control throughout, and will see this as a huge confidence boost for the rest of the season.

After the game, hat-trick hero Tindall was full of praise for his team saying: “It’s always nice to score tries but I couldn’t have done it without my team-mates, they were outstanding today.” 

FEATURES

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FEATURES

Saints go Maur-ching on Mauricio Pochettino’s Southampton soared temporarily to third in the Barclays Premier League table after comfortably defeating Fulham 2-0 at St Mary’s.

Dan Church

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irst-half strikes from striking duo Rickie Lambert and Jay Rodriguez sealed a fourth win in their last five games, extending Saints’ unbeaten streak to an impressive six matches.

If Southampton’s rise to prominence is maintained, they stand a great chance of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League next season. They ended the Fulham triumph just four points behind leaders Arsenal. fast, high-tempo and slick passing from the first whistle, leaving the Cottagers clueless.

The hosts’ electric opening paid off after 20 minutes when talisman Lambert was free to head home a James Ward-Prowse corner at the back post after partner Rodriguez had flicked on the set piece.

This opened the floodgates for Southampton’s attacking flair with the home side going close once again.

Midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin’s effort was cleared off the line after catching Fulham’s Sascha Riether in possession.

Cottagers’ Maarten Stekelenburg was the busier of the two goalkeepers during the first period, the Dutch international being brought into action again when he denied Rodriguez a clear opportunity.

Victor Wanyama and Lambert were next to test Fulham’s resilience , fizzing shots just wide before the England striker rattled the post with a dazzling long-range effort.

But Lambert’s contribution was soon to become productive again as, two minutes before the interval, the 31 year-old lofted Adam Lallana’s deft cross back across goal towards Rodriguez who had the simple task of doubling Saints’ lead from two yards.

Martin Jol’s men becoming the first Premier League outfit this campaign not to register a single shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.

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Former Burnley hit-man Rodriguez nearly added a third with his brilliant acrobatic effort from Ward-Prowse’s delivery.

In total the hosts registered 66 per cent of the possession and fired 20 shots at busy Stekelenburg’s goal.

Opposite number Artur Boruc was finally called into action in the last 15 minutes, clearing a dangerous ball from Fulham’s Fernando Amorebieta and then watching Steve Sidwell’s late volley flash wide.

The Cottagers lacklustre front line was one of the reasons why Saints were able to celebrate their sixth clean sheet in their last nine league outings.

“Fulham boss Jol admitted his side were lucky to walk away from St Mary’s with a 2-0 defeaT” The south coast outfit had conceded only three goals all term at the end of the Fulham match, the lowest tally of all the top-flight teams.

Fulham boss Jol admitted his side were lucky to walk away from St Mary’s with a 2-0 defeat since it could have been far worse.

It was still a loss for the London side, meaning they stay put in 14th two points above the relegation zone.

Southampton’s top-three status didn’t last the entire weekend. They dropped to fifth place after Chelsea and Tottenham climbed into the top four after victories the following day. 

FEATURES

Coach Banks says rugby women not ready Solent women’s rugby will have to wait a further week to start their season following coach Gary Banks’ decision to postpone their opening fixture.

Lewis Hancock

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he girls were set to host Bournemouth Ladies on Wednesday but Banks called off the match as he felt his side were not ready.

Banks said: “We have had a really short pre-season this year.

“We should have been playing a game today, but we postponed it because I didn’t think the girls were prepared enough” The postponement allowed for an extra training session to take place in preparation for next week, something Banks considered necessary.

Banks said: “I think we need to work a little bit on cohesion and get the confidence up. Some of these girls haven’t even tackled a real person before.

“Other teams are going to be exactly the same as us. We will just do what we can when we can.”

Although possessing a vast amount of inexperience, Banks is excited about the prospect of a few of his new players.

“We’re looking good and have got some good Freshers.

“Add to that the experienced players that have stayed on, the squad is gelling together really well.”

Women’s rugby hasn’t been

popular at the university in recent times, but Banks is happy to see so many involved and relishes the task of developing those new to the sport.

“It’s encouraging to see the girls returning and mentoring the girls who have never played before.

“We’ve got a squad of probably about 26 to 27 which is our biggest for a couple of years, some of whom hadn’t even seen a rugby pitch before university.”

Solent Women’s next fixture is away to Winchester Women in the BUCS Western 2A Division. 

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FEATURES

WE MUST FOCUS on getting promoted Sholing’s manager-chairman insists that the many cup games and injuries could ruin the Boatmen’s season.

John Winchester

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holing manager Dave Diaper is wary that his side could again be playing catch up this season.

During the previous campaign the Boatmen’s cup runs forced them to move numerous league matches, leaving them with a congested fixture list.

They currently sit third in the Wessex Premier Division, and already have three games in hand on the two teams above them.

They now have another fixture to squeeze in after the postponement of Tuesday’s Russell Cotes Cup tie at waterlogged Lymington Town.

But Diaper is hoping to avoid a similar a fixture pile up for this year.

“It could be an issue,” Diaper said: “Abingdon [United] played 17 when we had played 11, it is something which we are mindful of this year too.

“Even with all the injuries we’ve got we’ve still got quite a large squad so hopefully we’ll have enough to cope with the demands of the league.”

Now Diaper is hoping the

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midweek break will leave his players fresher for Friday’s league match at home to local rivals Fareham Town.

“There were five players out last week due to injuries, we only planned to play four first team players in the mid-week cup match but that didn’t go ahead,” he said.

Not all smiles at Shoing

“Hopefully we’ll get a few of them back but we may still be a little bit short come Friday.”

Sholing are unbeaten in the 10

league with nine wins and two draws, the manager knows Fareham Town will prove one of their biggest challenges.

“The game is very important,

“the league is high on our agenda, bread and butter stuff really” they’ve had a good run of games, and have some decent players.

“We’ll have to do our best if we want anything out of the game.”

Diaper put off claims that they are favourites to end up top of the league.

“It’s too early to say that we can win the league, we’ve only played 11 games.

Although I think we’ll be there at the end of the season.

“The league is high on our agenda, it’s bread and butter stuff really, spread across 42 games.

The FA Vase is really important to us as well, as there is some monetary gain in that.

“The league though is our main priority.” 

FEATURES

Coach banks on raw recruits Solent women’s rugby team will be going into the unknown this season with many of their new recruits never even having watched a game before.

Kyran Pick

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oach Gary Banks was delighted with a record turn-out at trials but admits he faces a major task to mould the raw recruits into a winning team.

He said: “This is probably the biggest intake of freshers we’ve had in my four years in charge. Some of these new faces have never played the game before, some of them have only seen it on the T.V. and some haven’t even done that..

“We are having to give them 12 years of experience in just eight or nine training sessions which means we have about 20 hours to cram it all in.

“I’m pretty sure by the time we come to our first game which is only a couple of weeks away we’ll be fine, so confidence is really high, not just with me but with the girls.”

Last season Solent were unable to field a team in their fixture against Cardiff and were deducted a point as a result; this year the coach says his main ambition is to keep the size of squad he currently has at his disposal.

“I’m not looking at league positions as targets, my aim is to make sure at the end of the season we have as many players that started the campaign and are coming back to us next year and that everybody ends the season enjoying it.”

Local pride will be at stake to add extra incentive this year as Solent are joined by Bournemouth, Winchester and University of Southampton in the Western 2A division.

Team captain Alice Bowerbank has already picked out the fixture she is most excited by saying: “Our biggest rival has obviously got to be Southampton Uni. “They weren’t in our league last year because they went up but they’ve come back down and after a big loss to them in my first year, I’m hoping we can smash them this year.”

However Banks is keen to keep expectations low with some tricky away trips to Aberystwyth University and University of Wales Trinity St David also scheduled this season.

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Coach Banks

Banks said: “We quite enjoy playing Bournemouth because we play them more often then anyone else, Winchester as well is usually quite an interesting fixture but we also have some long trips to the other side of Wales which will be a tough ask for some of these girls to fit in with their university studies as well.”

Solent kick off their season with an away trip to Winchester on Wednesday 6th November after their opening fixture with Bournemouth was postponed.  // EATING TURF