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Didn't get what you wanted for Christmas? |
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 If Santa didn't bring you exactly what you wanted this Yuletide then start the new year with a bit of shopping at the South Dorset Giants store. |
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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !!!! |
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I wanted to take this opportunity to wish our readers, South Dorset Giants fans and rugby league supporters of all teams a really Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
From the team at South Dorset Giants blog... |
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I know it is the off season and I said no more articles until we get back into pre-season but I wanted to put a few words down about the Gilette 4-Nations which finished over the weekend.
Of course much has been made about the last 20 minuties of England vs Australia and the subsequent end of Tony Smiths reign. But how has the game of rugby league football benefitted from the tournament and what could it have done better?
For me it all goes back to the first match of the tournament and a trip in person to the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster.
The atmosphere before the match was superb. And not just because we were in the pub, there was a great crowd all up for supporting England and looking to enjoy the night.
Inside the ground it was a slightly different picture with a number of groups of Saint Helens and Leeds fans more interested in baiting each other than cheering England on.
It didn't spoil the experience too much though and my highlight was the length of the field breakaway try from Ryan Hall of the Rhinos.
You would have had long odds on that being the highlight of his tournament at the time, of course.
Hopes were high for England fans going into the next match at Wigan. But the Aussies showed us the gap with a first half blitz. Having said that, seeing the match in BBC terrestrial will have done the game the world of good... as long as people stayed around long enough to see the second half that is!
The Australia vs France match in Paris was sparsely spectated, but did form the platform for the potential Paris Super League bid to be discussed.
As a Catlans fan I had been watching the French closely as they were more or less my team with a few amateurs. They stayed in the games a lot longer than I expected and in Oli Elima they have one of the true legends of the current era. Top man and top player.
My only negative about the French contribution is the number of players who only qualify on residency, you would hope that is addressed in the years to come and is just a temporary mesaure to get the country established.
We went into England vs New Zealand thinking that a pasting could be on the cards but this match got the game into the spotlight in this country and showed that the English players in Superleague can deliver on the big occasion.
In comparison to the big match of the other code last weekend there is no doubt where the drama and excitement was... and it wasn't Twickers!! :0)
England were through to the final and the only downside was there was a week until the match.
The final itself was a brilliant game of rugby league. Up until the hour mark you really couldn't call it and if Billy Slater hadn't gone over the line almost instantly after Sam Burgess had put us in front you may have seen a different result.
As it was once we started chasing the game the Aussies showed incredible finishing to put England away and give the scoreline a less respectable look.
Let's be clear about this though. The result of the final will not have too detrimental effect on the perception of the game after that tournament. The coverage was good in the media and Englands players and management conducted themselves well throughout. I enjoyed seeing it in the flesh and although not well placed geographically to see the South Dorset Giants play (224 miles to be precise!) I am keen to top up my trips to Super League with visits to my local Cambridgeshire club "St Ives Roosters".
It is interesting to see that the country sees rugby as a dual code game again so it is important to keep the pressure on and enchance the sport wherever we can.
South Dorset Giants are part of a dual code club and if that is the way to get both codes as popular as possible then I have no problem with that.
Enjoy the winter and see you soon.
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Giants break their league duck |
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Over the weekend, South Dorset Giants won the first league match in their short history.
A 24-0 win over Plymouth was the final score, more to follow. |
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| See you all next year :0) |
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East Devon Eagles 100-16 South Dorset Giants |
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 Where to start eh?
The Giants challenging first season in Conference Rugby League football shows no signs of easing after this heavy defeat up the coast in Devon.
Thankfully the Giants are a well managed club who will continue to learn and grow.
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South Dorset Giants Online Shop Launched |
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http://www.southdorsetgiants.co.uk/shop.html
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Giants break their league duck |
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Over the weekend, South Dorset Giants won the first league match in their short history.
A 24-0 win over Plymouth was the final score, more to follow. |
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Giants wounded by Sharks bite... |
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 CAPTAIN Mark Sample blamed his side’s sloppy handling for their defeat in this South West Conference clash.
The Giants were 28 points behind before they troubled the scoreboard and despite a spirited fight-back were comfortably beaten by a powerful Devon Sharks side.
The South Dorset coaching staff will have been furious at the basic errors that let the Sharks in for three easy first-half tries and left them with a mountain to climb.
Sample said: “I think the guys have all realised that you must look after the ball in order to build pressure on your opponents.
“Far too often this season we are putting pressure on ourselves by giving the ball away far too cheaply.”
Hooker Craig Barter led a forceful comeback which saw the Giants move within 12 points of their opponents, but the home side were again let down by their handling to eventually lose the game 38-16.
South Dorset will also be ruing the loss of Adam Hoxey, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a neck injury. Hoxey was one of six players who had to leave the field injured. Sample added: “We played well and scored some nice trys and I believe if we hadn’t lost six players to injury during the game the score would have been a lot closer.
“I really have to thank our physio Chris Wood who had a very busy day and did a fantastic job.”
The Giants will have to improve dramatically for their South West Cup semi-final clash against Exeter Centurions this afternoon.
They were put on the back foot right from the kick-off when Devon took advantage of a spill to take an early lead. Devon soon built on this advantage with a second try before another spilt ball allowed them to grab a third to take a 22-0 lead into the dressing room.
The Giants could easily have folded after conceding again early in the second half but got back into the game thanks to a moment of magic from Tim Comben.
An amazing run from Comben opened the Sharks’ defence. He passed to Barter who used his forwards to gain considerable headway before playing in Adam Poole to go over for the score.
The try visibly lifted the Giants with Barter beginning to cause the visitors all sorts of problems. Soon after, he used his forwards to good effect again and saw Comben over to score on the third tackle.
A wonderful double miss pass from Barter then put in newcomer Tom George to make the score 28-16 with 15 minutes to go but the Giants had begun to tire and were unable to prevent Devon finishing the game with two more tries.
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Sharks do double over Giants |
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Devon Sharks emerged from the Marsh on Saturday with a victory over the Giants.
Score was 16-38.
More to follow. |
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Somerset Vikings 46 Giants 12 |
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BASIC errors and some dubious refereeing decisions have again cost the South Dorset Giants dear.
The Giants, in their inaugural league season, came away from Taunton with another loss that could have been so different had they completed their sets and held on to the ball.
Right from the kick-off the Giants spilled the ball on the second tackle thus handing possession back to the Vikings who capitalised five minutes later with their influential scrum half going over.
That set the tone of the first quarter where basic handling errors early in the tackle count resulted in three more unanswered tries, one of which was given, however, after a dubious knock on.
Undeterred, the visitors started putting in some massive hits with elder statesmen Tony Worle, Dave Allan and man of the match Lian Berry coming to the fore.
Ably led by skipper Mark Sample the Giants started to put pressure on the Vikings line and after completing their first set a clever pass by emergency hooker Dave Allan allowed prop forward Tim Comben to crash over.
The second half started with the Giants exerting more pressure with some fantastic defence and once they held on to the ball they completed their first back to back set which culminated in prop Tony Worle crossing the whitewash.
However, with the game drawing to a close, fatigue was setting in with the effort the Giants were making and they conceded three further tries late on.
Manager Dave Allan said: “The effort and commitment was really fantastic, if we can cut out some of the basic handling errors so early in the tackle count, which just invites pressure, then our first win will be just around the corner.
“Our close quarter defence was probably the best of the season yet our wide defence wasn’t of the same calibre, which is where we conceded the majority of the tries.
“We now have three home games on the bounce and we shall be targeting at least two of these. The boys really deserve it.”
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