11:40am Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Sam Morshead
AFTER Supermarine’s latest Dorset and Wilts One North victory, a 13-7 defeat of Calne, player-coach Sean Millwaters has claimed his side are good enough for a top four finish.
In a tight division, Marine have excelled this season under the new stewardship of Millwaters and head coach John Godsell, with the duo leading their side from the league’s basement last year to become genuine top-half contenders this time around.
Following another rounded performance against fourth-placed Calne, Millwaters was quick to reiterate how times have changed at Supermarine Road.
“Everyone’s happy and the club is going really well,” he said.
“If we had to be hypercritical, we could say we should be in the top four.
“The only side in the division who have beaten us twice is Marlborough, and apart from that we have had a lot of tight games, some of which we should have won.
“It is very different to last year when we were scratching around for a point from anywhere.”
Millwaters highlighted the reverse fixture at Calne earlier in the campaign, which Marine lost 12-7 despite dominating large periods.
In that instance Supermarine were punished for a few early lapses of concentration and were unable to recover.
On Saturday, however, Godsell and Millwaters installed a gameplan which negated Calne’s strengths and maintained Marine’s focus for the majority of the 80 minutes.
After the sides turned around 0-0 at the interval, the hosts grabbed the initiative as Sean Higgins announced his return to the side by running in to touch down in the corner.
Minutes later, Millwaters’ long-range penalty extended the advantage before Calne dragged themselves back into the contest, forcing through to the Marine try-line after 10 minutes of sustained pressure.
However, Calne switched off at the restart, allowing winger Billy Evans to latch onto the loose ball and sprint home.
As the game entered its final stages, Gary Trevet had what appeared to be a legitimate score ruled out as the referee was unsighted, and substitute prop John Hart was held up just short of the line.
Millwaters was delighted with the display, saying: “It was a really good performance.
“They came here expecting to win, but we had a good idea of what they were going to bring.
“John (Godsell) and I had the gameplan in our heads to counter Calne’s, and we worked drills in training during the week which paid off on the pitch.
“Apart from the one score we were focused throughout, and Calne pretty much ran out of ideas during the second half.”
Marine’s front row, in the absence of Paul Bishop, continued to stand-up well to the test of another physical encounter. Dynamic prop Nick Moulden and replacement John Hart drew special praise from Millwaters.
“Between the two of them they did a very good job up front,” he said.
“Losing Paul was a big blow but the strength in depth of the squad has started to show.”
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