Sat 8 Oct 2022
Following a cry off from Stocksbridge a strong 25-man Dinnington squad took the short journey to Rotherham Clifton and made a good start against their local rivals.
With all of the first 15 minutes played in their opponents, half Dinnington put some good phases together but a resilient Clifton defence was taking some breaking down.
The breakthrough came in the 17th minute, when a long throw at a line out 5 meters from the line was gathered by Stephen Leitch who then powered over the line for the first try.
Momentum then continued to build with Clifton conceding a number of penalties from mounting pressure and Dinnington started to look dangerous when attacking wide.
The second try came when the ball reached ageing winger Steve Thompson showed a swift turn of pace to go on the outside of his opposing winger, half his years and finished well with a swallow dive into the corner. An excellent conversion from the sideline made it 2 from 2 for John Sommerville and 14-0 to Dinnington.
The visitors weren’t going to have it all their own way though and as they took their foot off the gas, the hosts capitalised and fought back with two converted tries in a good 10-minute spell for them to bring the scores level on 31 minutes.
This gave Dinnington a wake-up call and they responded by getting back on the front foot and the last play of the half resulted in Tom Westbury breaking through to regain the lead.
Sommerville then converted again to make the half time score 21-14 in Dinnington’s favour.
It was Clifton who had the early territory and possession in the second half, but the Dinnington defence held strong and they were soon in an attacking mood again. After a few phases the ball was moved wide and Simon Venimore picked a good line to burst through for a try on his club debut.
It was really pleasing that Dinnington not only had good numbers in their squad. The blend of youth, experience and strength of impact players from the bench was a real advantage.
On the hour mark a penalty was kicked to the corner and from the resulting catch and drive Todd Bonsall extended the score to 31 - 14.
Shortly after Bonsall was in support to gather a skilful offload and run in for his second try.
Dinnington was now well in command and as a brave Clifton team started to run out of steam, some exciting attacking flare was well finished by Simon Venimore for his second try.
Then two further tries from Jamie ‘Sonny Bill’ Shaw, who showed his pace at Outside Centre, made it a great away win with the final score, 55 - 14.
Overall it was a very pleasing all-round team performance, with some good rugby on display.
Next week Dinnington are back at Lodge Lane, to face Hemsworth and will aim to keep the positive momentum building.
Game photos - with thanks to David Hopkins
