Bournemouth Director Of Rugby Will Croker said the key word in preparation for their South West Premier clash with Newton Abbot had been ‘bouncebackability.’
After The Lions saw their perfect record ruined by a Will Greenwood-inspired Maidenhead side last week, the emphasis had been on how they would respond.
After bouncing back with a bonus-point 63-0 win at home to Newton Abbot, Croker was pleased with the reply he got.
He said: “It was a sobering loss last week and ‘Bouncebackabilty’ was absolutely the right word to use this week.
“It was a sobering loss last week because they came with a lot of fire and passion.
“We lost our composure a bit so the focus this week was to get back to what we do, and play the way that we want to play and not the way the opposition try and force us to play, and I could not have been happier.”
Croker’s men had blown away all before them in their first 11 games of the season until becoming unstuck at fourth side Maidenhead.
After conceding just 128 points in their first 11 games of the campaign - which is an average of 11 points a game - Croker said his players went back to what they do best - shutting out the opposition.
It clearly paid off with their opponents unable to trouble the Chapel Gate scorers at all.
Croker added: ”Our defensive sets again and again and again were so good, but this is what was so lovely this week was seeing the boys really express themselves and have a real go and there were obviously some fantastic tries scored.
“Obviously Dan Stewart scores a hat-trick and Sammy Hardcastle has picked up two tries late on coming off the bench and Ali Bennett scored a fantastic try so all round it was a really good performance.”
By Will Perringwood
Bournemouth Rugby Reporter
Photos by Steve Harris
