Revenge is sweet for Dees as they cut down Forest

Dunstablians secured sweet revenge on Leicester Forest as they claimed a 33-12 win on Saturday.
Aaron White-Martinez in action for DunstabliansAaron White-Martinez in action for Dunstablians
Aaron White-Martinez in action for Dunstablians

Dees had lost at Forest earlier in the season and the visitors, who appeared to have bulked their side up since the previous encounter, started strongly but found the Dees defence difficult to penetrate.

With fly-half Kevin Boland bossing the game and captain Aaron White-Martinez carrying the ball well in heavy traffic the Dees team soon took control of the game.

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An overthrown lineout ball from the visitors resulted in the first score, as Boland scooped up the ball just outside the visitors 22m and danced his way through the Forest defence to score and convert the first try after seven minutes.

Two further Boland penalties moved the half-time score to 13-0 in Dunstablians favour.

As the second half started Forest turned up the pressure and scored two tries of their own within 10 minutes to narrow the gap to one point.

However, the superior fitness of Dees was beginning to show through as Forest struggled to keep up.

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Too many times Forest left exposed single runners, with no support, and the Dees defence would turn the ball over. It was from one of these turnovers that Dees got back into scoring mode.

Richard Cope snatched the ball from the Forest attackers and sped away towards the line. He was finally dragged down a metre short but full-back Toby Mead was on hand to collect the offload and touch down for the score.

Two more Boland penalties, adding to the conversion of Meads’ penalty moved Dees to 26-12 ahead.

As Forest pushed for a final try, and the losing bonus point, again they left runners exposed.

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This time it was White-Martinez who got his hands on the ball inside his own 22 as a dummy pass inside left him in the clear and the footrace was on.

As White made to the halfway line the Forest full-back, who attempted to bring him down, was despatched by the captain’s infamous hand-off.

White-Martinez continued to speed away and was almost dragged down by the covering winger, but it was too little, too late.

The skipper slid over the line, having completed his length of the pitch breakaway try and finish the scoring at 33-12.