Rugby: Dunn says Lions can bounce back (From Bournemouth Echo)

Rugby: Dunn says Lions can bounce back

7:00am Wednesday 10th October 2012 in Rugby By Ian Wadley

DIRECTOR of rugby David Dunn backed his wounded Lions to come back firing after they had been condemned to an unwanted hat-trick.

The National Two South new boys suffered a third consecutive defeat when they lost 21-6 at Dings Crusaders on Saturday.

Their task gets even tougher in the next two matches as they prepare to host high-flying Shelford before a trip to leaders Henley.

But Chapel Gate chief Dunn has faith in his players and insists they will be determined to stop the rot by upsetting the odds.

He told the Daily Echo: “We now have two tough games against Shelford and Henley. They have both been going really well so we really needed to win the game at Dings.

“We have got to cause an upset now to reach our next target. I expect the players to be firing on all cylinders again this weekend.”

Dunn insisted he had been happy with his team’s latest performance at Dings after they were forced into key changes, with the likes of Sam Hardcastle and Frazer Wilford unavailable.

“We had targeted the game for a win but we ended up taking a rearranged team there due to unavailability,” said Dunn.

“I was pleased with the performance considering the players we had missing.

“Alan Manning had to play at hooker and he did a great job for us. Ben Stevenson had to move from fly-half to scrum-half in Sam Hardcastle’s absence. All of that disrupted us a little bit.

“It was always going to be a big ask. We restricted them to two tries but couldn’t cross the line ourselves and that is most unusual for Bournemouth.”

Stevenson’s two penalties were all depleted Bournemouth had to show for their efforts at Landseer Avenue. The result saw Lions slip to ninth in the league table.

Dunn, meanwhile, praised the performance of player-coach Tim Collier after the former professional had played “extremely well” in his first 80-minute run out of the campaign.

Lions: Drake, Edwards, Connolly, Chislett, Stewart (Grace, 50), Pollard, Stevenson, Carrel (Spikings, 72), Manning, Featherstone, Collier, Forrest, Booth, Dunkerley (O’Brien, 72), Hart (Hughes, 50).