Andoni Iraola on AFC Bournemouth’s Mark Travers vs Chelsea
ANDONI Iraola was pleased with Mark Travers’ performance against Chelsea.
The Irish stopper came into the AFC Bournemouth starting-11 on Saturday as Chelsea-loanee Kepa Arrizabalaga was ineligible to play against his parent club.
The Cherries boss told the Daily Echo that he thought Travers was very good, despite not being as busy as he may have thought he would be before the game.
- AFC Bournemouth fall to late defeat at home to Chelsea
Iraola said: “Probably he didn’t have the job he expected against Chelsea, because when you play against Chelsea, you expect, I remember past season, I think 0-0 here, they had many more chances against us, many more.
“Today, I think he was good.
“His delivery, distribution was good, the [Chelsea] goal, he cannot do anything and I think he played well.”
The Lions began their Regional Two South Central campaign in Surrey, and had a tough afternoon at the office, losing 30 points to 20.
The hosts scored the opening try of the game early on, before Bournemouth hit back with a score through Ryan Morrell.
Farnham crossed the whitewash again before the break, leading 12-5 at half time.
The home side came out strongly in the second period, scoring an early try and kicking three penalties, before Alan Manning crossed for the Lions.
But Farnham scored again, and, despite a Euan Tremlett score for the visitors, sealed a 30-20 win to kick off the campaign.
Bournemouth director of rugby, Will Croker, said it was a tough afternoon in the office, adding that the club was aware that brushing off the struggles of the past couple of years was going to be difficult.
Farnham were a well organised side and were direct, making use of a forceful defence to attack the visitors.
But there were signs for positivity for the Lions, with their lineout functioning well and the maul showing potential to be a weapon for them this season.
Bournemouth also looked strong when moving the ball through the hands, and looked a threat, but lost their flow through the game after losing a couple of players to injuries, forcing rotations throughout.
Croker said his side have big lessons to learn from the game, particularly improving body height and being stronger in the carry, while also recognising that they had scored 20 points in a performance that was not the side’s best.
He said: “Obviously disappointed, we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy runout.
“Farnham have picked up a couple of players from Camberley who added some steel to them.
“They were very good defensively, they got off the line and made double tackles against our runners and we weren’t able to generate as much front foot ball as we would have liked.
“We’ve got to accept that it’s a brand-new project, were only eight weeks into this project and there are going to be times when we need to build trust in one another in what we’re doing, not try and do things as individuals but stick to the collective goals and we’ll come through it.”
Bournemouth’s man of the match was Sam Hardcastle, playing his 400th game for the club after coming out of retirement.
He said: “I never expected to come back out. I got the phone call from Will two or three months ago, I just had a little itch that I wanted to scratch again, so it was good to be asked, to be honest.
On the match, Hardcastle said: “It was hard work.
“I wasn’t expecting to play 80, we had a few injuries, so I had to dig in and go the full 80. It felt alright out there, a bit scrappy at times, plenty to work on.
“But overall, I think we’re going in the right direction.”
Bournemouth host Chobham up next, in their first home game of the season, with Croker saying they must target it amongst a tough start to the season.
The Lions have just one home game in the opening month of the season and are on the road for three of their opening four fixtures.
