Sevenoaks 2s RFC VS Bromley RFC

BROMLEY STUN SEVENOAKS WITH DRAMATIC VICTORY

Bromley travelled to Sevenoaks on Saturday in a crunch Kent Counties One fixture with the winner putting themselves in a good position to gain promotion with one game to follow. The caveat is that very few people understand the promotion and relegation situation. I was shown an explanation of this a few weeks back and paragraph E still lives with me and I thought of passing it on to Bletchley Park for decoding. All we do know for certain is that Canterbury Twos will go up and well done to them.

Bromley had a strong side on display, but so did Sevenoaks, and the two teams put on an exceptional game with the lead changing several times and the result in the balance right up to the final whistle. The first two or three minutes were pretty fiery and feisty and a couple of players were assisted by some of the wiser heads and told to calm down. The game settled and Sevenoaks came on strong and penned Bromley back in their twenty two. What followed was a heroic defensive shift with the home side’s players being constantly knocked back in the tackle, and the siege was only lifted when Bromley drove Sevenoaks back up the field with one big hit after another. Neither side was giving an inch and it needed something special to break the deadlock. This duly arrived in the eighteenth minute when Griffiths kicked an awkward grubber deep into the Severoaks half, leading to Bromley being awarded a penalty twenty metres out. Scrum half and captain George Scott picked the ball up and, quick as a flash, he tapped it and raced towards the try line. Winger Joey Richardson was alive to the situation and picked up a beautifully delivered pass to dive over in the corner. The icing on the cake was a terrific conversion by Johnny Griffiths.

The next ten minutes or so were hotly contested, with the level of commitment by both sides pretty awesome. Around the thirty-minute mark, Bromley worked their way into the Sevenoaks twenty-two, spearheaded by a mighty charge by prop Aaron Miles, with the ball being recycled ten metres from the Sevenoaks line. Winger Steve Pillow came hurtling across the park and picked up a cleverly disguised pass by George Scott to scorch over to the right of the posts for a super try, and with the extras, Bromley were 0-14 to the good. It could possibly have been more as centre James Powell made a powerful surge up the left-hand side and Richardson was again in position to take a try-scoring pass, but it never came and Powell died with the ball. Could Bromley get to half time with a fourteen point advantage? Yet again, Sevenoaks threw everything at them, going through multiple phases and creeping ever closer to the try line. It culminated in a mighty surge under the posts and a pile of bodies. The excellent referee took his time and eventually awarded the try, which was converted. Bromley players were far from convinced that the ball had been grounded properly, but no bleating here. Try given – move on. Half time 7-14 and what a half it had been.

The first half had been pretty fairly contested with one team then the other in the ascendancy but it would be fair to say that the home side had the better of the second period in terms of possession and territory and gave Bromley an almighty examination but the boys did the club proud showing tremendous resilience and no little skill in keeping their opponents at bay. Sevenoaks changed their tactics and used the boot via their fly half Chenery to gain field position and pin back Bromley in their half. To a certain extent, this worked, but Bromley equally has an adept kicking game and returned the ball with interest, causing their back three to fumble and drop the ball, giving the away side the opportunity to apply pressure. Suddenly, Sevenoaks began to leak penalties and Griffiths had three shots at goal and succeeded with two in the 50th and 52nd minutes to stretch the lead to thirteen points. That did not last long as Bromley conceded a pretty soft try from their perspective shortly afterwards, which was converted 14- 20.

For the next ten minutes or so, it was all Sevenoaks as they went through every process in their manual, but they could not crack Bromley, and it took a bit of off-the-cuff trickery from left winger Mukuolu to undo them. On sixty two minutes he got the ball about thirty five metres out and seemed well covered but he bashed his way past two defenders, eluded a couple more and suddenly he was in open field and cantered in under the posts for a converted try. Brilliant from him and not so brilliant from Bromley, who suddenly found themselves behind for the first time in the game by one point. Not for long, as almost immediately from the kick off they were awarded a penalty which Griffiths cooly converted to leave the score at 21-23 with fifteen minutes to play.

A familiar pattern followed with Sevenoaks pressing and Bromley denying them all over the park. The fresh legs off the bench helped the away side with Friday sharp as a needle, Godden playing like a man possessed and Withers doing withering things. On seventy one minutes Sevenoaks got up a head of steam and headed relentlessly towards the Bromley try line. After any number of drives and recycling, they were over under the posts to retake the lead 28-23. In an attacking sense, Bromley had not really got going in the second half, but now they did have a go for it and they did so with gusto. Sevenoaks had put in an almighty effort to wrest back control of the game but it was taking its toll with several injuries to some of their players and a bit of tiredness creeping in. Bromley needed no second invitation and they began to push hard, but they nearly became unstuck on seventy-five minutes when they gave away a very kickable penalty. However, the excellent Chenery seemed to slightly mishit it and it sailed the wrong side of the left-hand post – massive relief for the many away supporters. Bromley went back to prodding for gaps and weaknesses but Sevenoaks held firm and the clock was ticking. Into injury time and the Bromley pack roused themselves for one last assault. They drove into the twenty two and player after player took the ball on sucking in defenders. They were taking the ball closer and closer to the posts, and then there was a God, well, actually a Godden, who picked up the ball and simply blasted over the line for an amazing try, sparking off huge celebrations on the touchline. No running down the clock from Griffiths – ball on tee bosh over and unbelievably it was 28-30 but more injury time to follow.

Sevenoaks were desperate to get up the field, but equally, Bromley were desperate to keep them down the field. Bromley had the better of it and a fantastic kick down the touchline gave Joey Richardson the opportunity to have a foot race with his opposite number, who managed to gather the ball short of his try line. He had no support and Joey just had to pen him in and with the cavalry arriving, Bromley were in prime position. Red mist descended and Joey gave away a penalty – oops. No matter, Sevenoaks could not get out of their half and after a bit of a scramble, Bromley managed to get the ball off the park. The referee blew his whistle; game over. No whooping and hollering from Bromley. They knew they had been in an almighty scrap which could have gone either way but today was their day.

Thus ended a terrific contest between two fine sides who were well drilled and coached. The players of the match for Bromley were George Scott and Aron Miles, but in all honesty, all eighteen stood up and were counted today. The first team have a rest week coming up and returns to action on April 5th at home to Ashford, and this promises to be another cracker. 3.00pm kick off. As it is the last league game with a lot resting on it, I am sure there will be plenty going on off the field with things like a BBQ and of course the music, which is very entertaining (not for everyone I hear – who could that be I wonder).

Back at Barnet Wood Road, the seconds welcomed Sheppey for a Kent 4 league game. What a welcome it was as they ran in eleven tries and converted ten of them to leave the visitors staring at a 75-24 defeat. Try scorers were Tom Rowe x4, Dan O’Rourke x2, Callum Hughton, skipper Ed Millar, Jake Morris, Dan Carroll and Joel Chance with 9 conversions from O’Rourke and one from Callum McFarlane who, being from the front row fraternity, I am sure he dramatically reenacted several times in the bar afterwards. Next Saturday, 29^th March, the twos are at home to Deal and Betteshanger in The Kent Shield with a 3.00pm kick off. All support welcome. The following Saturday, they are away at Rye in their final league game.

The thirds were also supposed to be playing at home in their Merit Table. Everything was organised – referee, food etc etc and then word filtered through that the opposition had cried off late Saturday morning. I cannot even begin to say how poor that is. I will leave it to others. On a positive note, it was great to see so many of the thirds turning up to support the seconds. Hopefully, these guys will get a couple of games in before the end of the season against teams who have the decency to turn up.

On Sunday, the Academy side travelled to Edenbridge and recorded a very satisfying 12-31 victory with tries coming from Saunders x2, Tarrant, Jones and Martin with three conversions by Abbey.