Canterbury 2s RFC VS Bromley RFC

DEFIANT BROMLEY PUSH CANTERBURY ALL THE WAY

When you play the league leaders away in, some may say, a season defining game you would hope to have a full squad to pick from but Bromley had at least nine pretty to very regulars not available. This included all three props, captain George Scott, full back George Hawkins, leading try scorer Steve Pillow, flying winger Joey Richardson, Oscar Gray and James Rushton. This meant that Dan Carroll, Ben Smith (little rugby this season), Tom Powell, Tom Rowe (first team debut) and Tom Nicholas had to be called up from the second team. The bench was another new combination of Godden, returning from long term injury, Tommy Scott, first game for a month, and Nicholas.

Not ideal but you have to get on with it. When the teams emerged from the changing rooms you feared for Bromley as Canterbury had a juggernaut pack and a few of the backs had a fair amount of poundage as well but the boys from Bromley looked relaxed and very well groomed. In a sense, they had nothing to lose. The first few minutes were fiercely contested and after five minutes Bromley were awarded a penalty in the opposition half. Canterbury did not retreat and were marched back ten metres allowing returning fly half Johnny Griffiths the opportunity to slot the three points. Two minutes later Bromley were penned in close to their line but with impressive defence repelled this assault and they worked their way out. On nine minutes Bromley were awarded another penalty and again Canterbury were marched ten metres back for an inappropriate comment. A more difficult kick drifted wide. No matter as from the subsequent drop out the ball was fielded by Haisell who drove forward and the ball was recycled to Brown and there was Powell steaming on to the pass to scoring close to the posts and with Griffiths converting the away side were 0-10 ahead. Unbelievable.

Canterbury, as was to be expected, responded with a concentrated attack going through their patterns and Bromley had to defend desperately. They did great and finally were awarded a scrum five metres from their line but close to the corner. They had to work an angle to get the kick away but the home side were wise to this and they turned the ball over and eventually scored left of the posts for an easy conversion 7-10. Bromley responded with good play to get into the Canterbury half and they drove hard and straight with Laws emerging with the ball and charging over for another try. Canterbury redoubled their efforts and Bromley came under ferocious pressure but you could only admire their commitment and courage as they constantly knocked over bigger opponents. During this time Carroll had to depart injured leading to yet another front row reshuffle. On thirty one minutes off the back of a scrum the home side powered over and with the conversion it was 14-15. The home side were in the ascendancy but Bromley would give an inch. On thirty five minutes they had worked themselves close to the Canterbury twenty two. They secured lineout ball and moved it quickly left, recycled quickly right which was flooded with Bromley shirts. Rice manipulated, Laws accelerated and drew the cover allowing Alex Griffiths to motor home. This was a superb team try. They were not finished and four minutes later managed to get into the Canterbury half again and were awarded a lineout about thirty metres out. Both sets of forwards ambled towards the sideline but Johnny Griffiths dashed over and orchestrated a quick throw into himself and headed off down the pitch. He glanced over his shoulder, the referee was happy, Canterbury weren’t, and off he trotted to score under the posts. Brilliant. Conversion good and the score stood at 14-29 which far exceeded expectations but tremendous credit to the players.

They now had to hang in there to half time. The response came and Bromley were back to desperate but highly organised defence. Deep into injury time they eventually coughed up a penalty for a high tackle and it was kicked with consummate ease to leave the half time score at 17-29. This was probably the finest half of rugby played by Bromley this season and in the context of unavailabilities pretty remarkable. They could have rolled over but that is not what the club is about and they had given it everything but could they sustain it because Canterbury do not like their fortress being challenged.

As expected they came out all guns blazing and for twenty five minutes absolutely battered Bromley with their big forwards either trucking the ball up or catching and driving from lineouts. If that did not work then it was crash bang wallop ball by the centres trying to draw in the cover to create space out wide. The away side held out for eight minutes but eventually succumbed to a converted try to the left of the posts. Fifty seven minutes yellow card Canterbury unaware what for. Sixty one minutes yellow card Bromley against Ben Smith for some technical offence at a scrum. Hardly surprising considering what they were up against. One minute later Canterbury scored a simple try off the back of a scrum and with the conversion they were 31-29 ahead for the first time in the game. By now Tom Powell and Haisell had retired and the bench emptied. Alex Griffiths came into scrum half from full back. He normally plays on the wing but needs must. On sixty eight minutes the home side scored again with a speculative kick to the right hand corner which sat up nicely for their winger to run on to. Expertly converted. Six minutes later they scored another try and seemed out of sight at 43-29 with five minutes to go plus injury time. Bromley had given it their all and looked spent.

But no with the sun going down the phoenix rose out of the ashes and Bromley were on the attack marauding down the far right hand side of the pitch and a black and amber shirt wove through and over the try line. Think it was Milne but hard to tell. With a conversion, they would be back to within six points with minutes to go but it sailed agonisingly wide. No matter as right from the kick off they were right back at it with Canterbury looking a little shell shocked and they just resorted several times to just hoofing the ball clear and Bromley took up the challenge and ran it back at them straight and hard. In the last play of the game they got their reward with a penalty straight in front of the posts. Johnny Griffiths slotted this to leave the final score at 43-37 and the away side had picked up two bonus points and I don’t think any side has done that at Canterbury for a long time never mind win.

This was a terrific contest swinging one way and then the other. Canterbury probably deserved to win as they had more firepower and, shall we say, experience and pragmatism at their disposal which helped them over the line. As for Bromley well they were simply magnificent with players out of position, some called up who had played little or no first team rugby all season and one debutant. The front five were under huge pressure in the scrum but held up well and the lineout was beyond recognition superb. All the back row forwards worked incredibly hard with the Goddens creating carnage and Taylor an absolute rock in defence. The backs were excellent in defence and did not play by numbers in attack surprising their experienced opponents on more than one occasion. Special mention to Tom Rowe who had the daunting prospect of making his first team debut in a game such as this. He performed with aplomb and was rightly awarded player of the match but in all honesty, the entire eighteen can be immensely proud of the manner in which they played.

Back at Barnet Wood Road, there were two other games. The twos entertained Cliffe Crusaders and the threes had a friendly (?) against a Blackheath XV. The seconds were disrupted by call ups to the ones but they put on a terrific display to emerge victorious 38-18 with Ed Milne (2), Ed Millar, George Harding and James Ansell scoring tries and Milne adding thirteen points with the boot. Player of the match went to Dan O’Rourke. The third team game gave everyone who wanted the opportunity to have a run out. Don’t know if this was a good idea against Blackheath and not surprisingly they lost but apparently great fun was had in the clubhouse afterwards. Their player of the match was James Griffiths.

Next week the Firsts have a rearranged league game against Dover. Hopefully, other fixtures can be organised for the other sides.