Cranbrook RFC VS Bromley RFC

BRACE OF TRIES BY HOLLAND LEADS THE WAY FOR BROMLEY

Glad to report there was a game for Bromley’s first team on Saturday. Last week, despite the weather, Bromley’s first team pitch was declared playable but when Charlton Park arrived they were not inclined to play on it and left. Meanwhile, our third team had a fixture against Alleynians on the pitch next door. This was played without any problem. You can draw your own conclusions. This was a major disappointment for the club as they had a Vice Presidents Lunch with many people in attendance and the game was obviously the centre piece of the occasion but hey ho no game.

=This week they travelled to Cranbrook against whom they have had some cracking games recently. In the reverse fixture earlier in the season Bromley were a long way behind at the break but overhauled their opponents in the last few minutes. There were several changes from the squad that last played at Thanet with Holland returning to the front row after many weeks of absence to replace Banfield, Edmonds coming into an unfamiliar role in the second row in place of Pullen, after a few year’s absence Sean Beckett came in at number eight, Tommy Scott came in at flanker, Laws came back into the centres, McCracken for a run on the wing and the bench of Pope, Chance and Merchandani was completely different. The pack in particular has been badly hit by injury and changes for every game are common place but hopefully this will settle down shortly.

The away side started off at pace and were soon swarming into Cranbrook’s twenty two. However, their weekly nemesis the penalty kept them at bay allowing their number ten to send relieving kicks down the park. Another penalty gave them the chance to take the lead on six minutes. However, Bromley were looking threatening and on fourteen minutes they broke down the field and Holland running an excellent support line ran in for the converted try and they were 3-7 ahead. For the next fifteen minutes or so it was nip and tuck with Cranbrook missing a kickable penalty and having a player yellow carded. In the ten minutes before half time Bromley took the game by the scruff of the neck with two tries from Powell and the exuberant Holland charged over again. 3-19 with one conversion.

Bromley took full charge of the game in the first part of the second half with quick ruck ball, superb lines of running and excellent support play. Consequently, the tries began to flow with scores for Ansell, Merchandani and Laws. With no conversions, the lead was extended to 3-34 with the last quarter to play. All credit to Cranbrook who put in a massive defensive shift but still had the character to fight back and were rewarded in a ten minute spell with two tries and one conversion to bring the score back to 15-34. This stung Bromley back into action and all out attack with scoring machine Alex Griffiths being rewarded with a further two tries to add to his tally and with one conversion by brother Johnny the match result was 15-46.

This was a very good result on the road for Bromley with many positives. Some of the unsung heroes like Miles, Steve Griffiths, Holland, Edmonds, Ansell, Tommy Scott, Laws, McCracken, Alex Griffiths and the bench all contributed hugely to this win. I have not mentioned the rest but it is well known how important they are to the success of the side. Beckett fitted seamlessly into the side and had a strong game. Penalties, especially first half, were still an issue. Hopefully, injury concerns in the pack will abate shortly making selection pretty interesting for the first and second team. The thirds have their own pool of players. Speaking of them they had a merit table game at home against Kings College Hospital. This proved to be a hard fought encounter with the scores locked at 17-17 but the boys eased away in the second half to record a satisfying 48-24 win. The twos were supposed to be playing Ashford seconds but, for whatever reasons, they could not get a side out and our seconds were awarded the points. Another disappointment as they would have preferred to play.

Next week the ones face a stern test against a very good Crowborough side, the twos and threes both have demanding away fixtures at Beccehamians and Blackheath respectively. Our Colts have also been going well recently with bonus points wins against Deal and Betteshangar and Whitstable in their league.