Crawley RFC VS Bromley RFC

SOLID WIN FOR BROMLEY

After nearly a month without playing Bromley went on their travels to Crawley on a wet and miserable day not conducive to playing running rugby. The team welcomed back skipper Houghton who has been out injured and the news on other injured players is good and there is hope that a full strength squad is not too far off. Bromley started strongly and inside five minutes powerhouse backrow Jack Saunders was in close to the posts and to most peoples amazement Griffiths missed the conversion. Bromley continued to dominate forcing Crawley to concede a raft of penalties and eventually a Crawley prop was yellow carded for obstruction on Hawkins. The pressure began to tell and on fifteen minutes a clean lineout catch by Wilson led to a driving maul with Haissel crossing the whitewash and Griffiths converting. Ten minutes later and the away side still in the ascendancy and after a series of punishing scrums Saunders picked up and there was no stopping him getting over the line. Crawley indiscipline continued and after 30 minutes their number seven got to count to ten on the sidelines. Bromley could not capitalise on this and suddenly Crawley showed attacking intentions and put the away side under pressure. However Bromley are a resistant side and turned over a lineout in a dangerous position and although their line was crossed shortly afterwards they held it up. Half time and 17-0 ahead and probably should have been more but conditions were very tricky making handling and continuity difficult.

Five minutes into the second half and full back Hawkins made a great break but his inside pass to Pillow looked doomed but Stevie P managed to flick the ball with his heel and then won the foot race to the line to touch down for a miracle try. Bonus point secured. With the game more or less settled Bromley went searching for more scores and five minutes later young McCracken was nearly in but got bundled into touch just short.  A few minutes later from a tapped penalty Bromley scored a great try with a sweeping move ending with Tommy Scott (yes Tommy not to be confused with his brother George) getting the glory of scoring in the corner. On sixty five minutes a super break by number nine George Scott (yes George not to be confused with his brother Tommy) led to a kick ahead and the impressive Wilson scored in the corner. Griffiths kicked an astonishing conversion from the touchline. Bromley were now rampant and added to their tally a few minutes from the end when a good break by Saunders led to a tapped penalty and the ball went through the hands leading to Hawkins jinking his was over and Griffiths converted to end proceedings. 41-0 to Bromley.

This was a solid performance by Bromley and another five points in the bag. Big shout out to Crawley who were put under a lot of pressure but never gave up and made the away side work very hard for their points. Also the Bromley supporters were really well looked after in the clubhouse and would like to thank their warm and friendly hosts. Elsewhere it is pleasing to report that the seconds and thirds both had home games against strong opposition. The seconds had their merit table game cancelled but picked up a fixture versus Old Walcountians seconds who were in a similar situation. This was a fiercely contested game and a very young Bromley side gave a really good account of themselves losing out in the end and perhaps learnt a lesson on turning pressure into points. The thirds had a tough looking encounter against an experienced Gravesend side in  a merit table game. This turned into a pulsating encounter with Bromley looking for a winning score in the final stages. After battering away for fifteen minutes they finally got over the try line with practically the last play to ease home by a couple of points.

The clubhouse after the home games was absolutely buzzing and it was great to see the away side sides sticking around for a few beers and a bit of craic. Hopefully, we can now get back on track and get three competitive teams out on a regular basis and players make themselves available regularly for games league or friendly. This report now ends or as Tommy (Scott that is) would say – cut.