Crowborough RFC VS Bromley RFC

CLOSE GAME BUT NO CIGAR FOR BROMLEY

Bromley travelled to Crowborough on Saturday for, what they knew, would be a difficult game. The home side were riding high in the league and with the amount of rain that had been falling during the week the pitch and conditions were bound to be tricky. It soon became clear that these were two evenly matched teams and on a day not designed for running rugby there was an awful lot of kicking and nothing much to report. Around the twenty minute mark the away side were awarded a kickable penalty which Alex Griffiths knocked over and Bromley were 3-0 ahead. Straight from the kick off Bromley full back Hawkins, who had an excellent game, decided to break the mould and go for a little scamper down the pitch. He evaded two would be tacklers and was through and the line beckoned but he was snagged in the run in by a great piece of covering defence.

The game then returned to type and with half time approaching it looked as if there would be no further addition to the scoreboard. However, Crowborough had other ideas and surged into the Bromley twenty two and after a couple of pick and goes the ball was released and with a clever piece of deception they were in under the posts and with the conversion they had a narrow four point lead. Early into the second half and they stretched this to eleven points. Bromley were awarded a penalty, good, but this was reversed and number eight Haisell, who otherwise had a fine game, was sin binned – don’t know why, bad. Crowborough kicked towards the corner, won the lineout and with good play scored and converted. Bromley now had to chase the game but they are known for their doggedness and when they got back up to fifteen they began to exert pressure. Approximately ten minutes from the end of the game they conjured up a smart backs move to get over the whitewash and with the superb conversion they were only four points behind. Could they snatch it at the death? Sadly not as Crowborough managed the last few minutes well and Bromley could not get the field position they needed to strike.

So a loss of 14-10 to a very good Crowborough side. Not all doom and gloom by any means, bonus point secured, tremendous effort by all eighteen involved and the game revolved around a few key moments which did not go their way. Next week the firsts are at home to old friends and rivals Heathfield and Waldron and this should be another highly competitive fixture.  

Back at headquarters, the seconds were in action against Beccehamians and the thirds had what looked like a daunting fixture against Blackheath. What transpired were two excellent and highly competitive games. The twos saw off a mighty challenge in their local derby and emerged winners by 31 points to 23. The game produced some high quality rugby and some really excellent tries by both sides. The thirds lost 12-21 but put in a mighty effort and if they had shown a little bit more composure at critical moments they might have got even closer against a very good away side. Next week the seconds travel to Cranbrook and the thirds are at home to Dartford Valley. All fixtures have a 2.30 kick off time. The home games will be preceded by a Ladies Lunch.