Twickenham RFC VS Bromley RFC

NO CUP JOY FOR BROMLEY

Last Saturday Bromley travelled over to Hampton to play Twickenham in the semi final of the Papa John Counties cup for south eastern counties clubs. In the previous two rounds with considerable numbers of regular first teamers not available the coaches have used the opportunity to give some younger members of the wider squad game time to expose them to playing possibly at a slightly higher level than they are usually accustomed to. This has worked well and the team had two reasonably convincing victories. They knew that today would be a step up and they would need all hands on deck. However, that was not to be and I could list quite a number of noticeable absentees, for whatever reasons, but they were not there and the younger players had to step up to the plate. Having said that it was good to welcome back the two Scotts, Powell, Edmunds and Rippendale.

After thirty minutes Bromley were at 0-21 and staring down the barrel. Twickenham were as expected a formidable outfit with strong powerful runners who blasted forward creating gaps and then the ball moved at speed to create overlaps. From a Bromley perspective they will not have been happy about any of the three tries they conceded as two came directly from their own mistakes and the third came when players were not stopped in the tackle and powered through. This was a recurring theme as the match went on. However, the away side did not roll over and for the last ten minutes of the half  took the fight to Twickenham and with good ball retention and hard driving play they scored first through George Scott on thirty three minutes with a sniping surge from close range and this was followed by another score just before halftime when our own fashionista Tommy Scoot resembling a torpedo dived over. This came from powerful bursts forward by the pack with Edmunds to the fore. The first try was well converted by Rushton and at the break it was 12-21.

Although only nine points behind the players and their supporters all knew that the beginning of the second half was crucial as the next score was vital. If Bromley could repel Twickenham and keep them quiet then perhaps they could get themselves properly into the game. Well, that didn’t happen. Within two minutes of the restart, the home side were over with a well created try but more missed tackles assisted them to leave the score at 12-26. On forty five minutes Bromley were penalised for? to the bewilderment of the players and their supporters when Tommy Scott dived on a loose ball in open play from an onside position. Twickenham did not need any encouragement and their excellent fifteen knocked it over from a fair way out. Nine minutes later and the game was well and truly up when the home side scored another well worked converted try. However, in the lead up to this Bromley’s hooker Banfield was red carded for a head on head contact. No malice in the challenge and by the letter of the law he had to leave the pitch.

A difficult day got even harder and on sixty one minutes Twickenham were in again plus conversion it was 12-43. The next ten minutes, even with fourteen men, belonged to Bromley in terms of possession and territory and they made it count with a very similar try to the first one with George Scott again going over and Rushton converting. That would have done in terms of scoring but Twickenham had other ideas and inspired by their number eight who had a storming game they drove fiercely at the Bromley line and they were in again and plus the conversion they racked up 50 points to Bromley’s 19.

Twickenham thoroughly deserved their win on the day and it should be a cracking final against Kingsbridge who put over sixty points on Eastbourne in the other semi final. Also, mention to the referee who let the game flow and was very clear and decisive in any decisions he had to make and that is all you can ask for. Bromley headed home beaten but not downhearted and looking forward to the awards dinner on Friday, May 17^th at the clubhouse.