Narrow loss for newly promoted 2s

A new season for the second team started this past Saturday, a short trip away at Foots Cray Rugby Club. 25 mins on the 321 bus (traffic depending). It’s a wonder we haven’t had the opportunity to face off against Foots Cray RFC more often, hopefully this can be the start of good competition between the two clubs.

Last season found the 2s promoted after an up and down season with some big wins and some narrow losses, eventually coming 3rd. Our reward this season? Some familiar local rivals such as Dartfordians 2s (the return of the puma perhaps?), some unfamiliar local games such as Foots Cray and Kings College Hospital, as well as some lengthy Kent away games; Faversham, Rye, Sheppey and Canterbury 3s will hopefully all be entertaining away trips into the mud of the ‘Garden of England’.

Back to the game, Colfeians arrived at the unfamiliar ground to modern facilities shared with the finest soccer team in England (Up the Addick's). The pitch looked short and narrow, maybe an indication of the rugby style Foots Cray were to present this afternoon. However, the grass was well kept and hopefully the running rugby we showed last season would be able to get up to speed on the pitch. Looking at the team sheet for the day; OCs showed up with a lean, efficient 15 players. All eyes were on the return of Andy Gardner to the 2s, with over-unders being offered on the timing of trips to the sin bin. Front rower Frank Blythe was to lead the team out as captain. There were also a few fresh-faced players making their senior debut including Eddie Kirby, Freddie Oliver, Edward Berry and Will Gardiner.

After a sharp warm up OCs kicked off towards the clubhouse end. A Foots Cray forward knocked on the ball and in typical 2s fashion we played the advantage and spun the ball out wide. A seatbelt tackle from the Foots Cray winger resulted in a penalty where Leo Atkins saw the opportunity of taking it quick, dancing through three tackles to score. Couldn’t ask for a better start to the season scoring after 20 seconds. Harry Taylor missed the extras. If we were to carry on like this, then there would be nothing to worry about come 80 mins.

An early lineout in the opposition end could be a good chance for the forwards to shine, a good lift leading to a held-up maul. Scrum time. The story of the first half could be told by a back and forth between the two sets of front row (NB. The author of this match report did play tighthead in the game), a battle for the ages in an evenly matched game of chess. The first scrum was a resounding victory for the 2s with the Foots Cray pack crumbling under the pressure.

The pattern which began to emerge in the first half was Foots Cray kicking for territory against a youthful OCs back 3 which did their best to create some go forward on foot, no kick tennis here. That strategy did come to favour the experienced Foots Cray team in the end, who, as a first team, train together on a more regular basis. A slip from one of these kicks by the OCs full back resulted in a penalty to Foots Cray on our line, and the Foots Cray big guns managed to haul themselves over the line from 5m out. The extra points were converted too.

The half was then scrappy for the next 20 mins, with Foots Cray kicking deep and OCs failing to find cracks in FC’s admittedly well drilled defence. The battle in the scrum continued with plenty of resets. The oppo were starting to come back into this battle, winning a turnover in one of our weaker showings.

The offside calls started to mount up as Foots Cray built up pressure, and the mandatory 10m march back for backchat took Foots Cray within striking distance of the line. A yellow card came out for a certain Andy Gardner. The trip to the sin bin overlapping the half time break, seems almost planned. Foots Cray crossed the white line with another of their weighty forwards.

The game continued back and forth in the same pattern as before and before long it was half time, the score 5-21 to Foots Cray.

To start the second half Foots Cray managed to retain their own kick off hoping to build pressure and extend their lead. They tried an alternative to their large lumps by passing wide, but their backs knocked it on leading to a chance for OCs. We built some pressure with good structure from the forwards, allowing Leo Atkins to secure an outstanding 50-22 with the exit kick from the half. The lineout was cleanly executed, and we distributed it out to our flanker Reigan Johnson in the midfield. You’d think this would be a chance for a big hit, but with good foresight Reigan handed the ball over to winger Harry Taylor who danced through four players from a standing start, putting the ball down under the posts and scoring the extras too. Colfeians were back in the game.

The next Foots Cray reset was messy, but the ball bobbled to KOM (author of this match report). To be modest I would say this was the highlight of the match, stepping past another 4 unsuspecting Foots Cray victims, stretching around the 5th to make an audacious offload, thus allowing lock Isaac Heywood to make a 20m line break. To be immodest it was as if Semi Radradra had pulled on the OCs kit and received the kick off himself …

AG returned to the field just in time for the next scrum, OCs switching around the props to try and gain an upper hand in this key battle. The game continued with its scruffy September feel, with some poor tackling in midfield leading to a key line break for Foots Cray. They made it all the way to the 5m line before Tyreece’s last ditch ball pinch (can’t really call it a tackle) denied a certain Foots Cray try.

From the resulting knock-on scrum at the 5m line, the less than perfect Old Colfeians forward’s effort looked like it was heading for disaster, but somehow, we managed to escape our endzone, with some brilliant footwork by Freddie Oliver breaking past the Foots Cray line. A simple training routine 2 on 1 pass allowed Will Gardiner to then stride past the last defender, finishing from the halfway line and scoring under the posts. Harry Taylor again got the extra 2 points.

OCs continued to put on the pressure with some impressive moves from the back. In one play we played it out from our own 5m line with multiple switches and excellent lines of running from Conall Drislane. The next try would come from OCs emulating the Foots Cray kick it long and hope strategy, with Leo kicking long from a turnover, and an excellent chase from the second row Isaac Heywood. With a hint of a lucky nudge on the Foots Cray fullback’s back, Isaac managed to get hold of the ball and score over the white line. Extra points converted from distance.

Straight from the next kick-off, we clear long, and an excellent kick chase results in a great tackle from Harry Taylor and a scrambling change in possession from the turnover king AG. Then Harry Taylor picks the ball up from the back of the ruck, handing off one of the Foots Cray defender with ease to score another try, another 7 points for Harry Taylor. Watching back the video of the game, Andy Gardner can be heard in the distance saying “that was turnover number 2 million”. I wouldn’t doubt it. OCs 33-21 FC.

Alas the momentum that OCs had picked up in the last 10 minutes was about to end. From the back of a scrum on our 10m line, Foots Cray limped the ball to their winger through two dropped passes and a scuffed football style pass. Our overeager defence had gone past the ball and somehow the FC winger was in open space. An awkward outside of the foot grubber then bounced in between our winger and full back and unpredictably (yet somehow completely predictably) jumped perfectly into the Foots Cray player’s hand for an easy try under the posts. The rugby gods always manage to have fun on a Saturday afternoon like this.

Suddenly Foots Cray were in the ascendancy. Player coach Keith Powell managed a fantastic tackle off the back of the scrum to hold up a Foots Cray attempt at the line, but the powerful FC forwards carried on charging on. Another on the line tackle and hold up by the author should have resulted in the try being disallowed and another goal line drop out, but clearly the ref had a better view than the physical feeling of the ball being lodged into his arm, and so the try was given and the Foots Cray comeback continued with the extras taken. OCs 33-28 FC.

The chances were now coming thick, but not that fast for Foots Cray, and it was clear that the early indication of the small pitch dictating style of play was accurate. Penalties were taken ‘quickly’, with large forwards taking the ball under their jersey and smashing up the pitch. The 2s defended valiantly, with two 50-50 calls which could have gone either way resulting in penalties against us. Foots cray kept lumbering forward. In the end the inevitable happened and they scored the try to level the scores at 33-33. The crowd celebrated like they had won the league on the first day of the season. In the end you can’t blame them as the match had all the drama that you could ever want in a Rugby game, even if the overall quality was lacking. Their no. 10 converted the points and the game was over.

It was a tough result for all of us twos players. We had given our all and it wasn’t quite enough in the end. While the result wasn’t quite what we had wanted there were some big positives after the game. First of all, two bonus points picked up due to the volume of tries and the tight margin of loss, you can’t ever turn those down. Second, we played some good rugby in the game, there were some special tries scored, and if we had only done some of the basics done better, we could have neutralised the FC threat winning the game, lots to work on for the team. Finally, there was a great range of young and older players turning out for the team on Saturday. Former colts really stepping up to senior Rugby such as Lewis Atkins and Reigan Johnson really show the future is bright for OCs, and current coach Keith Powell getting to play for the first time in a while with James, with his father watching on was a real special moment. These are the moments that make Rugby worthwhile.

Man of the Match – Harry Taylor