Saturday 28th September saw Old Colfeians take a trip down to the north Kent town of Rochester, to take on Medway RFC, a club known for the excellent sportsmanship and respect shown by both fans and players…
It’s fair to say the mood was a bit flat heading into the warm up with OCs lacking some intensity and having some heart-stopping moments in the forwards, with my lack of knowledge of the lineout calls (only been 5 years so forgive me for not grasping it just yet). Sutton and Epsom’s failed A minus was threatening to repeat itself in this game in the warm up and tensions, and heart rates, were rising. This was despite Chapman asking if there was anything I was unsure of to speak up, and me responding with a half-confident ‘No I’m all good don’t worry’.
Despite a slow start, kickoff came about and OCs found a way to get up for the game and we started well. A good kick chase followed by some very solid defending, led to us putting Medway under pressure straight away and enforcing penalties early on. It was the first time probably all season where we weren’t defending for the first half, and soon we managed to get some ball in hand and put together some good plays, with Quba hitting an excellent tip line and going over to score the first try of the half. Medway scored a couple of times after this, due to a couple of switched-off moments from the OCs team, but some solid pressure in defense soon lead to us securing a couple of penalties of our own and going into the half time break 13-12 up. A good first half, showing good application in both attack and defense and we were confident we could win if we showed the same application in the second.
The second half went underway and it seems OCs had somewhat switched off a little. My supposed drop ball from the kick off seemed to set the tone for the rest of the half, which seemed a little uncertain. Medway got a penalty following a scrum early on in the second half and scored shortly after this. A few silly lapses in concentration led to us handing the ball back to medway and giving them opportunities to extend their lead, notably some poor passing and lack of threat in the lineouts. Some good carries by Quba and Freddie Holland-Oliver in particular, allowed us to be a threat in attack at points throughout the game, and we came close to scoring on a few occasions, but it seems we could never quite capitalize on the chances we made until a consolation score at the end.
Despite the score in the game, OCs probably played the best they had all season. We strung together many more phases than we have done in previous games, and showed that when we get it right and apply ourselves we can be a real threat and put other teams on the backfoot. There was a lot frustration following this game, as it was a game we could have very easily won. However, it is another big step in the right direction and I have no doubt we are not far away from our first win of the season.
MOTM: Freddie Oliver
DOTD: Tom Walker
