With the early kick off there were relatively few Folkestone supporters to see the start of this Kent Shield game against Tunbridge Wells

Shepherd Neame Kent Shield 2nd Round 17th October 2015
Folkestone 1sts 10 Tunbridge Wells 1sts 18.
Report from Alex Ruddock. Photos from Ken Matcham and Yvonne Turner.

With the early kick off there were relatively few Folkestone supporters to see the start of this Kent Shield game against Tunbridge Wells, at present lying equal second in the London 2 South Division above Folkestone. Eventually the support did turn up after Folkestone had gone ahead by a penalty kick from Harry Smith, (the first of seventeen that Folkestone were awarded during the whole game as opposed to the nine that Folkestone committed.) 3-0.
The lead was short lived as after twelve minutes Tunbridge Wells came back from the restart and battled their way into Folkestone’s half, winning several scrums and breakdowns before they stretched the Stones defence wide on the left, with first up tackles being missed, allowing a try in the corner. The conversion was missed. 3-5.
Five minutes later Wells were another try to the good when they exploited some more poor tackling and again scored wide out, again the distance was too great for the conversion to be successful. 3-10.
The restart kick failed to go ten metres and Folkestone had to defend a scum back on half way, which allowed Wells to win and attack down into the Folkestone 22 area, where Folkestone now made tackle after tackle to defend their line with Chris Petley, Will Turner, Jon Morton all making telling tackles enabling the line to be cleared, some of the time being awarded penalties to relieve the pressure. Unfortunately some of the line outs that were gained by the kicks did not result in the Stones coming away with the ball. On several occasions it was won and some enterprising runs were made upfield by Jon Morton, Doug Wood and Harry Smith ably supported by Chris Petley, Frazer Hendy and Will Turner. In these skirmishes Wells gave away several penalties for going over the top, not releasing in the tackle and a high tackle. The Tunbridge Wells forwards were starting to get on top and it looked as if their backs would run in some more tries but Folkestone’s defence held. In one of the breakouts by Folkestone they came close with Harry Smith and Chris Petley making good ground upfield ably supported by Jack Barton, Kieran Smith, Mat Roots and Jake Ellis.
However for the rest of the first half the game yo-yoed back and forth with both sides putting together good passages of play which eventually broke down with a variety of penalties awarded for infringements in the tackle and around the rucks and mauls. Half Time: 3-10.
At the beginning of the second half there was a knock on by Folkestone and Harry Smith was deemed to have obstructed the Wells attackers and was sent to the sin bin for ten minutes. Tunbridge managed to kick the penalty to take the score to 3-13.
Soon after Folkestone made some substitutions with Doug Wood being replaced by Lewis Howland and Alex Box replacing Jake Ellis.
After 23 minutes of the second half Alex Randall managed to drive over and score a well deserved try after there had been several drives upfield by the Folkestone forwards. Harry Smith duly converted. 10:13.
Wells replied with some attacking play and were repelled by Chris Petley and Harry Smith tackling their winger into touch. Sanjay Loktam at this stage replaced Will Turner. Wells were awarded a scrum on the Stones 5metre line which hooker Alex Box took against the head and the crooked feed, however some aggressive tackling by Wells saw a score wide out on the left wing, again the conversion was missed. 10:18.
Although Folkestone had a couple of scrums on the Wells 5 metre they could not convert them into tries. Winger Harry Smith was taken out by a high tackle as he made progress down the touchline, Jeremie Cowell came back on but time was running out and Folkestone could not breach the Wells line.

Team: Josh Holt; Harry Smith, Alex Randall, Kyle Deakin, Jeremie Cowell; Jon Morton, Doug Wood; Martin Murray (Capt.), Jake Ellis, Mat Roots; Jack Barton, Kieran Smith, Frazer Hendy, Will Turner, Chris Petley.
Subs: Alex Box, Adam Blandford, Sanjay Loktam, Lewis Howland.
Scorers: Harry Smith 3, 2; Alex Randall 5.