1sts snatch last minute victory

London 3 SouthEast Burgess Hill 1stXV 23 Folkestone 1stXV 25

Saturday 26th September 2015 Report by Alex Ruddock

Folkestone travelled to Burgess Hill for an early kick off in the sunshine. Burgess Hill kicked off down the hill and put immense pressure on Folkestone. Their forwards were aggressive and going into the rucks and mauls with vigour put Folkestone on the back foot and their No 10 delivered a drop goal from about 20 metres after just two minutes. 3-0. From the restart Folkestone managed to get into the hosts half and were awarded a penalty which was just missed by Seyhan Fell. The twenty-two drop out allowed Burgess Hill to return into the Folkestone half and Folkestone gave away a penalty. The Burgess Hill fly-half found touch, down in the corner and from the ensuing line out the pack drove over the line for a try after ten minutes, which was duly converted. 10-0.
The Folkestone restart found Burgess Hill again forcing their way into the opposite half, this time Folkestone came away with the ball and forced their way back into the home side half through good play by Chris Petley, Alex Randall, Will Turner and Jack Barton. Burgess Hill were penalised for not releasing and Seyhan Fell kicked the penalty from the 10 metre line. 15mins, 10-3.
Burgess Hill kicked off down into the corner again and again muscled Folkestone off the ball and the fly-half attempted another drop goal that went wide, but they had already been awarded a penalty which went wide of the posts. The Burgess Hill pressure eventually told after 32 minutes when they won the ruck and again kicked a drop goal. 13-3.
Two minutes after the restart the home side gathered the ball and again used their greater weight and bulk to return to the Folkestone half and were rewarded with a penalty because of the complaining by Folkestone. 16-3.
This time from the restart Folkestone made ground upfield and with some good handling sent scrum half Doug Wood over for a well deserved try, which Seyhan Fell converted. 16-10.
However the success was short lived as Burgess Hill again kicked down the right hand slope and after some good defence from Tom Calver, Josh Kemp, Frazer Hendy, eventually the pressure told and a missed tackle and a good dummy saw the hosts score another try which was also converted.
Half Time 23-10.
Starting the second half going downhill Folkestone were quickly using the advantage of the right hand corner of the pitch forced Burgess Hill into mistakes and after three minutes won a penalty when Burgess Hill went over the top in a ruck. Seyhan Fell added the penalty. 23-13.
From the re-start Burgess Hill attacked up the slope and forced several errors from Folkestone as they tried to run the ball back. Several times Folkestone looked dangerous but each time an enforced knock-on in the tackle took the impetus away and Burgess Hill won a scrum against the head and came back up the slope. Desperate defence by the whole Folkestone side saw the try line defended until an offside at a ruck gave BH the opportunity to kick a penalty from the 22m line and nearly in front of the posts, it went wide!
BH were showing more aggression and good body positions in both the rucks and mauls and Folkestone responded by offloading the ball quicker. After 17 minutes of the second half youngster Ross Johnson came on to inside centre while Chris Petley moved into the back row and Jack Barton came off. Folkestone won a good line out and they attacked with Thomo Murray, Josh Kemp and Will Turner combining to make a good break down field, this brought Jon Morton in on a jinking run to score a well deserved try after 25 minutes, which went unconverted. 23-18.
Folkestone attacked again with Tom Carvill and Frazer Hendy had several runs each getting pulled down in the BH 22. Eventually after 38 minutes Tom Carvill and Josh Kemp again made inroads and from a scrum five metres out the ball was shipped through several hands before Alex Randall broke through and scored a try. with Seyhan Fell adding the conversion. 23-25.
The game restarted with a minute to go which ended in a breakdown and Folkestone came away with a hard fought win.

Team: Seyhan Fell; Thomo Murray, Alex Randall, Chris Petley, Josh Holt; Jon Morton, Doug Wood; Jack Archer, Jake Ellis, Tom Carvill; Martin Murray (Capt.), Jack Barton; Josh Kemp, Will Turner, Frazer Hendy.
Subs: Dave Ballard, Sanjay Loktam, Ross Johnson.
Scorers: Seyhan Fell 3,3, 2, 2; Doug Wood 5; Jon Morton 5; Alex Randall 5.