With both teams in lower positions than they usually occupy

Folkestone v Gillingham Anchorians
24th October 2015 London 3SE Report from Alan Schofield
With both teams in lower positions than they usually occupy in the league table, and also the two lowest of all the Kent teams in the division, there was something of added tension attached to the result of this game. The relief came when the Folkestone forwards powered the way for the team to gain a four try, bonus point, victory – but defensive lapses allowed 24 points including four tries to be scored against them giving Anchorians a 2 point loss!
The kick off was brought forward to 1.00 p.m. because of the World Cup and this meant an early rise for some of the players, and possibly too early for many regular supporters for only a sparse crowd was there to see the start.
A connoisseur of steatopygia*(Obviously the reporter swallowed the dictionary while on his recent sojourn. Ed.) would have had much to admire with the sight of the Folkestone front five and early encouragement came with the first scrum of the game when the Folkestone forwards trundled the Anchorians eight backwards for 15 metres.
Folkestone looked good and in control so it was no surprise when Chris Petley took a quick tap penalty, made ground and drew two men before releasing the ball to Seyhan Fell – on the overlap. A quick pass to Thomo Murray saw him cross the line unopposed for the first try of the game after 20 minutes. 5-0.
Anchorians were stacking up the penalties as they tried to defend against some quick attacks. Harry Smith went fast up the left wing and Jon Morton made 30 metres before being brought down centre field. Seyhan Fell added 3 more points from the opponent’s seventh penalty concession. 8-0.
But on the resumption Chris Petley suffered a painful shoulder injury and was replaced by Will Massey. Chris did make a brave effort to return later in the game, but was clearly in trouble and later was brought off to finish the game on the touchline.
Matt Roots, after a massive opening 35 minutes, was replaced with Mark Bartlett but before The Stones could settle Anchorians used their two very wily and fast running backs to and beat the home team for speed, not once – but twice, in three minutes - to score two tries from distance both of them ominous in exposing weak tackling that invariably went high, when low tackles were required. And so the half time scoreboard read 8–12 which did not reflect well on Folkestone.
A forthright discussion during the break saw The Stones resume, frustrated and inspired, and whilst they had conceded 12 points in a few minutes before the break – they struck back and in the first 10 minutes of the second half amassed 19 points, their opponents not being able to cope with the strength and speed that was shown.
Folkestone front five of Matt Roots, Jake Ellis, Tom Carvill with Jack Barton and ‘Moose’ Murray totally overwhelmed the Gillingham forwards in the scrums and they had to concede a yellow card in desperate defending. ‘Moose’ Murray took the scrum instead of the penalty and Doug Wood from scrum half made a perfect pass to Chris Petley (playing on in spite of his injury) to score at full stretch. Seyhan Fell converted and The Stones regained their lead 15–12.
Two minutes later Fraser Hendy, having a notable game in attack and defence, took the ball forward on his own but as he was tackled offloaded the ball to Seyhan Fell who ran strongly down the left wing to score in the corner. 20–12. And Anchorians were in disarray when Chris Petley made a superb individual run from 45 metres out on the right wing splitting and wrong footing the defence to run round to score the try-of-the-match. Harry Smith converted and scoreboard read 27–12 with 30 minutes left to play.
Harry Smith almost increased this with two determined runs on his own, but the dead ball line just prevented him from scoring a try.
Then, from frenzied defending, Gillingham found their fast men again and The Stones were so intent on attack that it seemed all sense of defence was lost. In a brilliant run the No 15 ran the full length of the field – dodging, side stepping and dummying – to score under the posts. 27–19. To make things worse the defensive lapses continued as Anchorians cut through again just four minutes later for their fourth try and to take the score to 27–24.
Folkestone had to regroup, and quickly, for they were now in danger of losing their lead and the game.
Fortunately the cool heads of Will Turner and Doug Wood regained possession of the ball and kept it in the pack where Fraser Hendy and Mark Bartlett did not disappoint. (Mark unfortunately received a crippling knee injury which stopped the game for some minutes before the Anchorians sportingly carried him off the field.)
The home forwards took control of the game in the last 15 minutes and any hopes that Gillingham had of achieving a shock win were lost as they again were put to desperate defence against the might of the big Folkestone forwards. Ground was lost and play was firmly within the opponents half, penalties were conceded and Seyhan Fell put one of them over to gain a 30–24 lead. Had Doug Wood had longer arms, it would have been more – but The Stones settled for a win and looked the stronger and fitter side as the final whistle went.
A needed and deserved win – but the muddled defence and failure to tackle low will surely be considered before the next game in two weeks’ time.
* Not sure if the forwards might take umbrage! (Gr- “An accumulation of fat on the buttocks!”)
Team: Ollie Walton; Harry Smith, Seyhan Fell, Kyle Deakin, Thomo Murray; Jon Morton, Doug Wood; Mat Roots, Jake Ellis, Tom Carvill; Jack Barton, Martin Murray (Capt.); Frazer Hendy, Will Turner, Chris Petley.
Subs: Will Massey, Mark Bartlett, Josh Holt.
Scorers: Thomo Murray 5; Seyhan Fell 3, 2, 5, 3; Chris Petley 5, 5; Harry Smith 2.