More poor playing conditions that went against running Rugby

FOLKESTONE 1stXV 17 OLD DUNSTONIANS 26[size=large][/size]
London 3 SE Saturday 13th February 2016 Report by Alan Schofield
Old D’s league position before this game was unusually low only having won one away game in the whole of their season. But they took The Stones to the edge of defeat in the reverse fixture at Beckenham only winning in the last second of the last minute of stoppage time.
And now Old D’s were up against it - striving to keep out of the bottom two against a Folkestone XV rattled by their defeat at Gillingham, but still in with a chance of promotion. Old D’s team had been strengthened with a couple of South African newcomers whilst Folkestone had been further weakened by injury.
And any aspirations Folkestone had of challenging the positions of the three teams above them, disappeared with a miserable performance on a miserable day.
The conditions with continuous rain falling on a heavy and clogging pitch, could never suit The Stones’ style of open free running rugby, and they could not cope with the all-round strength of a better team on the day.
From the start, The Stones were forced back into their 22 metre zone, by some good high kicking and following up. Five minutes of attrition by O ‘D’s saw the home side eventually concede a try to a forceful combination of forwards and backs play. 0 – 5.
The Stones countered this setback with an attack which saw the first of 21 penalties in the game that allowed Seyhan Fell a pop at the posts from 32 metres. But the wind and the rain and heavy ball contrived to prevent this normally easily attainable kick.
It was a struggle for Folkestone to mount any sort of meaningful attack as the tall O.D’s back 5 controlled most of the line-outs, and they also had to face a good tactic on the day of high kicks. But the boot was on the other foot as Seyhan Fell turned defence into attack with a 40 metre kick to touch. Callum Gibson and Tom Carvill had determined thrusts at the line bringing a ruck to within 5 metres before Jon Eustace seized a loose ball and dived over. Seyhan Fell converted and Folkestone were in the lead 7 – 5 after 17 minutes.
But now The Stones had to face the full power of their opponents - whose play was massively belying their league position – having to defend against a series of attacks by forwards and backs. Callum Gibson was sin binned for over enthusiastic defence from an off-side position and O D’s elected to take a scrum on the five metre line from the resultant penalty against a weakened pack. The try that resulted was unstoppable, and the conversion that followed saw the score move to 7 – 12.
Penalties were exchanged on a regular basis, but it was O D’s who made better use of these – putting The Stones again into a period of defence and again, they succumbed to a combination of good team rugby by a team that had grown in confidence as the game progressed. The try was converted and Folkestone were looking at a scoreboard that read 7 – 19 at half time.
Leigh Fitchie, the Folkestone coach, had much to say at the break and his words did inspire something of a comeback in the second half. Territory was gained by some poor handling by O D’s and the error count mounted. Folkestone forwards now held their own in scrums and rucks, but were often pushed back by well taken kicks. Jon Morton had a good run left but his pass to Charlie Watson, the fast running wing, was misdirected. Alex Randall, a stalwart of the scrums was taken off injured, but it gave a return to Club Captain ‘Moose’ Murray who took his position at prop whilst Kieran Smith went into the second row.
Ollie Walton and Steve Doughty both stopped attacks in their tracks with strong tackles, but it was defence, rather than attack that was the watchword of a Folkestone team. One penalty succeeded another and handling errors were rife for both teams as the pitch tore up and the players looked as one in a covering of mud.
Will Turner went on ‘route one’ a couple of times, and then tried to open up play but a questionable decision on crossing obstruction gave O D’s a relieving penalty. And this was exacerbated by a double penalty award against Folkestone for off-side and an unnecessary comment. The platform donated to O D’s was punished when they quickly worked an overlap, cut inside a floundering defence to score under the posts. 7 – 26.
Although the most wholehearted Folkestone supporter could not describe their team’s performance on this day as being anything but lacklustre, with a distinct lack of cohesion – but there was a consolation in that the last ten minutes we saw a resurgence of the rugby we all know can be produced as the home forwards tore into their opponents forcing mistakes and penalties – that were taken as scrums. The referee, Mr. Ben McNamara, eventually lost patience with the persistent offences that O D’s produced to slow the attacks down and produced a yellow card that weakened a team already on back foot.
Kieran Smith made ground and the ever present Will Melia ducked underneath a strong tackle to emerge with the ball. Jon Morton went right with a strong run. O D’s were forced back with a series of pick and runs until they conceded yet another penalty in defence that ‘Moose’ Murray elected to take a scrum. The ball was swung out right by Doug. Wood - through the backs and ‘Thomo’ Murray touched down, Seyhan Fell hitting the posts with the conversion attempt from out wide. 12-26.
And it was a consolation when, deep into injury time, the physically fitter looking ‘Stones’ scored again with Charlie Watson getting the touchdown against a now tiring O D’s defence to bring the final score to 17 – 26 as the final whistle was blown in the half light of a gloomy day in more senses than one.
Team: Seyhan Fell; Charlie Watson, Ollie Walton, John Eustace, Thomo Murray; Jon Morton, doug Wood; Will Melia, Steve Doughty, Tom Carvill; Callum Gibson, Jack Barton; Frazer Hendy, Will Turner, Alex Randall.
Subs: Martin Murray, Kieran Smith, James Lunnon.
Tries: John Eustace 5; Seyhan Fell 2; Thomo Murray 5; Charlie Watson.