Dionysus, the God of Rugby, smiled upon FRFC this day & five points, were so crucially needed in the effort to avoid relegation, were well earned in a stirring effort.
Crawley, in the three previous matches between the Clubs, have a good scoring record against The Stones - averaging almost 20 points, therefore defence was as much a factor as attack in this match.
FOLKESTONE 1stXV 34 CRAWLEY 1stXV 15
Saturday 24th March 2018 London 3SE Report by Alan Schofield.
Dionysus, the God of Rugby, smiled upon Folkestone RFC this day and the five points, that were so crucially needed in the effort to avoid relegation, were well earned in a stirring effort.
Crawley, in the three previous matches between the Clubs, have a good scoring record against The Stones - averaging almost 20 points, therefore defence was as much a factor as attack in this match, especially as points difference could be a consideration in the final table.
Another brisk start from Folkestone saw Connor Leather gain ground and then Jon Morton with Adam Tolman and Thomo Murray had the Crawley defence covering on the right, but a quick switch of play to the left again saw Morton and Tolman linking to take the ball left and up to the line – when Callum Palmieri seized on loose ball and dived over for his first try for the 1st XV. 5 – 0. Jon Morton took the easy conversion too close and Crawley charged it down.
Callum Palmieri was again in action when long kick bounced badly and gave Crawley a chance to level, but Palmieri, sprinting back 30 metres, hauled down the opposition a metre short.
The Stones bright start continued as the forwards controlled the possession and the backs showed some impressive moves with interchanging and over-lapping. Crawley were hard pressed to contain this and conceded off-side penalties that were punished with Jon Morton taking long 40 metre kicks to touch. Crawley were covering a variation of fast moves well – but with Adam Tolman joining the line and Will Turner making good central runs – they were soon defending their 5-metre line again, only a series of speculative hoofs by Crawley relieved this pressure and gave them some ground, before Folkestone ran off-side and Crawley kicked the resultant penalty. 5 – 3.
This was a success as The Stones wound up the action. Dave Jarvis and Colby Hayward stopped would-be runs abruptly whilst Ollie Forbes and Liam Trinder were impressive from the back row – feeding Callum Palmieri who, in turn produced long fast passing to his three-quarters. Folkestone looked confident and it was well rewarded when Sam Beech touched down following another foray on the 5-metre line. 10-3. This was followed when the Jon Morton, Adam Tolman and Jon Eustace combination released Josh Holt on the left wing to score The Stone’s third try. 15 – 3, and half time.
It was bad news for a tiring Crawley team – who had defended well against some inspiring play by a Folkestone squad who were coming together to play excellent, fast moving, rugby. The front row was changed as the extra weight of Matt Roots was added. A try went begging as the backs broke through but a final pass to Will Turner went high, with a clear line in front, but Folkestone were occupying the ground deep into the 22-metre zone where Crawley were not averse to breaking the laws and accumulating penalties and a yellow card in their efforts to stop another try. Connor Leather made it to the 5-metre line as Crawley gave away another penalty. A scrum was taken and the forwards forced their way over with Matt Roots scoring the bonus point try by his weight and power. Jon Morton converted. 22 – 3.
Crawley had some luck with a bouncing ball from a long kick and their fast centres grasped the opportunity to run through to run through to score, against the run of play. 22-8. However, it was short lived as Tolman, Eustace and Turner again put play into the Crawley half for them to be forced into defensive mode.
Multi-changes were made by Coach Darren Malloy bringing on Scott Stewart and Adam Bloomfield and replacing Bob Porter with a rested ‘Moose’ Murray, giving The Stones a good weight advantage in the forwards. Crawley could not cope with this and although they had a brief visit to the Folkestone line, it was resisted and was used as a preliminary to another assault – started by the quick running backs and finished with Crawley conceding three penalties in quick succession, Folkestone taking attacking scrums rather than kicks and were rewarded with Ollie Forbes successfully taking three tacklers over the line with him to score the try. Jon Morton converted 29 – 8.
There was little Crawley could do to muster any attack against a team playing with strength and speed. Only a mounting penalty count interrupted a succession of attacking moves. Liam Trinder, always in the thick of play, produced possession again in the danger zone for Crawley and they could not counter a defence to the Folkestone front row as Adam Bloomfield scored the sixth try in the 70th minute giving The Stones a healthy score-line and points difference of 34 – 8. Unfortunately, they let Crawley in for a second opportunist try just before the final whistle that made the final score 34 – 15.
Folkestone only converted two tries, and in passing over opportunities to take penalty kicks at goal, whilst falling to score tries, finished with a score that could have been nearer 50 points. But it was encouraging to see the creativeness of the team, the power in forwards and the interlinking of the backs. It was also good to report on two first-time try scorers for the 1st XV – all well-deserved and well executed. So, it’s an extra beer for Callum Palmieri and Ollie Forbes and a half-pint for Adam Bloomfield returning to the 1stXV and scoring his first try for very many seasons.
There are four teams in the relegation battle with similar win/lose/draw statistics. But a lower points tally means that Folkestone face a ‘must win’ situation in the remaining three matches to avoid the drop to the local rugby league – and, regrettably, they are also dependant on other teams losing. But looking at The Stone’s as they are now playing, there is hope – and a reflection on how they arrived in this situation is difficult to understand. Perhaps the shocking incident at Bromley earlier in the season is re-visiting them?
Team: Martin Murray, Connor Leather, Bob Porter; David Jarvis, Colby Hayward; Sam Beech, Liam Trinder, Ollie Forbes; Callum Palmieri, Jon Morton Capt.); Josh Holt, Will Turner, John Eustace, Thomo Murray; Adam Tolman.
Subs: Adam Bloomfield, Mat Roots, Scott Stewart.
Scorers: Callum Palmieri 5; Sam Beech 5; Josh Holt; Mat Roots 5; Jon Morton 2,2; Ollie Forbes 5; Adam Bloomfield 5.
