1sts beat Bromley with a last minute try and conversion

London 3 South East
BROMLEY 1sts 8 FOLKESTONE 1sts 10
Saturday 13th December 2014 Report By: Alan Schofield
The half-way stage of the season for Folkestone was reached with this fixture and yet another team selection - juggled from Leigh Fitchie’s reserve of players - made up the XV that took the field against an almost full strength Bromley side. But Bromley had only one win, against bottom-of-the-table Lewes, since the 25th October, so every expectation was for a traditionally entertaining match. And that was certainly had - with Folkestone winning the game in the ninth minute of stoppage time, playing against 13 men.
Three replacements from last Saturday’s starting XV were needed and that necessitated five positional changes for The Stones. Jake Ellis (on his league debut) came in as hooker for Steve Doughty and Will Turner and Richard Dagger were in the starting XV.
There is a lot of pizzazz in the way that The Stones play their rugby, and they clearly enjoy themselves as they are not afraid to use quick inter-passing and switching lines of attack. And this showed early in the game when Bromley were put to defending in their own half against sustained Folkestone thrusts, but playing downhill with Bromley having to face a strong low sun into their faces it seemed a first half score was very necessary. Time and again Bromley rescued the situation with low upfield kicks, and effective chasing; often taking the game into Folkestone’s half.
Folkestone forwards are well-trained, fit and well-disciplined - and in the set scrums ‘Moose’ Murray led them to tremendous effort and they had the technique to push the Bromley pack backwards at every scrum. But Bromley levelled this by being quick and alert around the rucks and mauls. The line-outs on this day were a difficult area for The Stones and many were lost, probably because of the positional changes that had to be made.
In the 20th minute, from a long kick upfield Bromley followed up quickly and gained possession from a bouncing ball. They held on to it in the maul and Lewis Howland was sin-binned for trying to wrest the ball clear, and in doing so the referee interpreted a push for a punch. Bromley took the penalty quickly from the resulting play and scored a good try, near the posts, before Folkestone were in a position to defend. The conversion was just wide. 5 – 0.
Folkestone fought back strongly with successive thrusts by Jon Eustace, Will Turner, Will Silvey and ‘Thomo’ Murray, all being thwarted by the Bromley backs – and then it was Bromley’s turn to attack . The full Folkestone team were hard pressed to defend a determined series of attacks left, right and down the middle – and it was only a knock-on that prevented Bromley from extending their lead.
A series of scrums, all won by ‘Moose’ Murray and his pack, brought play back into mid-field and then it was Bromley’s turn to desperately defend in their half of the field. Lewis Howland was distributing the ball with quick, accurate passing to Will Silvey who varied his distribution on almost every take. Ben Williams joined the line from full back and made good ground. But the home defence held firm until half-time. 5-0.
Immediately on resumption, Bromley were given a kickable penalty and increased their lead to 8 – 0.
This set back did not change Folkestone’s tactics and they upped the tempo even higher. Chis Petley was dynamic in chasing down loose ball, but the Bromley backs were always a threat. Tom Carvill, from prop, has a turn of speed which is impressive and he made strong individual productive runs before being hauled down. Scrum half Lewis Howland limped off replaced by James Mead.
The line-outs continued to be a problem for Folkestone. Will Turner moved forward in the line and took quick lower throws from Jake Ellis and that tactic levelled things out a little but Bromley were often able to spoil the ball that Folkestone gained. But once the ball got out to the Folkestone backs, Jon Morton was able to direct the line of attack and he used both wings to good effect. Charlie Millen was injured and replaced by Miles Dempsey.
Playing uphill in the final quarter of the match, The Stones started to gain real control both in possession and territory. Bromley lost discipline under attack and they were given their first yellow card for incautious defence. Team captain, ‘Moose’ Murray – rather than take kicks and line-outs from penalties awarded to them - elected for scrums. The Folkestone forwards immediately gained significant ground from two of these penalties, but the third was too near the posts to ignore and Jon Morton slotted an easy 3 points. 8 – 3.
As time closed in on Folkestone’s victory efforts, so Bromley continued to offend - conceding 12 penalties in the second half, most of them in the last quarter of the game. Martin Murray’s scrum option, and the dominance of the forwards, gradually brought them ever closer to the try line. The match went into injury time with The Stones pressing hard. Bromley, in desperate defence well within their own 22 mts. zone, were given a second yellow card, closely followed by third – both for repeated and blatant infringements in and around the scrum. The last one proved too much, even for their magnificent effort against a rampant Folkestone team. From another penalty and another scrum - James Mead short sprinted over the line for the equalising try. Jon Morton calmly placed the ball for the conversion and kicked it between the posts as the final whistle was blown. 8 – 10.
Team: Ben Williams; Thomo Murray, Jon Morton, John Eustace, Richard Dagger; Will Silvey, Lewis Howland; Martin Murray (Captain), Jake Ellis, Tom Carvill; Ben Stringer; Josh Kemp; Charlie Millen, Will Turner, Chris Petley.
Subs: Adam Fullerton, Miles Dempsey, James Mead.
Scorers: Jon Morton 3, 2; James Mead 5.