Folkestone came to life after a slow start.

FOLKESTONE 1sts 51 PARK HOUSE 1sts 12
London 3 South East
Saturday 21st February 2015. Report by Alan Schofield

Two weeks rest after a disappointing result at lowly placed Pulborough, Folkestone faced another challenge to overcome Bromley based relegation candidates Park House. The fixture last November saw Folkestone win 25 pts to 26 pts when their defence was unusually fragile.
But today, they found not only a solid defence, but also an attack with bite – too much for their opponents which finished with Folkestone running in an eight try spectacular.
After 18 hours of continuous rain on the beautifully prepared first XV pitch it was decided that it was too soft for play, and the game was switched to the better surface of the higher ground of the second team pitch.
For the first 15 minutes however, Folkestone were in full defensive mode trying to protect their line from a battering by the much heavier Park House pack. It was wholly in the run of play that Park House were rewarded with a well worked try on the right wing from a dominant performance by their forwards. 0 – 5.
From the restart The Stones had their first view of their opponents half and it was not long before John Eustace found Frankie Morgan with space to run and he, in turn, fed a perfectly timed pass to Ollie Walton, supporting at speed on the left wing, to touch down for an excellent try converted by James Mead. 7 – 5.
The game was taking shape in that Park House had the weight of forward power but Folkestone had the initiative in open play and this was demonstrated beautifully when Chris Petley picked up from the base of a ruck, feeding James Mead and then in quick succession Richie Bowen, Chris Petley (again), John Eustace and Jon Morton – who put in a short overhead kick for Frankie Morgan to finish off with a tremendous try. 12 – 5.
Park House regrouped and kept the ball in control of the forwards - attacking centre field. Determined defending by the Folkestone forwards saw a couple of penalties awarded against them and when Ben Stringer ran to tackle he was judged to be off-side and yellow carded. The Stones conceded four scrums on the 5 metre line and when they offended again, in desperate defence, the referee lost his patience and awarded a penalty try, under the posts, to Park House – duly converted to level the scores at 12 – 12.
But The Stones fought back with a vengeance with Richie Bowen and Jon Morton making individual runs at the opposition and the situation was reversed when Park House were drawn into a wildly offside defence against the fast running Folkestone backs – and a yellow card was very correctly given. A try was saved, but the penalty kick was converted for a half time lead of 15 – 12.
The second half started with a taste of what was to come as Coach Leigh Fitchie put on the massive Mat Roots to combat the Park House strength. But before he was able to see any play, John Eustace charged down a defensive kick – Will Turner went right, then changed direction cleverly, catching Park House all going the wrong way. A quick pass to Richie Bowen gave him a chance from 20 metres out – and that is all he needs, crashing over in the corner for the try and a 20 – 17 score line.
Things began to look ominous for Park House as their forwards tired and their backs were being outplayed by the superior speed and fitness of The Stones - and with the ever changing routes that James Mead and Adam Tolman were directing play.
A deliberately aimed high kick by Frankie Morgan put three Folkestone players under the ball to grab possession and John Eustace put in a short kick after seeing Jon Morton backing up at speed to his right – and Morton was too fast for the opposition scoring the bonus point try and a 30 – 12 lead.
Adam Tolman found space with a long kick, forcing Park House to run backwards and James Mead found the loose ball, passing back to Tolman who put a quick pass into Will Turner’s hands who ran round under the posts for a converted try and a 32 – 12 point score.
So much had The Stones grasped this game, after a sticky start, they were now opting for scrums from penalties awarded to them as the Park House XV visibly wilted under the pressure and gave ground. A massive performance by the pack – led by captain ‘Moose’ Murray.
Folkestone were playing as a team inspired and the little ball that Park House were able to obtain was quickly nullified by the terrier like tackling of Chris Petley and Richie Bowen from the back of the scrum.
On the attack from a 5 metre scrum, James Mead fed the ball quickly out to Jon Morton who went straight through a tiring defence to score between the posts. Mead again converted 39 -12. Then it was the turn of the mighty Mat Roots from a rampant Folkestone scrum to cross the line, with four men hanging onto to him, to increase the score, after the conversion, to 46 – 12.
A final try came from a superb movement involving Thomo Murray, Chris Petley, John Eustace, Will Turner and James Mead who combined to bring play into the danger zone for Park House, but they didn’t see (and couldn’t stop) the final pass from Eustace to Ollie Walton to score the last try before the referee called time, possibly a few minutes early, on the Park House efforts. 51-12.
This was an excellent performance for Folkestone to pull back having been thoroughly tested in the first quarter of the game. It was game played in good spirit throughout and very well refereed by Mr. Andy Smith – who produced a generally disciplined game of rugby by letting the players play, rather than stultifying the game with interminable whistling.
Team: Frankie Morgan; Ollie Walton, Jon Morton, John Eustace, Thommo Murray; Adam Tolman, James Mead; Martin Murray (Capt.), Adam Fullerton, Tom Carvill; Ben Stringer, Miles Dempsey; Richie Bowen, Will Turner, Chris Petley.
Subs: Mat Roots, Ryan Farrow, Fraser Nurse.
Scorers: Ollie Walton, 5, 5; James Mead 2, 3, 2, 2, 2; Frankie Morgan 5; Richie Bowen 5; Jon Morton 5, 5; Will Turner 5; Mat Roots 5.