Folkestone overcome Heathfield & Waldron in last ten minutes!

London 3 South East
Heathfield and Waldron 1st XV 25 Folkestone 1st XV 32
Saturday 21st March 2015 Report by Alan Schofield

A terrific display of team spirit and tenacity brought Folkestone an away victory over some formidable opponents.
The sparse crowd on this bleak day with a biting wind blowing strongly across the sloping pitch witnessed a remarkable recovery by a weakened Folkestone. The might of props Tom Carvill and Matt Roots were missing through injury and coach, Leigh Fitchie had to struggle to produce reserves when seven of his front row players were unavailable. Eventually Alex Box was brought in from the second team and hooker Steve Doughty was asked to prop, but this was only temporary as he was injured after 20 minutes and so John Eustace was brought in from right centre to the thick of the scrum.
All this was against a Heathfield & Waldron team who have been seen as one of the strongest set of forwards in the division.
Heathfield had the wind in their favour and used the Irish tactic of kick and rush to very good effect, the ball bouncing wildly on a firm surface. Within five minutes they seized possession from one of these kicks and, with the forwards following up had the momentum over Folkestone forwards, and scored a classical pushover try. The ease by which they achieved this was ominous.
And it was repeated only three minutes later, Folkestone helping the situation by poor kicks against the wind and losing possession – allowing the long kick to force them back.
There were only brief moments when Folkestone were able to hold on to the ball, but even then ground was conceded by three penalties in quick succession – the last earning Will Turner ten minutes on the naughty step holding a yellow card for enthusiastic, but off-side, defence.
So, 15 minutes into the game The Stones were 10 – 0 down, playing with 14 men against the wind and a rampant Heathfield attack. The third try was almost a formality – but fortunately all three conversion attempts failed and 15 – 0 after as many minutes almost was a relief.
Then came the Steve Doughty injury and the reshuffle – Seyhan Fell coming into the centre. Could it get any worse? Folkestone were being battered, it was grim and cold and there was International rugby on TV in the warm Clubhouse.
But – hurrah! Folkestone actually made it into the Heathfield half of the field – helped by a couple of penalty kicks and some penetrative running by Adam Tolman, Chris Petley and Thomo Murray. The team then showed some sparkle in the forwards by making it up to the try line – but woe, they gave away a penalty and a 60 metre downwind kick. Seyhan Fell recovered the attack by linking with Chris Petley and Frankie Morgan before Adam Tolman saw a gap centre-field and made a 25 metre break almost to the posts, and Thomo Murray snapped up a loose ball after Heathfield failed to secure the ball which he then passed to Adam Tolman who scored under the posts to give James Mead an easy conversion and 15 – 7 score after 35 minutes.
Something happened to the team after this try that was palpable. Successive attacks into the Heathfield pack by Frankie Morgan, Adam Tolman, Will Turner and Ben Stringer set the opponents back a little – and suddenly the Heathfield forwards attacks were stopped in their tracks by the makeshift visitors pack. Josh Kemp and Alex Box (looking visibly tired by his relentless efforts) with captain ‘Moose’ Murray and Ryan Farrow were ever present at the breakdown – with Ben Stringer, Chris Petley and Will Turner acting a second defensive wall that Heathfield now couldn’t penetrate.
Half – time came with the thought that humiliation and the hammering that Folkestone had put up with for over half an hour may just be avoided.
But yet another setback within minutes came when James Mead had to be helped off having been knocked out very briefly in the thick of the action. This allowed Jordan Godden to make a return to first XV rugby after a long injury absence.
Seyhan Fell opened up the game with a cross field run, passing to Ollie Walton who cut back inside towards the try line and then, with some massive forward power, over the line – only to have the ball held up and a 5 metre scrum awarded. Heathfield were penalised and Jordan Godden took a diagonal run towards the touch line before passing to Thomo Murray who caught the Heathfield defence on the wrong foot, cutting back infield and scoring an excellent try that Seyhan Fell, accurate as ever after his year in New Zealand, had no difficulty in converting.
And now there was only a single point separating the teams at 15 – 14 and if spectators thought Heathfield were rattled – they were wrong! For within five minutes it was 25 – 14. Firstly the Heathfield forwards worked the ball well into an attacking position 15 metres out when the back row found a gap and scored close to the posts but yet again, Heathfield couldn’t make the extra points. Only minutes later Heathfield made ground and scored the third of three identical tries with a forwards push-over – their fifth try and their fifth failed conversion attempt!
Perhaps even the super fit Stones were tiring under uncompromising Heathfield forward power and attacking kicks. Adam Tolman and Will Turner both rescued situations that could have sealed the result, but some respite was given when Seyhan Fell kicked a long range three point penalty. 25 – 17.
The spirit returned and Josh Kemp, Ben Stringer and Ryan Farrow all had notable bashes at their opponents and Seyhan Fell just missed with a 45 metre penalty attempt. Thomo Murray caught the drop kick re-start and fed the ball out wide where he combined with Adam Tolman and John Eustace who gave a beautifully timed pass to Jordan Godden, in close support, who dived over the try line and when Seyhan Fell converted the score showed 25 – 24 with 6 minutes of play remaining.
When Seyhan Fell took aim and slotted another penalty conceded by the now desperate Heathfield team, Folkestone took the lead to 25 – 27. And disarray set in when Thomo Murray made a break 45 metres out. Frankie Morgan picked the loose ball following the tackle and fed Adam Tolman who put in a short kick for Ollie Walton to run on to and score Folkestone’s fourth, bonus point, try and earn one of the most courageous victories of the season against tough opposition in a clean and sporting contest – to which credit must also be given to the referee who created the conditions to allow this.
Next week Folkestone play Bromley in the battle of the pogonophiles, and this should attract a large crowd.
Team: Frankie Morgan; Ollie Walton, Jon Morton, John Eustace, Thomo Murray; Adam Tolman, James Mead; Martin Murray (M.); Alex Box; Steve Doughty: Ben Stringer; Josh Kemp; Will Turner, Ryan Farrow, Chris Petley.
Subs: Kieran Smith, Jordan Godden, Seyhan Fell.