Folkestone had a strong first half, leading 16-12.

London 3 SE

Saturday 11th April 2015 Report from Steve Hughes

It was unfortunate that Folkestone had to travel to play Dartfordians (who have already been promoted to London South East 2) without Jon Morton (at Saracens RFC, Allianz Park with his U10’s), Chris Petley, Steve Doughty, Ritchie Bowen and Josh Kemp.
However, those that stepped into the breach and gave their all and certainly put the wind up the home side by leading at half time.
Folkestone opened the game with a strong wind behind them and play was even for the first twenty minutes before Dartfordians worked an overlap on the left wing to score a converted try. 7-0. Folkestone hit back with a penalty by Seyhan Fell. 7-3. Then a neat little chip by Adam Tolman saw Frankie Morgan collect the bounce to cross in the corner. Seyhan Fell added the two points and Folkestone were in the lead. 7-10.
Folkestone kept trying to run the ball out of the red zone when a kick with the strong wind would have taken them into the enemy territory.
During one such attempt Folkestone lost the ball in their own 22m area which was hacked ahead by Dartfordians to score an unconverted try to give them back the lead 12 - 10.
Tom Carvill, Ben Stringer, Mark Bartlett and Ryan Farrow used the pick-and-drive effectively to drive the visitors into the opposition half and a high tackle allowed Fell to use the wind and put over a long range penalty and once again change the lead in Folkestone’s favour. 12-13.
The first injury to Folkestone saw Keiran Smith replace Ollie Forbes before the home hooker was yellow carded and Seyhan Fell added another three points to give them the lead of 12 - 16 at half time.

Now playing against the wind Folkestone, for long periods were penned in their own half but dogged defence and some crunching tackles by John Eustace, Ollie Walton and James Mead kept Dartfordians at bay. However, injuries to James Mead and Alex Box required a shuffle around in both the pack and the three-quarter line. Alex Box has stepped up from Captaining the 2nds for the last two games and has held his own against strong opposition.
Datfordians were now getting more possession and running the ball whenever possible and from a loose maul on the left touch line, squeezed past the defence to score a converted try and retake the lead 19 - 16.
Folkestone were now having difficulty in retaining possession and a lost ball in their own red zone saw the home side run in another converted try. 26 - 16. The Dartfordians left wing had blistering pace and on two occasions was provided with an overlap to sprint in for two converted tries giving his side a substantial lead of 40 - 16. However, Folkestone fought on to the last but were breached once again when the opposition No. 8 broke from the back of a scrum to slice through and score an unconverted try to give Dartfordians a 45 - 16 win.
Folkestone were the better side in the first half with the wind behind them and should have used the elements to their advantage but to turn around with only a four point lead against such a strong wind was never enough.

Team: Seyhan Fell; Jordan Godden, Frankie Morgan, John Eustace, Ollie Walton; Adam Tolman, James Mead; Tom Carvill, Alex Box, Mark Bartlett; Ben Stringer, Martin Murray (Capt.); Ryan Farrow, Will Turner, Ollie Forbes.
Subs: Warren Blandford, Keiran Smith, Ross Johnson.
Scorers: Seyhan Fell 3, 2, 3, 3: Frankie Morgan 5.