Oceans 14: The Tunbridge Wells hustle by Rob Jackson

Oceans 14: The Tunbridge Wells hustle by Rob Jackson[/b]
[b]Tunbridge Wells 3rds 8 Folkestone 2nds 40

The second team battled hard to overcome their numerical disadvantage to win away to Tunbridge Wells, scoring six tries in the process.

Folkestone kicked off the match at a blustery Tunbridge Wells, playing with the wind in the first half. The pack was playing a man light and with two players out of position, however they soon buckled down and were able to put pressure on the opposition. Alex Box was proving to be extremely sharp on the opposition put-in and was able to take several scrums against the head (the FRFC 2nd XV Statistician, Emma Box, informed me that Alex took seven scrums against the head).

The game started of evenly, with much of the play taking place in the middle-third of the pitch. Folkestone started to build pressure through some good handling and eventually Ryan Farrow was able to crash though some tackles to touch down to the right of the posts. James Mead added the extras and ‘Stones were leading 0-7.

Tunbridge Wells looked to make the most of the their extra man and started to move the ball wider in search of space, however following a handling error on the half way line, Alex Pritchard was able to fly-hack the ball through and was about to touch the ball down when the covering defender illegally tackled him. A penalty try was awarded and converted, 0-14.

TWRFC galvanised themselves and started to dominate possession and territory. However the Folkestone defence was outstanding (especially from Nurse, Farrow and J. Woolford) and frequently forced errors and turnovers. Tunbridge Wells threatened but never crossed, the stones line and had to settle for three points from a penalty. 3-14.

With half time approaching, Folkestone had a perfectly good try disallowed allegedly due to a forward pass. In the break the message was simple: keep working hard, back ourselves and keep playing our rugby.

The game became increasingly scrappy, as handling errors dogged both sides. This resulted in lots of scrums but the front row of Carvill, Box and Robbins were exceptional in out-scrummaging the opposition (who, it must be noted, had an extra man in their pack). Folkestone were struggling to put multiple phases together as poor handling and pedantic refereeing repeatedly ended promising moves, however from turnover ball the ‘Stones back line looked extremely dangerous with Farrow making line breaks seemingly at will. On one charge he looked certain to score, but despite being tackled short of the line he managed to off load to Alex Pritchard who passed to Drew Woolford to score to the right of the posts. Conversion was made, 3-21.

Tunbridge Wells quickly replied with a score of their own, following a period of sustained pressure and a well executed lineout catch-and-drive. It was unconverted 8-21.

Folkestone’s fitness was clearly superior and as the game opened up in the final quarter, ‘Stones were able fashion several scoring opportunities. Fraser Nurse unleashed his running game which created space for Ryan Farrow to break down the left and crash through several tackles and touch down for his second try. 8-28. His centre partner James Woolford did the same thing moments later down the right hand side. Both scores were converted and Folkestone led 8-35.

Folkestone’s last score came from youngster Guy Ellis on his 2nd team debut. This was following a turnover from Alex ‘McCaw’ Box, and some lovely running from James Woolford to create an overlap which Ellis finished from 20 metres out. This try was unconverted and the score remained at 8-40 for the rest of the game.

Team: 15. Drew Woolford, 14. Alex Pritchard, 13. James Woolford, 12. Ryan Farrow, 11. Guy Ellis, 10. Fraser Nurse, 9. Luke Simpson, 8. Kieran Smith, 7. James Mead, 6. , 5. Rob Jackson, 4. Jack Baker, 3. Aaron Robbins, 2. Alex Box, 1. Tom Carvill