FRFC 27 East London 16

Full marks to East London for sending a squad for this 3rd round match in the RFU Senior Vase. Folkestone have reached this stage without playing a match when opponents Andover and Old Alleynians withdrew. The latter were even at home! In the south east region of the league Folkestone currently lie 2nd, having won all their matches whereasm East London are second bottom in their regional competition so on paper Folkestone looked to be favourites. But the home team have horrendous injury problems forcing coach Darren Molloy to juggle his players allowing some 1st XV regulars to rest and bringing in 2nd XV players. So the players didn’t have much time to get to know each other. East London started off aggressively sensing the tension in the home team. They took the lead with a series of drives in the home 22 and eventually won a scrum in front of the posts. They executed a perfect back row move from the scrum to go over for a deserved try. 0-5.
The home team really have to do something about their play in the opening quarter because they have repeatedly allowed opponents to take an early lead.
The visitor’s try served as a wake-up call for the Stones and finally they broke quickly into East London territory with John Eustace making good yardage before passing to Jak Cox who weaved his way to score in the 25th minute. Seyhan Fell added the conversion. 7-5.
The Stones were now on top and began to launch waves of attacks but on 4 separate occasions they threw away try scoring positions with basic errors. Coach Molloy had bravely decided to rest players and had it gone wrong it would have been very easy to complain about the player changes. But Molloy is always thinking of the future rather than just the next game. It’s this that has seen Folkestone increase strength in depth. He is encouraging 2nd XV players to force their way into his top team. The big man clearly knows his players and their capabilities and he read this match perfectly. It was not a classic Folkestone performance but his players ground out a victory.
Back to the match. In the 38th minute Fell added a penalty to see the interval score go to 10-5.
During the interval Molloy tweaked his team a little more sending Jamie Webb on for his 1st XV debut, another player to come through the Folkestone junior system, he performed well today. Also onto the pitch came Mat Roots to take over in the front row for Moose Murray. Murray put in an excellent performance against a prop about 3 times bigger but the madman Stone didn’t take a single step back as he continues to impress in yet another position. Further changes saw the very creative Scotty Evans coming off to be replaced by Chris Petley who moved in to the 10 control room slot from inside centre and Will Turner moving into the centre from the back row. Richard Puddy was also taken off and wrapped in cotton wool to be replaced by Jak Cox moving to hooker from his position out on the wing. Ben Brooks came on to play in the wing and finally Michal Krizanek was replaced by Rob Hudson who had been scratching his hooves desperate to get on the pitch. I actually wondered if Molloy was setting his players a test to see if they could re-organise. And that’s what they did.
However with these latest changes it was no surprise to see East London taking the chance to exert pressure on the home line eventually getting the ball out to the left wing for a score. 10-10. Home supporters felt the visiting player had dropped the ball over the try line but, in truth, they deserved the try and you had to feel sorry for referee, Nick Wickham because as well as the home support “helping” him he had to deal with no fewer than 10 RFU referee assessors monitoring his every move. For me he is one of the best refs in Kent as he always encourages good play and is quick to sort out any nonsense. It was no surprise to see there were no silly “handbag” exchanges today.
East London took the lead after a well taken 40 yard penalty. 10-13. This lifted their team who could see that they had the chance to win this game.
But Folkestone regrouped and attacked the visitor’s try line earning a penalty snapped up by Fell. 13-13.
Then we saw a superb home try in the 68th minute when the pack led by Roots and Paul Hodges bullied their way up the left wing making 30 yards before passing to Ben Brooks who was flying up the wing and no defender could get near him as he scored. Fell added another conversion with a beautiful kick way out on the left wing. 20-13.
Were Folkestone home and dry? No, they weren’t as another long range penalty reduced their lead. 20-16.
With minutes to go, whoever scored the next try would probably win the game. It went to Folkestone when once again the pack showed their power going through many phases of attack before the ball went to Roots who was unstoppable from 5 metres out. Fell added another conversion. 27-16.
So not the greatest game I’ve seen but it went all the way to the end with both teams in with a shout of victory. I am really going to sit on the fence today with regard to the home Man of the Match. Firstly the 3 props, Murray, Roots and Hodges performed very well in the scrums and in the loose. And once again Fell’s kicking was superb and his attacking coming from deep at pace always caused problems for the visitors. So there you have it, a 4 way split. The only way to sort it would be a cockfight. Something one of the four is no stranger to. I’ll let you guess which one and I’ll be surprised if anybody has to ask me. Well done Moose. Oops.
On Saturday Folkestone return to league duties when they travel to play league leaders, Crowborough who, like Folkestone, are unbeaten this season.Who’s going to blink first?
Squad:
J McMurray, M Murray, R Puddy, P Hodges, J Cox, M Roots, D Baxter, W Turner, J Webb,
M Krizanek, J Johnson, R Hudson, J Kopriva, S Evans, C Petley, B Page, J Eustace, S Fell, B Brooks,