FRFC 40 Bromley 10

Folkestone is very much a family club so it was good to see the club’s Under 10 squad who recently won the East Kent Plate come along to meet the 1st XV players before the match and provide a guard of honour to roar their favourites onto the pitch. The youngsters then provided the ball boys for the match and it was heartening to see many parents stay on to support the 1st XV and what a match they saw. This was another highly entertaining game in a long line of great games between Folkestone and Bromley.
Stones coach, Darren Molloy had to juggle his squad about when players went down injured in the warm-up. Luckily the home 2nd XV were at home, also to Bromley(Folkestone won that one 65-0), so Adam Tolman who was returning after a lengthy injury was moved up into the 1st XV. Tolman was looking to play just 40 minutes for the 2nd XV to ease himself back into matchplay. Will Turner was also returning from injury and was looking for a quick 30 minutes from the subs bench but he was moved into the starting XV playing, out of position, in the centre. Unsurprisingly both he and Tolman gave everything they could for the cause.
With all the shuffling around it was no surprise to see Folkestone pushed back inside their own half for the first 15 minutes as Bromley shot off the blocks into a 0-10 lead with a converted try and penalty. The only home move in that first period was when Folkestone broke out of their own 22 only to be brought back for a forward pass. Home supporters were fearing the worst as Bromley were most certainly in control.
Suddenly in the 15th minute Folkestone got into the game after Bromley kicked the ball clear but it went to Seyhan Fell just inside his own half. He streaked to the left wing where Ben Brooks was waiting to join him. Brooks took the ball on flying down the left wing before cutting into the centre inside the Bromley 22. Up came Richard Puddy who is such a strong ball carrier. Brooks passed perfectly and Puddy battered his way to the line. Fell converted. 7-10.
Then came the incident which galvanised Folkestone into action when Stones fly half, Scotty Evans, was attacking the visitor’s 22 but was spear tackled by a Bromley player. This sort of incident usually leads to a brawl and it was no different here. Surprisingly only Richard Puddy was yellow carded. But after the incident the effect on the home side was to see them raise their game and from that point on it was Folkestone all the way.
The home team went ahead with a great move in the 37th minute as Simon Harris took the ball from a scrum on the left wing. He passed to a still shaken Evans who timed a perfect pass to Ben Brooks who had come in off his wing and he darted over for the try. Fell converted. 14-10.
A minute later and Folkestone extended the lead after a series of attacks all the way along the Bromley try-line when Will Turner made the crucial pass to Brooks, this time, out wide on his wing. Brooks dived for the line and at the interval Folkestone led 19-10.
A few years ago had Folkestone come back from a terrible start to lead 19-10 you could virtually guarantee that they would concede a converted try and a penalty, probably in the last minute, to lose the match but Molloy and his coaches have changed the attitude of the players and now having taken a lead they continue to turn the screw. It makes life so much easier and less fraught for their supporters.
Czech, Michal Krizanek got on the scoreboard in the 55th minute when he finished off a move started by Ollie Brooks in the centre. After last week’s Man of the Match performance Brooks was again on top form punching holes in the visiting defence and putting in some monstrously big tackles. His pass released Simon Harris who had Krizanek in support and the Czech youngster was clearly very happy as he crossed the line for the 4th Stones try and the bonus point. Another Fell conversion made it 26-10.
With Folkestone using their pace Bromley had no answer to the waves of home attacks. The next Stones try was straight off the training ground as Jack McMurray stretched the line-out at the back. Puddy found him with a perfect throw and followed the ball timing his run perfectly allowing McMurray to pad the ball down to him and now there was a huge hole in the Bromley line and Puddy was in. Fell added the conversion. 33-10.
With just minutes to go Folkestone added one more try which saw the ball being moved quickly through the hands eventually ending up with Turner and there was no way he was going to be stopped as he powered over wide on the left. Fell then iced the cake with a superb conversion from the left touchline and a 40-10 victory.
Bromley must have felt shell-shocked and I certainly did. Being typically pessimistic I was very concerned in the first 15 minutes as Bromley were clearly on top but Folkestone then piled on the pressure as they ran in the scores. Bromley are a good team. They are a team in transition and they have some very good, very powerful players but as this game went on Folkestone grew and grew in confidence and at half time even I felt confident that this was going to be Stones’ 9th consecutive league victory.
Man of the Match was yet again a hard call. Ollie Brooks in the centre was ferocious, Inside him Scotty Evans is a very intelligent player and he was pulling the strings here. Seyhan Fell was turning defence into attack with some fine running. Will Turner was Will Turner. Brilliant and totally committed. Jack McMurray was leading the pack on the charge but for me choosing topdog was just impossible so I give it to Ben Brooks and Moose Murray. Brooks was magnificent galloping down the wing leaving defenders trying to tackle thin air. Moose Murray has played Number 8, flanker, hooker, second row, scrum half and is now propping. He was fantastic in the scrum and in the line-out. He is very much of the new breed of prop forward – strong and mobile. Today he was always in support and always quick to the breakdown. Folkestone are lucky to have 3 fine highly mobile props in Murray, Paul Hodges and Alex Green to put in with their more traditional bulls, Mat Roots and Darren Short.
So yet another highly entertaining match between these 2 teams. Just watching it knackered me and both teams should be applauded for such a good game.
On Saturday Folkestone have a rest from the league when they take on East London in the 3rd Round of the RFU Senior Vase at the New Burlington. I’m off to lie down now.