FRFC 23 Ashford 15

This match was preceeded by a Vice President’s Lunch, organised by Bill Edwards which saw a full house at the club to begin their Christmas festivities. Various presentations were made including a presentation from club chairman, Andy Dagger to David Baxter who, after many years of commitment to his club has had to retire through injury. Former Folkestone player, Catherine Spencer who went on to captain England was honoured by Kent RFU Chairman, David Corrie. Both she and Baxter were given deserved standing ovations.

Derby matches tend to be passionate affairs and the form book gets thrown out the door. On paper this should have been an easy win for Folkestone who are in 2nd place in the league with Ashford 23 points behind in 8th place. But it took 70 minutes for Folkestone to finally put this game to bed. Ashford were in a determined mood and the first 20 minutes saw open end to end play which warmed the large pre-Christmas crowd. Folkestone were first on the score-board with a Seyhan Fell penalty. 3-0 Ashford then put the home defence under pressure for a full 5 minutes scoring eventually in the corner. 3-5.
Minutes later Ashford went ahead after the Ashford winger anticipated a long pass to the Folkestone wing and he sprinted down the pitch to score. 3-10. Many Folkestone supporters wondered if their Christmas was about to be ruined as for the second quarter of the match Ashford were on top and Folkestone looked nervous in their play. The weather conditions were the same for both teams but it looked as though Ashford had warm hands while the home players all looked to be feeling the cold.
Trailing by 7 points at half time Folkestone coach, Darren Molloy, knew he had to earn his money by motivating his team to start firing. Whatever he said, it worked and Folkestone were a different team for the rest of the game. They got off to a great start forcing Ashford back on their 5 metre line. Ashford defended their line heroically as Folkestone huffed and puffed. Twice it looked like Folkestone had scored only for the ref to award scrums. He also awarded 3 penalties to Folkestone as Ashford’s defence got more desperate. The Folkestone pack were beginning to exert a lot of pressure on their opponents and it was Jack McMurray who picked the ball out of a ruck and with one yard to go he made no mistake. 8-10.
The home supporters’ smiles returned but not for long because Ashford blasted their way up the left wing to increase their lead. 8-15.
Skipper, Richard Lama got his team back on track with a couple of penetrating runs through the Ashford defence. Then in the control room Adam Tolman and Scotty Evans took charge of the game. Firstly Tolman went close and then after a series of “pick and gos” Richard Puddy finished off the move to score. Fell added the conversion. 15-15.
From this point on Folkestone finally got on top of the game. Ashford’s defence was being stretched and the penalty count was going against them. From one of these penalties Fell stroked his team into the lead. 18-15.
With minutes to go Folkestone made sure they were going to win with Puddy again scoring after good work from his New Zealand compatriot, Scotty Evans. 23-15. In the final minutes Folkestone worked hard to score the bonus point 4th try but the Ashford defence held.
So the second half of the season begins with Folkestone winning again. It is a sure sign of the team’s continuing improvement in that they continue to win the games where they have to dig deep. Molloys’ boys just do not give up. At half time here the home support were worried, Ashford were defending well and they looked dangerous on the break but once again Folkestone remained patient and took their chances. It was good to see Ben Flatman back in the second row. His strength and ball carrying have been missed. Also back in the team today was Adam Tolman who started on the wing but moved to scrum half for the second half. I’ve said before that he has a superb rugby brain and he was using various options to get Folkestone on the front foot. But Man of the Match for me today was Scotty Evans. He had an outstanding game. This young man bought his own ticket and flew up from New Zealand to join Folkestone at the start of the season. He and his compatriot Puddy are thousands of miles from home both playing their hearts out for Folkestone. They have both been great ambassadors for their country and even though they won’t be with their families over the festive period I’m sure they’ll enjoy a well deserved Christmas- Folkestone style.

And a very merry Christmas and great New Year from the Stones to all their supporters.

Squad:
R Lama, M Roots, W Massey, A Green, J McMurray, R Hudson, B Flatman, W Turner, R Puddy, J Johnson, J Kopriva, S Evans, B Brooks, J Morton, A Tolman, S Fell, C Petley