FRFC 33 Horsham 13

On the day that Folkestone said, “Farewell” to one of their 2 Kiwi players it was fitting that 3 of the best home performers in this league match against Horsham were home-grown lads who had all come through the club’s junior system. Jake Johnson, John Eustace and Jack Cox all had superb games in this very entertaining match. But the club will miss Richard Puddy who has an ankle injury and as he is unlikely to be fit before the end of the season he is going home to prepare himself for the new season down in the colonies. He has been a brilliant player for Folkestone and will be sadly missed. On the pitch and off!

Earlier in the season Stones beat Horsham in Sussex, 10-3 and it was a tough match so I felt this was going to be another tough encounter. From the kick off Horsham enjoyed a great start as they charged into the Stones’ 22 attacking the home try-line. The Stones have defended their line very well this season whenever they have been under constant pressure and today they held out well but eventually gave away a penalty for Horsham to score first. 0-3.

Folkestone attacked immediately from the restart and won a penalty line-out. Jack McMurray, who has dominated the line-out all season, leaped high to win the ball passing it on to Adam Tolman. Tolman made his way toward the Horsham 22 before passing to Folkestone’s remaining Kiwi, Scotty Evans who passed on to Eustace who timed a perfect little pop pass to Seyhan Fell attacking at pace from his deep full back position and he went straight through to score. The surprise was that he missed the conversion because he has been in superb form all season with his golden boot. 5-3.

Minutes later and Folkestone increased their score. This time Adam Tolman broke through the visiting defence and got the ball to Evans who found Fell again joining the line. Coming at pace from behind Fell is almost unstoppable as he penetrates the defence and this time he unselfishly passed to Johnson who, as usual, battered his way to the line. Fell made no mistake with the conversion. 12-3.

And that was the score at the interval. Regular readers will know that a 9 point lead for Folkestone does not guarantee a victory but today, with respect to Horsham who are a very good team, I felt a Stones victory was never in doubt.

5 minutes into the second half Folkestone won a try on the Horsham 5 metre line. Tolman took the ball out of the scrum and wrong footed the Horsham defence with a dummy pass which created a nice gap for him to surge through. As Fell had left the pitch injured Jonny Morton took over the kicking duties. He was obviously in a confident mood as he converted with a drop kick. 19-3.

Against the run of play Horsham got themselves into Folkestone territory and a crossfield kick from right to left bounced perfectly for their winger to collect and seconds later he was over the line. 19-8.

Folkestone skipper, Richard Lama has been a powerhouse for his team all season and he turned over Horsham ball to make his way up the centre of the pitch. He passed to Jack Cox steaming down the right wing. The Folkestone support was on their feet roaring him on and despite being well tackled he managed to offload the ball perfectly to Trevor Squire and, if he had to, he would power through a brick wall to score. He cut his way through for the score and another Morton drop kick conversion. 26-8.

Horsham weren’t finished. They lie in 4th place in the league and after a couple of poor seasons they have improved hugely playing some good rugby this term. Their pack powered up the pitch with a rolling maul to score. 26-13.

Moving toward the final whistle I felt that the best move of the day was the Squire try made by Lama and Cox but they raised the standard with the last play of the game. Folkestone attacked up the right wing. The Horsham defence managed to stop that move but the ball was then moved quickly into the centre with Lama again making good ground before passing on to Johnson and again he battered his way to the line. Once again Morton stroked the ball over. 33-13. It was so quick, if you blinked you would have missed it.

So another entertaining game at their New Burlingtom fortress where the team has won all their games this season. This was an excellent performance from the team even though coach, Darren Molloy, has 15 players in the sickbay. Man of the Match was a hard call, as usual. Playing in the back row John Eustace had a superb game. He’s been receiving rave reviews for his performances with the 2nd XV and he shone today before going off with an arm injury. This season Jack Cox has played hooker and scrum half and today he was on the wing where he produced a super performance capping it off with great play for Folkestone’s penultimate try.

But after a chat with the coaches it was agreed that Man of the Match today was Jake Johnson. This young man is great example to the club’s juniors. He works hard in training and inspires his team and is a big favourite with the supporters as he powers forward with the ball.

I must also mention Rob Hudson and Charlie Williams in the pack. They have joined Folkestone from Whitstable and Ashford respectively and always give 100%. One of the reasons for this win is the way they played at the breakdowns constantly being a nuisance to Horsham.

The Folkestone backs made a few mistakes but as one observer noted, rugby is an easy game to play from the touchline. There were, however, some splendid flowing movements with Tolman and Evans driving the team up the pitch.

On Saturday Folkestone travel to Bromley and they are always tough opponents. Today’s bonus point win keeps Folkestone in the promotion race with Crowborough and Medway who also earned bonus point victories today. The match at Bromley is the first game of a difficult finish to the season with games against Sheppey, Crowborough, Eastbourne and Medway. But this Folkestone squad prefers tough matches. They can dig deep and will give everything they have to move up in the world. The Folkestone support will be readying the heart attack tablets as they follow their team.

Finally, thanks to Keenan Wood, one of the club’s marvellous minis. He was match mascot today proudly leading the squad onto the pitch which obviously motivated the Folkestone players.