Medway 31 FRFC 34

So it’s over for another season. At the end of the season the league table doesn’t lie. Champions Crowborough and runners up Medway won more games than any of the other teams and are deservedly promoted. Folkestone finish in 3rd place but are left with the “what could have been” feeling. Today’s game was meaningless as even with a win Folkestone could not overhaul Medway but it was clear from the attitudes and body language of both teams that they both wanted a victory. In the first game of the season Folkestone had beaten Medway by a single point in a thriller. Today was even more thrilling and saw Folkestone’s best performance of the season.
Yet again Folkestone missed several players due to injury but coach, Darren Molloy picked an 18 man squad who put in an emotional performance. You thought rugby players were great big macho thugs? No way. Rugby is an emotional game. The players play for themselves but, more importantly, they play for each other and it was just that factor which drove Folkestone on to a terrific victory.
For the first 10 minutes of this highly entertaining match Medway enjoyed most of the possession but could not break into the Folkestone 22. And then Ollie Brooks erupted into action. He made the moves which saw Folkestone go into the lead. In the 12th minute he picked a great line straight through the home defence before passing the ball to Jon Morton on the right wing to open the scoring. 0-5.
3 minutes later Brooks was through and again he found Morton on the right wing to power over the line. 0-10.
Things got even better for the Stones support when from a penalty line-out hooker Will Massey picked out Jake Johnson at the back of the line. The ball got out to Nick Ford who passed it on to Richard Lama and this time he penetrated the home defence with one of his trade-mark battering ram moves before getting the ball back to Jake Johnson to increase the score. Seyhan Fell added the conversion and with just 20 minutes gone Folkestone led 17-0.
The home team and their supporters looked shell shocked but they came back into the game with 2 good scores to make the score 12-17 at the interval.
Folkestone’s young pack led by their front row, Moose Murray, Alex Green, Will Massey and Paul Williamson deserves much credit as they stood toe to toe against the much larger home pack while the Folkestone backs were tackling everything and always looking to throw the ball about with fly half, Nick Ford, controlling the game. A speculative kick up the pitch saw the home defence in a panic and Will Massey stepped in to collect the ball and score. Fell added the conversion. 12-24.
Again Medway forced themselves back into the game with2 more great moves leading to converted tries and a 26-24 lead. It was now anybody’s game. Medway blinked first and conceded a penalty just inside their half and the lethal boot of Seyhan Fell put his team back in the lead. 26-27.
As the teams lined up for the re-start Ben Brooks and Richard Lama roared out instructions to the team both demanding hard work for the rest of the game. And it was Brooks who made the game safe in the 70th minute with a try which was earned by his pack as they won a scrum on the left wing. Chris Petley attacked the home 22 and found Brooks with a perfect pass to set up the try. Fell added a conversion from the left wing. 26-34.
The clock ticked on slowly, too slowly, for Folkestone’s large travelling support but at least they knew Medway now needed 2 scores to win. They got one and the conversion was missed.31-34.
Nick Ford booted the restart deep into the home 22 saying to them that if they were going to score they were going to have to make a lot of ground. But somehow Folkestone turned over Medway ball in their 22 and to the obvious delight of Stones’ players and supporters the ref blew the whistle for time up as the ball was kicked off the pitch.
It was a fantastic game of rugby which entertained both sets of supporters. It was impossible to select a single Folkestone player as Man of the Match. This was very much an 18 man performance. I thought it was the team’s best performance of the season. Coach Darren Molloy is on the search for a couple of big powerful forwards to join his squad but today he saw a team that played for each other. He will be very pleased with his young forwards, Tim Naylor, Charlie Williams, Will Massey, Rob Hudson and Jake Johnson and he will hope to have Jack McMurray, David Baxter, Ben Flatman and Ben Edwards fit for next term. So Folkestone finish on a high earning 2 wins over the runners-up. But as I said at the start, the league table does not lie. So it’s well done Crowborough and Medway.