FRFC 44 Whitstable 25

This was an entertaining game in bright sunshine - yes, that yellow
thing in the sky- with plenty of movement to keep the spectators happy.
Within the first eight minutes however it looked as if Whitstable were
going to run away with it as they were two tries and a conversion to the good(0-12).
Folkestone struck back through that 'old' hand Lee Hollows who took a
lovely inside pass from the new, Italian outside half, Daniele Cardinale to score under the posts for Jak Cox to convert.(7-12)Our latest Italian Stallion, Daniele Cardinale showed his ability as an outside half with some deft touches and is destined for better things.
Whitstable then took a short tapped penalty inside the Folkestone 22m
area to cross for an unconverted try in the corner. (7-17). Hollows and
Cardinale combined well and nearly increased the score but it was Dixon who touched down when Pearson latched on to the Italian's chip ahead to put him away into the corner. No conversion.(12-17)
Folkestone then dropped further behind when a Whitstable rolling maul
saw them cross in the corner. No conversion which left the score at 12
-22 at half time. Folkestone would persist in kicking for touch from any penalty awarded but had no line out dominance and would have been better served with the short 'tap and go' which they did later in the match.
Lester Clark had two bullocking runs off the various kick outs and had
a good all round game both in the tight and the loose. Opther notable
players in the pack were Monk, Morgan and Chapman with White and Wilson
in the front row.
Cooke and Jones replaced Ryall and Hollows and both of them were
involved in the next score which saw Tom Carvil dive over from a ruck
on the visitors line. (17-22) No conversion.
Whitstable then converted a penalty (17-22) before Howland completed a
beautiful move involving Cox, Jones, and Pearson (22-25) No conversion.
Cooke was then set free up the left wing but tried to run through the
full back instead of around him but Cox was able to save the situation
to dive over from the resulting loose maul and take the lead for the
first time.(27-25) No conversion. Cooke is a big, strong wing/centre
with a suprising turn of speed and should be knocking on the door for a
1st XV place. He made up for his previous error when Cox again
provided the ball to see him run around the defence to score under the
posts for a converted try (34-25)
Another delightful move between Jones and Pearson saw Dixon score his
second try to make it 39-25 in Folkestones favour. James Perry put the
final nail in the Whitstable coffin when he picked up out of a ruck on
the visitors line to dive over for an unconverted try making the score
44-25.
However the referees card showed 40 -30 which is what will appear on
the League results but that can't take anything away from the fight back Folkestone made in the second half.