Folkestone 3rds travelled to Olney RFC missing a few players

Olney 3rds 32 Folkestone 3rds & friends 17
Saturday 27th August Report by Ross Clark

Folkestone 3rds travelled to Olney missing a few players, but with plenty of enthusiasm for a game of rugby which was to be played and enjoyed the old fashioned way. There wasn’t time for a warm up, but some had practised ‘passing’ on the way as beer bottles were moved swiftly from one vehicle to another when traffic allowed. Folkestone started the match with 3 backs in the forwards, and 2 borrowed from Olney.

In typical fashion, Folkestone showed excellent manners and sportsmanship in allowing Olney to score first, and second. The first of their try’s coming from a neat chip through for their winger to score in the corner following some lazy defending. 5-0.

Olney’s next score was well worked with their Number 8, Glen Amos – a former Folkestone player being involved in the build up with several good offloads. This allowed Olney to maintain their momentum and get some of their larger ball carriers moving in the middle of the park until eventually one was able to stretch through and score under the posts – 12-0.

At this point, Folkestone woke up and were able to start working the ball through several sets of hands, keeping it away from Olney’s forwards, and in possession of our backs, who were able to make good footwork and communication count as Andy Burrows fed Alex Pritchard from the scrum on half way. He made it around the first defender and offloaded to Number 8, Jack Cox who put a superb chip in, which was gathered by Ross Clark to score. 12-5.

Momentum was now with Folkestone, who were able to use the extra handling ability that came from having backs masquerading as forwards to keep the ball alive and in motion, working it from one touch-line to the other, before coming back inside for Alex Prichard to show a great dummy and step to race through under the posts. Jack Cox converted and after 20 mins, the score was level at 12-12.

After 20 minutes of open play, the weather took a turn for the worst and dictated that passes were to be kept shorter. Consequently some of the attractive play that characterised the first 20 was sacrificed in favour of short carries and hard defence. From the side-lines it looked like Folkestone would come off worse for this as their team lacked the bulk which Olney had in great supply. But it was not the case. With the scores level and Folkestone well and truly in the game, every player stepped up and gave it their all, with barely a tackle missed. There was come tremendous defending from all 15, but Ceri Ap-Bryn and Cameron Seagrove in particular rose to the challenge as both seemed to be everywhere. At several points The Stones were able to draw Olney’s forwards in, before moving the ball wide to make plentiful yards on the outside and always looked the likely side to score next.

At half time, the scores were level at 12-12.

In the second half, Olney were able to make rolling changes using like for like replacements, whilst Folkestone were forced to making some less favourable changes with most players being asked to play out of position at some point. All players rose to the challenge and never backed down but as time wore on the impact of fresh legs and experienced forwards against a side featuring 11 regular backs was clear – Olney had the upper hand!

Olney were the first to score, 10 mins into the second half. 17-12.

Following sustained pressure, Folkestone found themselves in Olney’s 22. Glen Amos, having switched, over to Folkestone fed Luke Simpson who drew in the defence and, rather uncharacteristically, gave a pass out wide for Joseph Hurling to out-pace his opposite number and score in the corner. 17-17.

The last 20 was one-way traffic with Folkestone battling bravely and making good yards, but being unable to capitalise on the efforts made, whilst Olney still with plenty of fresh legs to introduce were able move the ball and use their powerful runners to great effect, finishing the match a few scores ahead at (approximately) 32-17.

After the match, Folkestone stepped up their performance, beating Olney at Beer Pong, and the Barrel Run, whilst conceding Flip Cup (and Jack Cox’s hair) to their hosts. Making the final score for the day 2-2.

This was a fantastic day for 2 likeminded teams to play a competitive match and spend time bonding after the game. It has already been suggested that we make this a regular trip with games at either club at the beginning and end of the season and I hope that this proves to be the case.

Squad: Dave Howland, Gareth Webber, Chris Weatherley, Tom Nunn, Cameron Seagrove (MOTM), Jack Cox (2), Andy Burrows, Alex Pritchard (5), Ross Clark (5), Iain Curtis, Jamie Curtis, Luke Simpson, Ceri Ap-Bryn, Joseph Hurling (5), “Big Graham,” “Will,” “Rawlinson.”