Thanet U13s vs Folkestone U13s

On probably one of the hottest days of the year Folkestone showed that they can play a wide running strategy to win games when the points go against us. From the start the pack showed domination with Chin Connor and Louis winning the battle of the front rows.

The performance in the set pieces paid dividends when a line out was won against the throw and the ball travelled through hands for Louis to run a terrific distance to be tackled by two Thanet players, he shrugged these off and without support continued driving for the line taking two opponents with him to score Folkestone first points. Louis had not helped with the angle, and the conversion was just missed by Josh.

Thanet answered by using their wings to great effect running through in the end of the first half to score two very good tries, both converted ; Thanet 14 Folkestone 5.

In an unfamiliar role Isaac, was solid at full back, he kept his head under pressure, and showed good skill. Hobbsy dropping back to support, and Lewis chasing back as well, we defended well up to the halftime break.

The second half saw Folkestone steeled by a robust half time talk amongst themselves, and again the scrum worked superbly well with Folkestone dominating, Bradley and Luke Thorpe superb in the loose as well, confounding any Thanet plays. Flankers are only a recent addition this year and Luke McAdam, and Teds Morris enjoyed the roaming freedom this gave them to make a nuisance of themselves. Ali Sutton came on to add fresh power to the scrum and was solid throughout, ripping ball contesting everything. Dan Croker was clearly shadow- playing every flanker contact from the sideline, having twisted an ankle ruling himself out of the squad on the day, but still travelling to Thanet to support his team mates.

The number 8 ball is something we can rely on making good yards for us when the time is right and after the coaches calling the play Charlie Stratford picked up and ran like the wind on two separate occasions, but as it can be quite a challenge for his support to keep up he was tackled close to the line on both occasions, a third attempt after some superb passing of the ball from Josh, max and then to Charlie saw him run half the pitch, use his strength to break tackles and score an excellent try. Josh converted; Thanet 14 Folkestone.12

Folkestone’s mauling stepped up a gear and huge yards were won as we marched up the pitch, with moves that we had emphasised in training in previous weeks with two forwards peeling off the maul together showing we were unstoppable in the middle of the pitch. Billi showed his versatility by playing alternately wing and centre to add some weight where required.

Thanet seemed to sense the tight handling and dominance of the scrum was turning the tide and quickly the next try followed again by Louis, with great support by Jack Lewis and Charlie Hewitt. Thanet 14 Folkestone 19 after a superb kick by Josh Palmer ( Johnny Wilkinson your replacement has been found).

Hobbsy and James had worked very hard on the wings and had not shied away from some excellent defence and attacking, and both really deserved a rest when Zac and Harry, added their effort to the backs.

Harry demonstrated superb running and ripped the Thanet defences to pieces, this was due to excellent running and passing from Josh, Luke, Charlie and Harry, with his pace making him unstoppable Harry scored a great try. Josh again had a tough angle on the kick and we went ahead without the conversion Thanet 14 Folkestone 24.

Man of the match was Max Howitt scrum half who connected the forwards and backs well and commanded the lines to make our set plays effective

Squad: Allchin, Leather, Santer, Amey, Morris Stratford Thorpe McAdam, Howitt, Palmer, Hobbs, Williams Wren Bolton Sutton Nixon, Hewitt, Lewis, Sadler