Men’s 1st XV v Sevenoaks 06/02/2010

Away – London 2 South East

Report by Andy Ward

Won 20-13

After a couple of chauffeur errors by Geoff “Sat Nav” Pollard we finally made it to the Oak Tree pub and had some tucker and a pint before heading to the ground – just in time to see referee Hague emerging from the changing rooms and to exchange some banter and then to find out just how boggy the ground was.

We made our way to the first team pitch and there was a lot of sand that had been spread – presumably to cover the worst of the mud.

A quick examination of the personnel made me think of some strange choices outside of the pack and others I spoke with were equally quizzical. An England U16 scrum half – at centre, a centre on the wing, a wing on the bench and the two’s scrum half promoted. Anyway, referee Hague – not caring about our consternation – consulted his horological artefact and being satisfied with the information imparted by said chronometer blew his whistle and invited the hosts to commence proceedings by kicking off.

Hove were easily the better starters of the teams and had early pressure and their first attempt was held up. Seconds later, the try was awarded after good work by all and particularly centre cum wing Sean Taylor who popped the ball down. The conversion was not to be and Sevenoaks restarted the game.

Sevenoaks were awarded – and missed a penalty in the 10th minute and the ball was back with Hove for Adam to kick off. This he did and Liam positioned himself well for the take, only to let himself down by proffering what could only be described as a “girly tap” which had as much success in getting the ball as Stotty had when he applied for that job with the Diplomatic Corp.

So, Sevenoaks were with the ball but they lost it and Adam speculated with an attempt at a goal but it didn’t threaten the posts or the scorer or my note taking!

Ben then went over for a try after Glenn had won the ball at the back of a line out. A decent run forward and an offload to Ryan in the tackle saw the ball move outwards and then from Ryan to Sean before finally to Ben for the score. The extra two were missed by Ben and Hove were 13-3 to the good. A bit of breathing space? Sadly not!

Sevenoaks were now getting their act together and doing some good work with their 14 being a constant threat. In the 35th minute, they scored a try and converted that to take the score to 13-10. Hove countered and had good possession going forward when Adam again tried a drop goal. This was not really the best decision at the time as we had possession, territory and numbers.

So, half time and a slender 13-10 advantage to the visitors. A quick visit to the facilities and a half time pint saw us return to witness Adam kicking off for the second half. I have in my notes a missed penalty – but I don’t recall it. It must be an age thing! Ryan then had to go off as he was getting muscle pains – probably connected with his recent lay off and the half time stoppage. On came Seb – good to see him back and the shuffle of personnel saw him back to his customary wing position and the couple of bursts he had caused Sevenoaks to be thankful that he didn’t have open space in front of him.

Sevenoaks scored a penalty to level the scores and Ben then missed one for Hove. Things were very even at this point. Then – calamity for Sevenoaks and get out of jail for Hove as Tom intercepted a pass and then raced unchallenged for the line and scored a good try – converted by Ben for a 20-13 lead. As this was occurring, Stoffel had to call the air ambulance and put the hospital on standby as he discovered a blister on his foot and so left the pitch to be airlifted away allowing Jack to come on.

Hove were now in ascendency and the forwards set up a good maul only for this to be wasted too early by the ball being thrown to the backs. Up the jumper and get as close to their line as you can, wait for them to pull it don – they will – and then from the penalty take the 5m scrum and push over. Someone not read that bit in the book then?As a bit of an aside, when we had such forward ascendency, I was amazed that we kept on trying to play if through the backs – without great success. We won possibly every scrum and 90% of the line outs. Instead of kicking indiscriminately – why not kick for touch and let the forwards win it back in the line and set up a catch and drive and maul it on? Just a thought guys!

Just before the final whistle, Watty went over for a try which was disallowed. We are still trying to figure out why. The referee had signalled advantage to Hove but didn’t blow until Watty was actually over their line. Now – that is what I call advantage….Ah well, it mattered not on the day and let’s hope it doesn’t when the final tallies are taken. Hove stay second and have the trip to Judds next week. The target is still the same. Win every game and I see no reason to change that just because they are thus far unbeaten. Everyone loses sometime.

Man of the match? Sean. A good all round display and a try.