Bromley
With our usual slow start being a weakness, we were wary about our first game performance. However the team defied tradition and got in Bromley’s faces straight away. As usual the result was dependent on turnovers, and whilst scoring went with possession initially, the pressure from our organised and aggressive defence told, and the ball came our way. With Bromley starting with the ball we did well to turn round at half time 4-3 up, with tries from Alex, Aubrey, Cillian and Adam.

Our change of horses at half time saw Jacob, Ethan and Nathan come on, and they immediately made an impact with Jacob running in from the kick/pass off…he registered a couple more, and Jude and Ethan also crossed. Despite a strong come back from Bromley when the game was as good as won, we finished up ahead 9-6.

Dartfordians
Having drawn with Darts in the Kent Festival, we knew that this would be a tough game, and it proved to be so. Three handling errors saw the ball turned over in the first half, but the team were able to also pressure Darts with their now traditional aggressive defence and effective scrambling. We went in at the turn 3-2 up, with Ethan, Nathan and Jacob scoring.

Darts matched us in the second half, with their blond speedster getting on the score sheet a couple of times through Alex and Adam. A honourable draw ensued, 5-5, despite the game being rather scrappy, and us conceding tries from free passes due to a couple of air grabs…

Beccehamians
Beccs were next up, and we expected another tough game, and we weren’t disappointed. Scoring went with possession in the first half – again we missed the first up tag a couple of times, leading to easy scores, but this was made up by tries from Alex, Aubrey, Jacob and Ethan, most from excellent support play and awareness. It was a fairly error free half, and we turned round at 4-4.

Knowing a win was crucial to have a chance of topping the group, we needed to force turnovers as Beccs were starting with the ball. The boys did this with aplomb, with Ethan and Caleb leading the defensive line. Tries rained in from Adam (2), Jacob and Nathan, and Caleb registered his now traditional inception, storming in from our own half. Beccs fought bravely but were only able to cross for 3 scores. Considering we started without the ball, it was a fine effort to win the half 5-3.

Blackheath
Knowing that a good win would see us top the group, George fired the team up before the kick-off and it worked a treat. All the hard work put in this season culminated in a fantastic performance, as the defensive organisation, passing and support was top drawer. Despite Blackheath towering over our team, we kept at them and turned the ball over on several occasion, including a 7 tag T/O which was a satisfying as a length of the pitch try.

Jude regularly challenged the defensive line, and scored himself, and as usual Alex (2) just needed a sniff of space to outpace any defence. Cillian also showed great awareness and nimbleosity™ to score through heavy traffic. Leading 4-2 at half time, and starting with possession in the second half, the team was in a great position.

Blackheath certainly perked up in the 2nd half, and demonstrated some great play themselves to score 3 tries, but another score from Jude, and one each from subs Ethan, Nathan and Jacob, saw us win the game 8-5, which was enough to top the group and win the trophy.

Cranbrook
Our last game was a play-off against Cranbrook, which some of the team decided was a “fun game.” Not sure what that means but it would have been more fun if we had won.

It was a topsy-turvy scrappy affair really. Cranbrook were excellent in defence and had some great attacking runners, a proved an excellent challenge. Despite tries from Caleb and Alex (2) we went into half time 3-4 down.

The team struggled to adapt to the ref, and there were a couple of marginal calls that didn’t go our way, including another interception “try” from Caleb. However they rose above it in the second half, and did a great job to get to 6-7 with a play to go. The equalising try came from a fantastic scything run through broken play from Nathan, to add to scores from Ethan, Adam and Jacob.

A small note of controversy as the ref made the score 8-7 to Cranes, but all the coaches independently had it as 7-7 so we’ll stick with that!

All in all it was a great day, and ended with another trophy for the Cabinet, to add to those won at OEs, The New Year’s Cup, and Colfeians .

P 5
W 3
D2
L 0
F 38
A 30

Try scorers:
Jacob 8
Alex 7
Adam 5
Ethan 5
Nathan 4
Jude 3
Aubrey 2
Caleb 2
Cillian 2