Tonbridge Juddians 0 Gravesend 12
Report from Geoff Pettitt
This was the second time this season that TJs have entertained Gravesend at The Slade. In early September they lost a close encounter in the league by 15 points to 20. It was a match that TJs could have won. Since then TJs have struggled to find form in the league and they languish at the bottom of the league. Gravesend on the other hand have moved into position at the top. Last Saturday’s match - in the second round of the EDF Intermediate Vase - it gave TJs an opportunity to turn the tables on their visitors and to continue the albeit mild improvement, which was hinted at last week at Eastbourne, in their current poor form this season.
They started the match with decidedly more vigour than of recent times and were in a strong position in the Gravesend 22 when the visitors pounced on a loose ball and broke out. With the aid of two forward passes and some good handling and support they ran the length of the field. The move was rounded off by their left wing who ran round to touch down under the posts. The fly-half added the two points for the conversion and, somewhat against the run of play, TJs found themselves seven points behind.
For a time this setback took the wind out of TJ's sails and at a very early stage in the match it looked very much as though it was going to be a very tough afternoon for them. With the home side looking a little dejected and on the back foot, Gravesend went very close to scoring a second try some seven minutes later and were only denied by some scrambled but effective covering from TJ's wing Connolly.
The visitors were not, however, to be denied for long. A prolonged attack led to a good threequarter’s try wide out in the right hand corner which went unconverted.
In recent games this situation might well have signalled the opening of the flood gates but with commendable resilience TJs began to take more control of the game. They were still making mistakes and they were still kicking the ball away when it may have been preferable to keep it in hand so that they could take it into contact and to recycle it. Very much on the plus side the forwards, gaining in strength and confidence, were also occasionally taking the ball off the Gravesend pack. With their equilibrium now restored TJs were able to ensure that there were no further scores against them in the first half. For their own part too Allen and Burgess combined well for TJs down the left side only for the winger to lose control of the ball in a last ditch tackle.
So at half-time and with the flood lights now taking effect TJs could look back on a half where they might consider themselves a little unlucky to be two scores down and pleased with the fact that they had come more and more into a very tight game. Optimistic as ever, the TJ faithful believed that a win for their team could well be just forty minutes away.
The half-time talk and refreshment seemed to do the trick. TJs came out of the blocks firing on all cylinders and determined to give Gravesend a hard time. They established a good attacking position following a penalty to the left hand corner and had a couple of promising charges at the visitors' defence.
It was at this stage, eight minutes into the second session, that TJ's Connolly, continuing to attack and cutting across the field, was badly injured in a tackle. The match was held up for all of 35 minutes while he was treated and the ambulance took him off to hospital with a suspected break and dislocation of the left ankle.
The disruption might well have broken the spirit and the will of the TJs team but for the remainder of the match TJs had the better of both possession and territory. They took two scrums against the head and stole the ball numerous times at the ruck and maul. All the forwards were magnificent with Carroll, Ure and Sharkey prominent in both attack and defence. It would have been their just reward if such efforts had brought a score. On one occasion a high tackle denied the TJ attacker when almost at the line a foul which merely resulted in a penalty kick instead perhaps of a penalty try.
TJs finished the match still on the attack and after repeated charges at the line they were only denied a try by being held up in goal. That elusive score just would not come.
Gravesend, for their part, found it very difficult in the second session firstly to progress out of their half and secondly to hang onto the ball when tackled. They did, however, in one rare sortie, nearly score a third try but, fortunately for TJs, they knocked on close to the line. Also, they did defend well against a rearranged TJ threequarter line which had plenty of ball to play with but which lacked the necessary penetration. Goldsworthy, playing in the centre, has made an impressive return to the first team and made a number of timely and telling tackles on his opponents together with the occasional swift break through the centre.
This was TJ's best performance this season by far. They were lively, determined and better organised than of late. But they continue to fail with some of the basics - passing and catching - and they still attempt that chip ahead which is so often disastrous when it is charged down and so rarely successful. On the whole their speed, their application and their spirit were good and surely it cannot be long before such a steady and encouraging improvement in their form and their morale will bring about the scores that currently escape them and the change in their fortunes that such a good overall performance merited.
Tonbridge Juddians 1st XV: Cheeseman; Burgess, Goldsworthy, Dawson, Connolly (Murphy 50); Mitchell, Piaseczny (Cocks 35); Stevenson, Wallace, Allen, Fitzpatrick, Sharkey, Carroll, Carlton, Ure.
Next Saturday, TJs return to league duty when they are at home at The Slade to Chichester, kick-off 2.30 pm. There will be every hope that the recent improvement in their spirit will produce a long-awaited win.
Update on Matt Connolly – Tuesday 20th November:
As well as dislocating his ankle, Matt broke his tibia in two places. He was admitted to hospital on Saturday and had an operation on Sunday to insert two pins and a plate. On Monday he was discharged and returned home. It is anticipated that he will be unable to walk unaided for three months.
We all wish Matt a speedy recovery…
