Tonbridge Juddians 11 Old Elthamians 24
Report from David Carver
TJs have not found their form so far this season although each week has shown an improvement whilst O Elthamians(OE) had a large win the previous week demonstrating that they know their way to the try line. TJs had several changes to their starting XV with key players Toby Carroll and Jonny Farmer both side-lined through injury. Mark Higgins made his debut as a hooker, Ed Bartlett and Murphy were back to bolster the line-out and mid-field respectively and TJ’s fielded Alex Carver for the last time before his move to Australia.
Recent matches between these two teams have been fairly dour affairs but the fine warm conditions gave both teams the opportunity of playing open rugby. TJs started the game going and within the first two minutes had conceded 2 penalties one of which was converted to give the visitors an early 3 point lead. OE was dominating the early exchanges and were testing TJs defence. Chris McNamara tackled well for TJs and eventually the home side cleared their lines and found themselves in an attacking position. Alas, on two occasions, penalties were awarded to TJs and the ensuing ‘kick to the corner’ saw OE’s steal TJ’s possession and after 20 minutes OE’s got back into TJs ‘22’ and a slick passing move saw them score the first converted try of the game and take a 10-0 lead.
Seven minutes later TJ’s opened their account after pressuring the OE try line when Matt Mitchell charged down a clearance kick and with the help of Carver secured a touchdown that Ventin was unable to convert. 10-5 to OE and as half-time approached OE were reduced to 14 men as their prop was yellow carded for foul play and Ventin kicked a penalty goal to make the score 10-8 at the break.
Both sides had everything to play for in the second half and TJ’s pack that had had a torrid time the previous week in the scrums, was starting to dominate their opponents and in loose play the TJ’s back row of Wagstaff, Howells and Carver had ensured a more than ample share of the spoils. TJ’s had played some good rugby but at critical stages the pass was either dropped or went astray – some thing that has dogged their play so far this season.
A surge up field by Carver got TJs into an attacking position straight from the restart and another penalty from Ventin after 44 minutes put TJs in the lead (11-10) and deservedly so. Once OE were restored to 15 men they started to get back into the game and on 53 minutes scored their second try which was converted. As much as TJs tried, particularly Howells, they could not breach the OE defence and with play now moving from end to end and tiredness creeping in, OE scored a third converted try from the last move of the match to give them a 24-11 victory.
TJs can take a lot of positives out of this game but they will have been both frustrated and disappointed that when they dominated the game they were not able to put more points on the board – something they must do when they take on Deal/Betteshanger in an away match next week.
Squad: Allen; Higgins; Parrett; Underhill; Bartlett; Carver; Howell; Wagstaff; Mitchell; Ventin; Burgess; McNamara; Murphy; Cocks; Shoebridge; Connely, Williams and Howell.
