Tonbridge Juddians 18 Lewes 13
Report from David Carver
You could hear the huge sigh of relief from TJ’s players and supporters as the final whistle went and a double celebration of England’s monumental victory over Australia and, on a lesser scale, TJ’s first victory of the season was launched.
For both sides this was an important game. Both teams had been widely tipped before the start of the season to do well and both were finding victories hard to come by with just one between them. This was the proverbial ‘four pointer’ but no one had anticipated it being played so soon in the season!
For TJs, Toby Carroll made a welcome return to the squad after injury and both Mark Howells and Nick Murphy returned at ‘7’and ‘12’ respectively after a week’s absence and what a difference they made. Murphy proved a real handful for the Lewes defence whenever he had the ball and Howells’ foraging and loose play ensured TJs could play off the front foot for long periods.
Lewes got the proceedings under way and TJs missed an early penalty that would have settled their nerves. Instead it was Lewes that took the lead on 16 minutes when poor defence allowed them a try that was not converted. Some two minutes later TJs opened their account when Mat Mitchell dropped a goal from 30 metres after Lewes had failed to clear their lines. 5-3 to Lewes.
TJs were dominating the territory whilst Lewes’s forwards were dominating the scrum as throughout the game, TJs lost some five of their own scrums. It was from such a scrum that Lewes won possession only for their backs to lose the all to an interception to TJs nippy winger, Burgess. He had two-thirds of the pitch to run and, in so doing, out-paced the Lewes full back to score under the posts. Buckley added the conversion and TJs lead of 10-5 was deserved. More was to come as TJs realised the game was well within their grasp and they stepped up the pace with Howells very much to the fore. Try number two came on 32 minutes with Howells getting the touch down and Lewes closed the first half with a penalty to give TJs a deserved 15-8 lead at the break.
The second half started very much as the first with Lewes getting the first score shortly after the re-start– a try to close the gap to15-13. And there the score stayed for another 25 minutes as play went from end to end. TJs pack remained under pressure in the scrum but as hard as Lewes tried to score they were kept at bay by TJ’s spirited defence. TJs had the last say as on 73 minutes, Buckley kicked a penalty and TJs played out the closing minutes without any trouble.
TJs performance was far more workmanlike and there were fewer errors in the passing. Again, the coaches will be able to build on the many positives from this game but TJs will want to continue to get the basics right and stabilise the pack to ensure that in future games they are at least certain of their own possession. Next week’s cup game against Folkestone at the Slade (kick off 3.00pm) will be another opportunity for the team to build their confidence and thereafter there are 2 more league games against opposition that have also made a slow start to their campaigns. If TJs can get through this period successfully then they will have gone some way towards restoring their damaged credibility.
Squad: Allen; Stephenson; Parrett; Underhill; Howell; Bartlett; Howell; Wagstaff; Deacon; Buckley; Ventin; Murphy; Cocks; Burgess; Mitchell; Carroll, Higgins and Beasley
