Tonbridge Juddians 5 Chichester 3
Report from Geoff Pettitt
THE IMPROVEMENT CONTINUES
TJs continued their steady improvement in form with a modest but very important win over Chichester at The Slade last Saturday. Before the match Chichester, experiencing something of a difficult season themselves, were lying in eighth position in the league with TJs occupying twelfth and last place.
It was not, however, a propitious start for the home side. Within the very first minute TJs conceded a kickable penalty for handling in the ruck. They sighed with relief when the attempt sailed wide. A setback so early in the match could well have undone all the good work of the last couple of weeks.
Chichester dominated early possession and territory and TJs were called upon to cover and tackle for all they were worth. It was almost 15 minutes before TJs managed to carry play into the Chichester half of the field and it was a telling incursion when it came. TJs produced one of the best three-quarter moves of this and several former seasons. Poor passing and catching have frequently been their downfall in recent matches but on this occasion the ball was swiftly and accurately passed from right to left of the field involving all the players in the back line. It was fly-half Ventin, looping round, who took the final pass, outflanked the defence and crossed the line in the left hand corner. The conversion kick from close to the touch line failed but significantly this score gave TJs the lead in a league match for the first time for five matches.
Despite this reverse, Chichester took up where they left off and kept TJs pinned back in their own half. They had a slice of bad luck when their player, already over the try line, dropped the ball and let TJs off the hook. The TJ's backs, in their turn, showed once more that they could combine together in fine move of deft inter-passing and slick off-loading. It is clear that as long as they can hold onto more of their passes, they will be a completely different side to the one which has disappointed so far this season.
TJs did have a further good opportunity to score when Chichester were penalised for a scrummage offence. The ball was kicked into touch in the corner creating a good attacking position but most unusually they failed to win their own line-out and Chichester were able to clear the ball upfield. The half concluded with an even spell of play in which Chichester missed an opportunity to close the gap and failed with a penalty awarded against TJs for entering the ruck at the side.
So half time arrived and TJs held a slight but deserved lead. There seemed to be every prospect that more tries and a win for the home side were in sight.
The penalty problem which characterised the first half for TJs continued into the second half. In fact it got worse to the growing dismay of both their players and supporters who felt that they were getting the worst of the referee’s decisions.
It was not long into the second period that Chichester, who as in the first half, were having the lion's share of possession and territory, were awarded a penalty which this time was converted by full back Cole. The penalty tally against TJs continued to mount but the next kick, attempted from the 10 metre, line fell short.
It was a long and nervous 30 minutes or so from the time that Chichester closed the score to 5 - 3 to the end of the match. Just one score for either side could either stretch TJ's fragile lead and confirm them as winners or snatch away from them the lead and that longed-for win.
Two Chichester players were separately yellow carded - one for a high tackle and the other for punching - so that for twenty minutes - half the second half - the visitors were down to fourteen men. But TJs did not take advantage of such a numerical superiority. For some reason they were not as incisive in the second half as they had been on a number of occasions during the first period. Their attacks were few and far between and they rarely spent long in Chichester's half of the field. They did nevertheless have one good opportunity to stretch their lead with a penalty kick at goal but it drifted wide.
The final five minutes of the game were highly nerve racking for the TJs. Chichester continued to have the better of the territory without ever really looking as though they would score a try against a solid TJ defence but they were awarded two kickable penalties either of which would have won the match for the visitors. Fortunately for TJs both of them failed to find the mark. There was great joy and relief for the home side when the second penalty missed, the ball was touched down over the line and the referee blew the whistle that signalled the end of the match.
This was not a complete performance by TJs by any means but it was pretty solid and they did hang on grimly to a very slender lead. The tackling was sound; the handling was much more secure than of late; their control was better because it was largely free of panic. What was very worrying, however, was the large number of penalties they conceded for all manner of offences several of them in very kickable locations. It was just as well that Chichester's two kickers both had bad days and between them they missed at least five attempts at goal. In contrast TJs missed just one attempt! On the whole TJs have improved over the last few years in the number of penalties that they concede. Saturday's match was a bit of a return to the bad old days and such a return could well have cost them the match and those much-needed league points. Certainly, many felt that some of the decisions were harsh and uneven but the trend must be rapidly eliminated if TJs are to turn round their fortunes and make something out of the remainder of the season.
Tonbridge Juddians 1stXV: Cheeseman; Burgess, Dawson, Wesley, Goldsworthy; Ventin, Mitchell; Stevenson, Wallace (Garner 60), Parrott, Carlton, Sharkey (Allen 65), Carroll, Howell, Ure.
Next Saturday 1st December 2007, TJs travel to Dover for their league fixture which kicks off at 2.15 pm. Dover, newcomers this season to London League Three South East, have so far performed very well. It will be interesting to see if TJ's improving form can cope successfully with a team near the top of the table.
