Tonbridge Juddians 5 Lordswood 38
Report from Geoff Pettitt
TJ’s worrying run of defeats continued on Saturday at the hands of Lordswood.
And the attempt to halt that string of losses could not have had a worse beginning for less than three minutes into the match Lordswood were awarded a penalty in front of the posts which fly half Caise duly converted.
Lordswood looked the sharper side from the start and produced a menacing driving maul early on to show TJs just a little of what was to come. It was some time before TJs, gradually coming to terms with the physicality of the match, strung together a good attack by running straight and quickly recycling the rucked ball. It was as a result of such a move that they scored their first try in three matches when Ravilious, with no little help from his team-mates, was driven over the line in the right hand corner. The conversion from the touch line was unsuccessful but now at least TJs had taken the lead – also for the first time in three matches – at 5 points to 3.
Was this the breakthrough that the team was searching for, the longed-for event that signalled a change in fortunes and re-established a measure of self-belief?
The answer to this question was not long in coming and it was not the one that TJs and their supporters wanted to witness. Lordswood won a scrum, attacked and opened a yawning gap in the midfield which allowed their powerful No 5 Evans an almost free run through to the goal. The conversion was successful. The score now stood at 5 – 10 and TJ’s lead had lasted just three minutes.
The rest of the half was a fairly even contest. Lordswood, often probing down the blind side, looked the more likely to score. TJs adopted a safe and limited tactical game by tackling and covering well enough with the occasional promising dart at the Lordswood defence.
It was therefore a disappointment when a penalty for handling on the ground gave Lordswood a further three points just minutes before the half-time break. TJ’s winger Burgess went close to reducing the arrears but was unable to hold onto the ball in the tackle and at the end of the first half the score stood at TJs 5 Lordswood 13.
This was not an irretrievable position. If TJs could eliminate their errors, find safe touches and exploit successfully the potential chinks in Lordswood’s defence there seemed every possibility, at least in the minds of the ever-optimistic TJs, that a much-needed win could be achieved.
It was soon clear that this was unlikely to happen. TJ’s Pemble was yellow carded for a “cynical” offside thereby reducing the number of TJ’s defenders to 14 – an entirely undesirable situation when under constant attack. And it was not long before Lordswood struck. TJs won a scrum in front of their own posts but the pass from the base went awry for the ball to fall and then lie invitingly under the posts and just over the goal line. Lordswood’s wing forward was the first to reach it and touch it down. The conversion by Caise was a formality and it put TJs 5 – 20 behind.
Worse was to come within the next ten minutes. Lordswood added a penalty and a try for scrum half Jones to take their tally to 28.
TJs, now well behind, ran the ball from the several penalties that they were awarded and although new centre Dawson and fly-half Ravilious were able to make initial inroads the passing and catching was rushed and frantic and just not good enough to produce a score.
The final ten minutes produced two more unconverted tries for the visitors. Scrum-half Jones broke once more down the blind side for winger Blackmann to beat off a number of attempted tackles to score a very good try in the right hand corner and fly half Caise added to his personal total when he touched down to put the final score on the board.
Lordswood are a powerful side and on Saturday they played with determination and pace to score a convincing and deserved win. But they also played with self-confidence and direction. In contrast TJs collectively, seemed to lack both of these assets and in their anxiety to do something positive with the ball their basic skills and decision-making, frequently under intense pressure from an energetic opponent, let them down.
There is, of course, always reason for hope and there is much of the season still to run. The best medicine for TJ’s present malaise would be a couple of hefty victories and with them, a change of fortune. They will come.
Tonbridge Juddians: Pemble; Burgess, Buckley, Dawson, Connolly (Wesley 55); Ravilious, Mitchell; Carlton, Wallace (Stevenson 50), Allen, Bartlett, Underhill (Howell Mark One 60), Wagstaff, Phillips, Ure.
Next Saturday TJs travel to Eastbourne, currently at the very bottom of the table. This is TJ’s opportunity to start the long trip out of the doldrums. Kick-off is at 2.30 pm.
