Saturday 17th October

Beccehamians v Anchorians (Kent League 1 match)

Everyone is entitled to an off day it just a shame that most of the Anchorians 1st fifteen decided to have theirs on Saturday’s match day at the Sparrow Den.

Going into this game second in the Kent 1 league and with a 100% winning record we went into the match with high expectations of another win. However no one gave Beccs a copy of the script and they came out very strongly applying a lot of pressure on the A’s try line almost as soon as they kicked off.  Handling errors from A’s allowed the home team to take advantage but a formidable defence kept them clear of the score line and generated a few turnover balls which got the A’s out of the danger zone and back into the normal position of being in the opposition half.  Putting rehearsed moves into play we expected good results but despite seeing positive effects on many occasions we were unable to convert them to points.  Despite this we kept up the attack and forced many errors by the home team.  A penalty against the home team just 30 metres from the posts was attempted by Richie Collins opted but early nerves got the better of him and the ball slipped just ½ metre wide of the right hand post.  From the drop out the home team piled back down the field again pushing toward the A’s line but once again they were held back by stirling defensive work by the entire team with fine tackles coming from Brett Little, “Mad” Mick McLorn, Ben Davison and Dave Hadris resulting in a turnover ball which was quickly popped back up the field with a fine long distance kick from Rob Small.  The ball, chased by winger Davison and his brother Adam was caught cleanly by the home team full back but he was quickly brought down by Ben Davison which resulted in him being caught alone and he was forced to hold onto the ball just a fraction too long and a penalty was awarded. This time Anch’s opted for a kick to touch and Anthony O’Brien found touch 5 metres from the try line.  However, the ref decided that the ball was not straight from the line out throw and awarded a scrum to the home team.  Despite plenty of pressure forcing the scrummage backward they managed to squeeze the ball out of the back and clear with a smart kick which found touch on the half way line.  This time the line out went A’s way and Small took the ball from George Webb of the top of the line out; passing out to O’Brien quick ground was made bringing the ball to within drop goal distance by fly half Ryan Dowling but the snap kick missed the posts and went dead.  Again, Beccs returned the ball into the A’s half with a high long distance kick which was caught by Little but a fast moving winger was quickly on him and Little was forced to ground and resulted in a penalty to the home team for holding on.  A’s defence had to work hard to keep the home team at bay and quick work by Andy Pritchard, Collins and Small restored the ball to where we wanted it; in their half.  A scum awarded to Beccs was driven backward and the ball was won by A’s.  Adam “George” Webb appeared from the back, ball in hand and charged into the defensive pack quickly popping the ball back Dowling who passed to Collins who took the ball on at pace with an excellent hand-off against the home team inside centre leaving him chewing dust before he was finally bought down just metres from the line. A ruck was formed and Small lifted the ball out to O’Brien who quickly passed it to Skipper Adam Davison who charged into the line with three tacklers swinging off his shoulders.  Inevitably he was bought down and stretched for the line hoping to touch the ball down but missed the line by just inches.  The ref blew for a scrum to the home team for a knock on.  This was gratefully received by the home team who kicked the ball to touch in the centre of the pitch.  Once again A’s line out missed the trick and the ref blew up for another scrummage following the throw saying that it was not straight.  The scrummage went to the opposition and using their knowledge of the pitch to great advantage they piled toward the try line.  A tussle ensued and two players were “binned” for fighting; one from each.  With fourteen men each the advantage remained even but Beccs came out pushing the ball wide and spotting a gap chipped the ball into the corner where their winger caught the ball to pop it down for an easy unconverted try.

A’s kicked off for the second half with the ball being cleanly taken by the home team but Wayne English was flying in and piled into the player causing him to drop the ball which was tided up by O’Brien who passed the ball to Pat Richardson.  Richardson, at pace is a difficult man to stop and with the fighting attitude of a Scottie Dog he forced his way forward through at least four tackles before popping the ball back to O’Brien who chipped forward.  The ball was caught by the home team winger who was quickly tackled by Adam Davison, Little tidied up the loose ball before being tackled himself and forced into touch by Beccs defence.  The line out was won by Webb who passed the ball to English, Collins and Dowling before turnover ball resulted in the ball flying into A’s half once again with an excellent clearance kick by Beccs.  Caught by O’Brien a return kick was caught by the Beccs full back but Hadris and Davison smashed into him forcing him to ground on the half way line.  The scrum that followed was won by Beccs and a grubber kick from their centre was caught by Small and the ball was fed back to O’Brien and Davison who charged into the attacking team before finally being bought down 22 metres from the Beccs try line.  A turnover ball resulted in Beccs spotting a huge gap in the field and running a try in from their own 22 metre line to place the ball beneath the posts for an easy conversion.  Now 12-0 down A’s were desperate to get a score. From the re-start A’s showed what they are made of with Richardson being prevalent on almost all attacking moves.  Making his presence felt he charged into the defence continually, forcing the ball to move inexorably toward the try line.  The pressure on the line lead to penalty after penalty being awarded to A’s but they kept getting held up by illegal moves by the home team.  Despite this the match official decided that a penalty try was not in the offing and continued to restart 5-meters from the line.  After 5-penalties in succession the A’s pressure finally paid off with Dave Hadris picking the ball up and supported by winger Davison dived over to score a try which was unconverted.  Beccs came back into attack and chased the ball from the restart.  The ball was bought to ground by English and “Mad Mick” before a chip over resulted in a very dubious try to Beccs with the ball being cleanly caught by the a flanker who appeared to be well out of position.  However the score was awarded and the match ended at 17-5.  A disappointing result for a team who were up for the match and with another tough match next week at home against league leaders Guys and St Thomas’s Hospital will be even tougher going in after a defeat this week.

Anchorians Man of Match was Pat Richardson for his drive and enthusiasm both in the scrum and on the attack.

Head Coach Alex Brown said “17-5.  What can I say; our finish was very strong.  However; throughout the game we executed some things very strongly and some things very poorly.  Play any team in this league and if you don’t execute correctly them you are not going to win.  There was a fair bit of grunt by the team throughout but the execution was poor and we have lots of things to work on.”

Next week’s game Saturday 24th October at against Guys and St Thomas’s Hospital at Darland Avenue