Sevenoaks 30 Cobham 13
Last Saturday saw Oaks welcome London South West table toppers Cobham to Knole Paddock for the latest round of the Intermediate Cup. The Surrey side look locks for automatic promotion in the league but should they trip up over the final few weeks of the season this game could be viewed as a dress rehearsal for the league play off at the end of April.
Oaks played with the conditions in the first half and the game took off at a frenetic pace with both sides looked to use the ball and explore all four corners of the Paddock. As the half progressed Oaks gradually built their lead, a try from Vaihu and two penalties and a conversion from outside half Winter saw Oaks take a 13-0 lead before Cobham struck back with a try to make the HT score 13-5 to the home side. Oaks were by now down to fourteen for ten minutes as Thorpe had to spend ten minutes on the naughty step for some injudicious use of the shoe, as a Cobham defender booked in for bed and breakfast on the wrong side of the ruck.
With the visitors now playing with the wind at their backs the burning question was did Oaks have enough of a lead to see them into the next round? The home faithful needn’t have troubled themselves as Oaks concussive defence took control of proceedings. Oaks also chose to keep the ball in hand wherever possible and registered two more tries through Saunders and Dodd to open up a seemingly comfortable 25-8 lead. Both sides exchanged one more try apiece before the final whistle, with the Oaks effort coming from substitute winger Adams, to make the final score 30-13 for the ‘Kentish Men’.
After the match coach Vaughan commented ‘That was a great game of rugbyto which both sides contributed greatly. Our defence was excellent and I thought we had a little bit of our snap back behind the scrum this week. The Simmons brothers, one making his first start and the other making his senior debut for the club, were outstanding and will be in time the bedrock of our pack for years to come. We wish Cobham well as they are a tremendous side who we will hopefully see again in London 1 next season. They are almost there and we now need to refocus on league matters to try and join them. We have had a tough run of late with bumps and bruises but again today the players who have come into the team have done a great job, selection for next Saturday will be tough’
Team
1 Simmons J
2 Vizard
3 Power
4 Anderson
5 Coleman
6 Thorpe
7 Baldock
8 Robinson
9 Streather
10 Winter
11 Saunders
12 Vaihu
13 Unwin
14 Dodd
15 Bates
16 Simmons T
17 Richardson
18Sedgwick
19 Adams