Romford and Gidea Park 12 Sevenoaks 35
For Oaks the phoney war of pre season came to a close last Saturday with a fourth consecutive victory. Having been given a bye in the first round of the Intermediate Cup, Oaks travelled to Essex to tackle old friends and foes, Romford and Gidea Park. Oaks rested a number of key starters for this encounter and blooded a brace of Academy players in the form of Smith and Roberts, who both performed exceptionally well on the day. In the case of Smith, this was his first run out for the seniors at any level.
Oaks took control of this fixture early on with half backs Shirtcliff and Winter pulling the strings, driving their pack on and never really let go. Two scores from flanker Desmith in the first of three thirty minute stanza’s were scant reward for the visitors supremacy. Oaks were that bit quicker than the home team in thought and deed and pressured them into numerous handling errors. The second period saw the introduction of the young Academy tyro’s and Smith promptly came up with the next score, the first of a brace for him on the day, to take Oaks lead out to 21-0. The match was effectively finished as a contest when Oaks swept the length of the paddock and Winter dotted down under the sticks.
The final session saw Oaks concede two tries whilst adding the second of Smiths brace to their own tally. Winter had a perfect kicking day from the tee and out of hand regularly pinning the Romford defence back into their own 22. Coach Vaughan was pleased with the day commenting ‘ This was another solid work out for us with the youngsters playing well, our set piece and kicking game were both excellent. However, the biggest boon for me was our fitness levels, we looked physically sharp, ninety minutes today for such a small match day squad is money in the bank for later in the season’.
Squad: Charlie Naismith, Scott Sedgwick, Connor Browne, Dan Power, Stuart Coleman, Kelly Anderson, Ollie Robinson, Will Desmith, Tom Swallow, Gregor Roberts, Connor Smith, Ollie Shirtcliff, Isaac Winter, Robbie Unwin, Simon Tree, Harry Rugg, Matt Dodd and Ben Hoekstra