Sevenoaks 20 Tunbridge Wells 40
Oaks welcomed league champions elect, TWRFC to the Paddock last Saturday for their latest encounter in London SE2. The earlier fixture this season at St Marks was a tense edgy affair that could have gone either way, however, Wells were strong favourites to pick up the win in the return fixture.
With eyes firmly fixed on their promotion play off on April 30th, Oaks Coach Vaughan rang the changes and named six players aged 20 or under in the squad. Oaks needed to keep the contest tight for as long as possible in the hope of taking something from the game and as the sides turned round with Wells leading by 12-6, the home faithful still had hope of taking points from the game. However, a strong second half from the visitors saw them hit full stride and stretch away for a comfortable 40-20 win, scoring several long range tries. Oaks' only consolation on the day came in the form of tries from Vaihu and a particularly popular score by the tireless flanker Sedgwick.
After the match Coach Vaughan commented ‘Wells are an excellent side and worthy league champions. They have strengthened their squad well as the season has progressed. For us, the game today was a bit of a distraction as we are really focussed on the three game ‘mini season’ we have between now and the end of April. Whilst we are definitely in the play game on the 30th we need a couple more wins to secure home field advantage against in all probability London Cornish. A lot of the younger guys will have learnt much from the experience today and this will stand us in good stead for the coming weeks. Hopefully, with a couple of weeks rest, we can get a few players back for the Colfes game on the 16th April and start to build up some momentum towards that all important promotion fixture.’
Team
1 Naismith
2 Vizard
3 Power
4 Thorpe
5 Anderson
6 Naismith T
7 Sedgwick
8 Robinson
9 Shirtcliff
10 Winter
11 Barry
12 Vaihu
13 Tree
14 Adams
15 Bates
16 McKerlie
17 Aspinall
18 Baldock