Oaks pass stern test at Horsham

Horsham 19 Sevenoaks 25

Saturday saw Oaks face their sternest test of the season to date as they made the trip down the M23 to visit third placed side Horsham.  The Sussex side had won four of their first five matches and were confident of causing an upset against  the unbeaten boys from Knole Paddock.

Oaks, having lost the coin toss, had to play the first half into driving rain that had washed away the pitch markings and a howling gale that blew diagonally across the pitch. The early stages saw both sides try and play some rugby but somewhat surprisingly the home side didn’t put boot to ball and try and pin Oaks back into their twenty two. Oaks, having registered eighty five points in their last outing, were comfortable with ball in hand but also judiciously used the boot to nudge the ball behind the Horsham back three. After pressurising the home line Oaks took the lead with a penalty from outside half Winter and it looked as though they would hold that narrow lead at the turn. However, two excellent tries, one from each team arrived in quick succession. Horsham opened the try scoring with a fluid move and then Oaks winger Saunders, continuing his recent good form,  touched down after a solo effort from inside his own half, leaving Oaks with a 10-7 lead at the half.

The second half was played in much calmer conditions and allowed both sides to express themselves more. Oaks kicked an early penalty to take their lead to six points and spurned a couple of chances to take control of the game. However, the home side had different ideas and in the space of five minutes midway through the second half, registered two quick fire long range scores to make the score 19-13 to Horsham. With just over ten minutes to preserve their unbeaten record Oaks had to dig deep into their reserves of self belief to take anything from the game. Skipper Robinson's men showed how far they have come over the past couple of years by notching two tries through the ever reliable fullback Streather who scored out wide and fly half Winter who dotted down besides the posts. Winter added the extras to his own try to make the full time score 19-25 to the visitors.  

Coach Vaughan commented ‘For me, bearing in mind the conditions I thought both teams played well and showed a great deal of ambition on a day when it would have been easier to put it up the jumper. Whilst it was a shame not to pick up a bonus point we are pleased with the win which I am sure, by the end of the season, will prove to be a really valuable one. We now move on to two further tough games this month starting with Deal at home on Saturday’.

Squad

1 Naismith

2 Richardson

3 Power

4 Anderson

5 Coleman

6 Thorpe

7 Swallow

8 Robinson

9 Shirtcliff

10 Winter

11 Dodd

12 Vaihu

13 Unwin

14 Saunders

15 Streather

16 Sedgwick

17 Martyr

18 Bates

Oaks thump Ashford at the Paddock

Sevenoaks 85 Ashford 10

Oaks continued their unbeaten start to the season and  retained the league leadership with a convincing win over Ashford at the Paddock last Saturday.  Oaks registered thirteen tries in all and outside half Winter secured a personal haul of 30 points.

Oaks took an early lead through centre Vaihu and the result was never in doubt after a quick fire brace from prop Walker and veteran number 8 Robinson. The all important bonus point try from Winter came after thirty minutes and Oaks added another on the stroke of half time from Tree.  Oaks lack of precision at times in the first half coupled with some brave Ashford defence meant that the score at the break was 36-3.

The team talk at the turn was all about keeping the ball, going through the phases and playing the pattern. The extra patience paid dividends with eight further tries from Vaihu, Winter, Dodd, Unwin, Streather, Robinson, Swallow and Naismith. Winter kicked 10 from 13 on the day.

After the match 1st XV Manager Jon Muchmore commented ‘We are obviously pleased with the result on the day. I am also delighted for the new players who started today. I thought Richardson had a great debut at hooker. He has been playing really well in the 2nds and deserved his chance, despite his very questionable haircut. It was also great to see youngsters Sedgwick and Walker make their first starts after good efforts from the bench over recent weeks. The squad has been really stretched over the first few weeks of the season and the more people we can get playing at the requisite level the better.  We know there will be tougher days ahead over a tricky November period that sees us travel to Horsham and Beckenham, whilst Deal are the visitors to the Paddock for our next home game on the 14thNovember. However, we welcome the challenge and the pressure that comes from being top of the table’.

1 Jack Walker

2 Fred Richardson

3 Dan Power

4 Will Thorpe

5 Stuart Coleman

6 Tom Swallow

7 Scott Sedgwick

8 Ollie Robinson

9 Ollie Shirtcliff

10 Isaac Winter

11 Simon Tree

12 Tino Vaihu

13 Robbie Unwin

14 Dom Saunders

15 Rob Streather

16 Kelly Anderson

17 Matt Dodd

18 Charlie Naismith

Oaks grind out win at Crowborough

Crowborough 0 Sevenoaks 21

Oaks recorded their fourth straight league victory last  Saturday to remain at the head of affairs in London SE2. Despite the Crows slow start to the season, largely due to a burgeoning injury list, Steel Cross is never an easy place to visit and wins there are always hard earned.  This encounter proved to be no different and was a stern test for a young Oaks team that was well led by stand in skipper Unwin.

Oaks registered the first points of the day through lock Coleman who rounded off an excellent backs move. With the home backs getting a little narrow in defence Oaks moved the ball down the line and put Tree away into space on the wing, his inside ball found the hard working second row in support and he galloped over the whitewash to dot down under the sticks.  Ten minutes later Oaks produced a carbon copy of the move and after Winter was held up just short of the line Saunders cut a lovely angle off the next phase to dot down between the posts. Winter added the extras in both cases to open up a 14-0 lead for the visitors. Despite a near miss from centre Vaihu, Oaks couldn’t add another score before the half time whistle.

The second half was a largely scrappy affair, lacking in shape and pattern. Crowborough pushed hard for long periods and deserved a score but a combination of stern Oaks defence and attacking handling errors kept the home team pointless.  Oaks finally finished off the game as a contest when another Oaks counter attack from lock Thorpe saw Winter register his second try of the day and make the score 21-0 to the boys from Knole Paddock.

After the match coach Bowman commented ‘We are obviously pleased to pick up another away win but a little annoyed with ourselves that we failed to register a bonus point try. We played too much rugby in the wrong areas of the pitch against a strong Crowborough team who, now they have got some of their first choice players back will be heading up the league in the near future. We now have two weeks off to hopefully mend some weary limbs before facing Ashford on the 24th.’

1 Naismith

2 Browne

3 Power

4 Thorpe

5 Coleman

6 Swallow

7 Desmith

8 Nay

9 Shirtcliff

10 Winter

11 Thomson

12 Vaihu

13 Unwin

14 Tree

15 Saunders

16 Sedgewick

17 Walker

18 Dodd