Sevenoaks 4th XV (the Gents) vs. Ashford 2XV

On Saturday 4th December, Sevenoaks 4XV (the Gents) welcomed Ashford 2XV to the Paddock. In recent weeks the Gents had a tough defeat to Cranbrook 2XV away (41 – 7) and a hard-fought win away against Medway 4XV (12 – 15), so were keen to repeat their winning ways under the Captaincy of Simon Seal. 

In good Rugby spirit Ashford travelled to play with just 12-Men, and three Gents swapped shirts and joined the opposition - Phil Woolacott, Paul Vickers and Ben Williams. But with insufficient front row, scrums would be uncontested, a welcome relief for veteran Gents’ Hooker Ben Martyr, donning his boots for the first-time post-Lock Down! 

The Gents lined up to receive the kick-off, facing into the wind on a fresh and clear but blustery winter afternoon. Without the strain of the scrum, the pack put their conserved energies to good use, chalking up a quartet of tries in the first half. Early tries following dynamic runs by No. 8 Dan Scott and Second-Row James Anderson (12 – 0).  

Michael Johnstone back for a visit as the Gents’ Scrumhalf marshalled the Team well, making sniping line breaks at every opportunity. Johnstone darting to the right of a ruck in Ashford’s ’22 but was cut down short of the try line. With a dented defensive line, Second-Row Pete Wilson collected the ball and touched down for an easy 5-points from 5-metres out (19 – 0).  

Following some bruising encounters with the Ashford Team, including their King of Carries – Phil Woolacott, the Gents lost three players to knee injuries. A sorry exit for James Vigis, having just returned from years’ away from the pitch, with Connor Kelly and Karl Floyd also hobbling off. Nonetheless, the Gents’ attacking ways continued with a phenomenal try scored by Prop Yas Shiraishi, unleashing his blistering pace from the Ashford 10-metre line down the left-wing and crashing over in the corner (26 – 0).  

Into the second-half, now with the wind in their favour, the Gents aimed to capitalise on the four-try haul. Dan Scott now in the Centres, Tom Rutter on at wing, with Paul Farrand, Luke Welton and Ben Bellew into the pack, and Jonny Recaldin pulling on an Ashford jersey. 

Early on, Barber brothers Jonny at Flyhalf and Al at Centre scored a try a piece. Jonny’s a nine to ten combo from the back of a 5-metre scrum; and Al taking a sweet pass from his brother and cutting a fine line through Ashford’s ’22 (38 – 0).  

Despite the game now gone from them, Ashford continued courageously with the Gents’ discipline dissolving – a yellow card to Prop Carl Eden for a high-tackle. The Gents failed to put any more points on the board, with Paul Farrand held up under the sticks, and Dan Scott and Simon Seal both losing control of the ball over the Ashford try line. 

A Man of the Match performance for James Anderson following some electric line breaks, and a trip away to play Canterbury 3XV next weekend.  

Sevenoaks Gents (IV) - 7 v Thanet Wanderers (II) - 25: Disappointment in a Downpour

On Saturday 2 October, the Sevenoaks Gents 4XV welcomed Thanet Wanderers 2XV to the Paddock. Off the back of a successful start to the Season with a win against TJs 3XV, the Gents were eager to get back into action. Equally, Thanet were looking for a repeat of their 88 - 14 rout against Deal & Betteshanger 2XV the previous weekend. The conditions dire, a blustery day with an afternoon-long deluge of rain, some would say "Perfect Rugby Weather".

James Anderson back as Skipper running out for his first League game of the Season, with three new players having their first starts for the Gents: Daryl Barr at Hooker; Graham Ristow at Blindside Flanker; and Adam Vickers at Openside Flanker. Adam a Sevenoaks Academy Player having his first Senior start and playing alongside his Dad, Paul Vickers.

The first half was hard fought, Sevenoaks defended well with some big tackles going in across the board. Gents' Right-Wing Luke Welton setting the bar with a thundering tackle to stop his opposite number dead in his tracks. Thanet taking an early three points, capitalising on the Gents ill-discipline at the breakdown 0 - 3. Amongst the melee, Thanet's hard running Back-Row took a nasty knock to the shoulder and retired from the pitch. However, the Gents made limited inroads into Thanet's 22 and were being out-muscled in the scrum.

The Gents were having better luck in the line-out with Adam Vickers jumping at 2 and disrupting much of Thanet's throw-in. Late in the half, an errant Thanet throw-in in the Gents' 22 came loose at the back of the lineout, knocked on by Thanet's fifth-man. The Gents failed to react thinking a scrum would be awarded. But alas, the referee had not seen the knock-on, and Thanet capitalised with a try. 0 - 8 at half-time.

The second half, like the weather, was a damp squib for the Gents. A highlight being Rob Thurnell coming out of retirement (having retired the previous week) to sure up the scrum! A second try for Thanet coming from a wayward cross-field kick into the hands of Thanet's Right-Wing who in space accelerated over the Gent's line (0 - 15). A third try coming from Thanet's Left-Wing intercepting a pass from Gents' Fly-Half Nick Couchman, who in his defence probably had blood in his eyes having just delivered a clattering tackle and splitting his nose open (0 - 20)!

Anderson delivered some hard words under the sticks, the game now gone but resolute that the Team would not go in without a score. And with those words ringing in their ears, a better 10 - minutes of Sevenoaks play ensued. Topped off with a big carry from Mickey Thurnell that drew in the Thanet Pack, enabling Gent's Outside-Centre Tim Golds to break down the middle of the pitch, linking up with replacement Fly-Half Mark Reay, who popped the ball off to his right, enabling Andy Driscoll to touch-down over Thanet's try-line (7 - 20).

Thanet had the last laugh with their demonic driving maul, which had been threatening a score all match, delivering a fourth try. The game finishing 7 - 25. Daryl Barr the Gents' Man of the Match, mischievous in the loose, great delivery in the Line-Out and first time gracing a Rugby Union field for eight years.

Oaks take the Bulls by the Horns - Sevenoaks 3XV (62) v Aylesford Bulls 2XV (30)

Oaks take the Bulls by the Horns - Sevenoaks 3XV (62) v Aylesford Bulls 2XV (30)

Try scorers: Jonty Wines (3), Matt Dodd (2), Alex Matthews, Stuart Hosienne, Oliver Boatwright-Smith, Alexi Hickin, Cormac Barry.

Conversions: Alexi Hickin (3), Will Chenery (5)

On a beautiful day at the Paddock, the 3s continued their push for the league title with a home game against Aylesford Bulls 2XV. Sitting in 2nd place in the league, one point behind Gravesend but with a game in hand, it was critical that Sevenoaks put in a strong performance and took maximum points from the fixture.

The tone of the match was set from the kick off by captain David Backhouse. His chase and hit on the Aylesford catcher forced a knock on and the first trip onto the pitch for the Aylesford physio. Following their captain’s lead the pack dominated the resulting scrum and a passage of play followed that saw Alex Matthews go over for Sevenoaks first try of the match. Sevenoaks scored two more in the following five minutes with both Hosienne and Jonty Wines crossing.

At around 25 minutes in, the Bulls side started to win more territory and possession with their scrum half in particular making things difficult for Sevenoaks. This period of pressure was rewarded with an excellent try from their winger, who ran in from his own half to touch down, and a penalty kick awarded against Sevenoaks for back chat.

Sevenoaks responded quickly with a second try from 17 year old academy player Jonty Wines and hooker Boatwright-Smith.

Half time score: Sevenoaks 31 - Aylesford 13

The second half saw Sevenoaks continue to dominate the game, but allow Aylesford to capitalise on mistakes. Matt Dodd was the first to touch down five minutes into the second half. This will followed by tries from Hickin, a hat trick making third from Jonty Wines, a second from Matt Dodd and the final sevenoaks try from Cormac Barry (a great snipe from the base).

The Bulls scored a second try on 75 minutes with another strong run from their winger, on top of another penalty awarded for Sevenoaks indiscipline.

A great win for Sevenoaks that keeps them in contention for finishing the season in the top spot. There with great performances across the team including Josh Burns, Matt Dodd and Cormac Barry. However, man of the match was shared between Alfie Savage and Jonty Wines. Both youngsters put in great performances.

Team

1. Josh Burns

2. Oliver Boatwright-Smith (Vice Captain)

3. Yasuyuki Shiraishi Miles

4. David Backhouse (Captain)

5. Rory Philpott

6. Alex Matthews

7. Alfie Savage

8. Matt Dodd (Vice Captain)

9. Andrew Driscoll

10. Alexi Hickin

11. Elliott Green

12. Jonty Wines

13. Will Dulley

14. Stuart Hosienne

15. Cormac Barry

16. David Melville Jones

17. Jonathan Recaldin

18. Will Chenery

19. Jamie Weaver

Warm Up

Kick Off

Lineout defence

Scrum, Axe, Short

Jonty Wines!

Restart, Scrum, Dulley, Try

Bulls Try

Dulley Hit & Turnover

Cormac's Snipe

Kicking & spills

Sevenoaks 3XV (78) v Thanet 2XV (29)

Oaks 3XV 12 Try Rout at the Paddock - Sevenoaks 3XV (78) v Thanet 2XV (29)

Try scorers: Drew Forester (2), James Upson (2), Will Dulley (2), Ben Aspinall (2), Mike Walton, Elliott Green, Alfie Savage, Yas Shiraishi-Miles

Conversions: Will Chenery (9)

A strong Sevenoaks 3XV took to the Paddock to take on Thanet 2XV with Club stalwart Matt Dodd at 8 and Alex Matthews and Ben Hoekstra returning for their first games this season.

The first half saw the Home team rack up five tries with each of Drew Forester and James Upson getting a brace and Elliott Green securing the fifth.

Whilst Oaks were dominant, Thanet kept up the pressure, kicked a penalty and scored a couple of tries, both coming through their hard running forwards.

Going into the second half, the bench came on with Will Dulley on for Hoekstra, Yas Shiraishi-Miles on for Pete Wilson and Alex Matthews for Stuart Hosienne.

The entertainment for the Oaks fans continued in the second half with some fantastic scores from the Sevenoaks boys. Big Ben Aspinall getting a brace and Man Mountain Mike Walton touching down.

Matt Dodd was a demon in attack and defence, making life difficult for the Thanet men.

Will Dulley made his mark in the second half, notching up two tries breaking through the Thanet line both times in the process.

Late tries came from Yas and Alfie Savage. Ben Aspinall intercepting a pass, and swinging the ball out to a limber Yas who strode in, scoring in the left wing. Alfie’s try saw him dissect the Thanet pack, getting loose and running the length of the Thanet 22 to touch down under the posts.

Despite the onslaught, Thanet scored a further two tries, one in the Oaks left wing and another forwards try through the middle.

The Third XV’s winning ways continue with them up to face Deal 2XV next weekend.

Sevenoaks Team

1. Josh Burns

2. Oliver Boatwright-Smith

3. Rory Innes (Captain)

4. Peter Wilson (Coach)

5. Mike Walton (Vice Captain)

6. Ben Aspinall

7. Alfie Savage

8. Matt Dodd

9. Cormac Barry

10. Will Chenery (Vice Captain)

11. Stuart Hosiene

12. James Upson

13. Ben Hoekstra

14. Elliot Green

15. Drew Forrester

16. Yas Shiraishi-Miles

17. William Dulley

18. Alex Matthews

Canterbury 3XV 14 - Sevenoaks 3XV 16

Try scorer: Will Dulley. Kicks: Will Chenery (1 x con & 3 x pen)

Oaks 3XV completed the long journey to face a similar opposition in Canterbury 3XV. Some late changes, saw 16 Sevenoaks’ men making the trip, with Dylan Angus kindly stepping up from the Gents.

Canterbury kicked off with the wind behind them, and were quick out of the blocks with a complement of youth and experience making life difficult for the Sevenoaks’ defensive line. This eventually crystallised in a Canterbury penalty, which they elected to kick for goal 3 - 0.

Oaks quickly responded and made their way into Canterbury’s 22, Will Chenery slotting a penalty 3-3.

The two packs, were fairly evenly matched with Oaks having a slight advantage in the scrummage. Scrum ball in the Canterbury 22 came out to the hands of scrum-half Andy Driscoll, and made its way to outside centre Will Dulley, who cut a hard running line and crashed over for a try - being decapitated in the process. The Canterbury player guilty of the high tackle being sent to the bin.

Dulley was okay and had a standout performance, making significant yardage on the ball and marshalling the backline’s defence with some monstrous hits.

Oaks failed to take material advantage of the extra man. A try-scoring opportunity went begging from a lineout maul. The Oaks’ pack getting very close from Dylan Angus’ precise lineout throw to jumping Jamie Weaver but with Dave Backhouse eventually being held up over the line. Canterbury kicking another penalty before half time 6 - 10.

James Upson came off with a strain at halftime, with David Melville-Jones coming on to the wing and Rob St Pierre to inside centre. St Pierre chasing down the restart ball and getting into the mix with Canterbury pack.

Oaks put some good pressure on Canterbury in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Yas Shiraishi-Miles barrelling through to get held up over the line in a melee of players. Canterbury’s discipline waned slightly giving Will Chenery a few opportunities to kick at goal, eventually kicking a penalty 6 - 13.

Canterbury then stepped up the tempo, scoring an unconverted try and kicking another penalty, edging into the lead 14 - 13. Despite some hard yards from the likes of Dulley and Harry Barber, Oaks failed to capitalise on their forward momentum.

In the closing minutes it looked like Oaks wouldn’t be able to get back into the game. But a crossing incident just outside the Canterbury 22 saw Oaks awarded a penalty in the final minute of the game. Chenery calmly stepping up to kick Oaks back into the lead 14 - 16, and to ultimately win the game.

A hard fought victory, which could have gone either way, and Oaks 3XV winning ways continue.

Sevenoaks Team

1. Ben Aspinall

2. Yas Shiraishi-Miles

3. Rory Innes (Captain)

4. Peter Wilson (Coach)

5. David Backhouse (Vice Captain)

6. Dylan Angus

7. Jamie Weaver

8. Rory Philpott

9. Andrew Driscoll

10. Will Chenery

11. Robert St Pierre

12. James Upson

13. William Dulley (Vice Captain)

14. Elliot Green

15. Harry Barber

16. David Melville-Jones

Sevenoaks Rugby 3rd XV 29 Cliffe 1st XV 24

The men of Sevenoaks mightys 3's took to the hallowed ground of the Paddock on Saturday, riding high on a winning streak that saw 6 wins from 6 matches and feeling confident. Traditionally when an opposition turns up with tackle bags to warm up with, it shows a level of determination; Cliffe RFC turned up with tackle pads and a fan base so Sevenoaks knew they were in for a hard match. From the first whistle, Cliffe came out of the blocks with all guns blazing and set the tone for what would be a very physical first half.  With a powerful pack, they started to take the yards from Oaks who still hadn't woken up yet.  Sevenoaks paid for this with an early try being scored by the visiting side, profiting from loose ball in Sevenoaks' 22 and ending up beneath the sticks as a result. Sevenoaks answered with a flurry of big carries from Oaks legends, Sammy Miles, James Garcia and  'double Kent cup winner' Malcolm (if you haven't heard about his Kent cup wins then he would be delighted to fill you in next time you are at the club, train station, park or any where else he may see you). This increased level of activity shook Cliffe and they realised Sevenoaks were not going to be rolled over so easily. With ground made in Cliffe's half, Sevenoaks were unable to put points on the board, however Cliffe answered again by scoring two more tries from loose play end errors to end the first half 19-0.

With a passionate speech and crafty tinkering by Pip at half time, The Mighty Oaks were determined that this game would not be the end to their perfect start to the season. It was now Sevenoaks' turn to take charge of the game. Nathan Cosh nabbing a superb intercept try in the opening minutes of the second half. This was topped off with a sublime second try from Brighty scored within minutes of the first - running the ball back virtually untouched from the 10 metre line: Sevenoaks were now back in the game at 19-14. 

Although Sevenoaks had taken charge of the game, Cliffe were by no means going to take things lying down and through hard work they fought their way to oaks line and exploited a big overlap on the left hand side of the pitch, bringing the score to 24-14. The home team were not worried, they knew how quickly they had scored two tries before and knew that they could do it again. Digging deep to find a second wind that many didn't even know they had (oo-er missus!), the Sevenoaks men kicked off. Thanks to the hard working pack, who had been turning over ball throughout the game, the pairing of Dylan Angus (9) and Dan Scott (10) were finally able to give the three-quarters sufficient space to work with and Sevenoaks were finally able to unleash the full potential of their back line - scoring two well worked tries via rampaging runs from James Garcia. This brought the home team ahead for the first time in the game. With seconds left in the game, Sevenoaks earned a crucial turnover via Johan Roussow and were awarded a penalty which was slotted cleanly over the posts to bring the final score to 29-24 to the home team. 

To top off the victory, the Ref who was being assessed through out the game, informed Oaks that they level he saw them play in the second half was far beyond anything he would of expected to have seen in their league and praised them on their determination and fitness. On hearing that he was fitter than the opposition, Rob Thurnell burst out into a fit of laughter

Sevenoaks Rugby 3rd XV 53 Cranbrook 2nd XV 22

Previous matches between these two great clubs have seen epic battles, bloodied faces, drawn matches and season's bragging rights.

This year , the visitors arrived with depleted numbers,for various reasons, but otherwise keen to start the league season. The Oaks decided not to take the win by forfeit and lent 4 worthy delegates to the Cranbrook cause to begin combat.  

It was not long before the powerhouse Garcia began his quadruple try-scoring day, albeit more than ably supported by Chris Bright and double try scorer Luke Johnstone. 

Cranbrook to their credit never gave up - scoring four tries themselves, two of them from the borrowed Oaks, stalwart Rob Thurnell and newby Josh Searby, which made the 3rd XV management sweat a little harder and doubt the decision of not taking the forfeited points earlier. However tries from Rob Kemp, Tom Kelly and Skipper James Anderson (clearly showing off for his new girlfriend) finally put the game to rest. Medway this weekend promises to be a far tougher encounter!

Sevenoaks keep it tight to defeat Dover

Sevenoaks 3rd XV beat Dover 10-3 at Dover on Saturday 10 October. This was a well dug out win against an organised Dover 3rd team. This typically prosaic appraisal of team manager Pip Woolacott sums it all up:

"Basically we were awful at the breakdown, but forward power won through. Two tries from driving mauls from captain Tom Kelly off the line out, capabily thrown in, by man of match and war horse Rob Thurnell.  

"Number 10 Jack Curnow provided the backs with some momentum and power running from Coetzee ensured that the 3s were never really in trouble...yet what should have been free flowing rugby was left to the stick it up the jumper brigade."