Sevenoaks C's, coaches and parents enjoyed another great day of rugby at Aylesford Bulls Rugby club who were hosting the Kent Mini Festival.
We played 4 matches of which we won 2 and lost 2.
First match was against Cranbrook A which were the strongest team in our pool.
Although it was a very tight first half in which we rucked and mauled at a very high standard, Cranbrook managed to score twice on the right wing. The boys with a lot of courage came back strong in the second half playing some all-around amazing rugby rucking and passing wide being the highlights. We finally managed to close the gap and scored on the left wing with a very good mix of team and individual production. Although we finally lost, the game ended with Cranbrook desperately defending their in-goal until the whistle finished a game that deserve to be a draw.
The second match against Dart Valley was a totally different story. It didn’t help that Dart Valley were short players and we offered to share a couple of our own. They dynamic of the game was very different from the first match. Our rucking or mauling wasn't at usual high standard. It became a bit like a touch rugby game running sideways to find the gaps in a very weak defense. Although we won by a large margin it felt that we could have done much better.
Our third match against Blackheath put our boys under pressure again and they reacted positively. Gradually we started to remember to ruck, maul, run straight and pass wide as we had in the first match. A couple of unfortunate events (missed kick in our ingoal) gave Blackheath a win by a small margin.
Our fourth and last match against Turnbridge Wells was probably the highlight. All of a sudden the boys felt the pressure of a very physical game and reacted to what coaches and parents were expecting: character and determination. We tackled hard, we rucked and played the breakdown with immense courage. Also our running game was excellent. Turnbridge Wells couldn't do much to avoid Sevenoaks scoring 3 tries again thanks to a combination of individual and team effort. Turnbridge Wells came back in the second half very strong scoring their only try of the game but the boys didn't give in. We continued to tackle all the way to the end. We could have scored more tries if we would have played wider but this is something that will improve with time and work on the training ground.
Overall another promising performance showing that gradually the boys are putting into practice all the hard work done at the Paddock every single Sunday.
Well done Sevenoaks C's!!! And well done parents that came to support their boys!!