On a cloudy but dry Remembrance Sunday, the Sevenoaks u16A team came up against a highly motivated Medway team at Medway’s headquarters. The last time the two teams met, was in the Kent Cup semi-finals in 2020, days before the first Covid lockdown and Sevenoaks then walked away with the laurels. Medway was eager to turn the tables on their fierce Kent rivals and the match certainly did not disappoint. Medway kicked off and launched attack after attack but somehow Sevenoaks managed to keep them out. Sevenoaks then conceded a soft penalty but Medway’s kicker could not convert and the scores stayed at 0-0 after 10 minutes. Medway continued to keep the pressure on Sevenoaks and it was not until the 16th minute when Sevenoaks finally managed to take control of the first half. It all started with a well-executed lineout just outside’s Sevenoaks’ 22-meter line and the forward pack, under the leadership of Frank Kitchen, then mauled their opponents more than 30 meters back into their own half. Being finally be able to play more attacking rugby, Sevenoaks launched various attacks just to be stopped short on numerous occasions, including being held up over the Medway try line. Sevenoaks continued their attacking intent which enabled a sneaky scrum half snipe by Isaac Canham to break the deadlock and score under the posts. Angus Hall converted and Sevenoaks led 7-0. Sevenoaks continued to keep Medway in their half and after another good Sevenoaks attack, the frustrations boiled over and a Medway player was shown a red card for hitting out at Canham. The half time whistle followed soon with Sevenoaks 7-0 in the lead. After discussions with match officials, Sevenoaks allowed Medway to replace the red carded player with a replacement in order to keep the spectacle up and both teams with 15 players.
Sevenoaks kicked off the second half with intent and after launching multiple attacks, Fin stables ran a great line off Hall to scored under the posts, with Hall converting. Sevenoaks 14-0 up and in full control of the match. Medway tried to get back into the game and their chance finally came when Raphi Simmonds-Dance was yellow carded for a suspected high tackle. Medway kicked for the Sevenoaks corner and then launched attack after attack at the Sevenoaks line from the resulting lineout. With Sevenoaks pegged back in their own half, Medway played the ball wide and their players and coaching staff were ecstatic for joy when their wing went over in the corner, just for the try to be cancelled due to the player being adjudged by the referee as tackled out over the corner flag. From the resulting 5-meter line out, the superb Sevenoaks lineout machine stuttered for once with the throw-in going loose and Medway stormed through for a soft converted try, bringing the scores to 14-7. Rocked by conceding, Sevenoaks soon found themselves back in their own half fighting to keep Medway from scoring. Medway finally won a penalty and they kicked for the corner, just sending the kick too long allowing Sevenoaks to breathe again. With 5 minutes left to go, the Sevenoaks machine kicked into gear again and after driving Medway back through many phases, they scored with the last play of the match with Oli Ebsworth going over in the corner. The conversion was missed, making the final score 19-7 in Sevenoaks’ favour. A very hard fought and tight match played in a generally good spirit and some very good rugby.
Squad: Peter Latrobe, Andrich Skein, Jack Wilson, Rui Beaufoy, Arthur Hansen (VC), Joe Sussmes (C), Ryan Dixon, Frank Kitchen, Isaac Canham, Angus Hall, Jake Tucker, Sam Sherwood, Raphi Simmonds-Dance, Oli Ebsworth, Alfie Stratton
Subs: Fin Thomas, Fin Stables, Tom Hewitt, Alex Holden