On a chilly grey morning, Sevenoaks u16 As travelled to Tunbridge Wells ("TW") for a local derby. With a depleted squad due to school 7s and Saracens performance group commitments, it was a very inexperienced Sevenoaks team taking the field, but despite the big occasion and coming up against a monstrous pack of forwards, there were no signs of nervousness and the team gelled from the kick-off and Tunbridge Wells quickly realised that Sevenoaks meant business. Sevenoaks camped in the TW's half and at the first scrum, they demolished the much bigger TW pack and won the ball and it was only desperate defence from TW that stopped Sevenoaks from scoring. Sevenoaks launched attack after attack with Ryan Dixon, Fin Thomas and Max Gilbey leading the charges. Unfortunately Sevenoaks were constantly penalised for holding onto the ball which gave TW breathing space to clear the lines. With a strong breeze and Max Gilbey being a menace in the lineouts on TW ball, TW struggled and Sevenoaks stole or disrupted ball after ball. After another stolen ball, Sevenoaks drove up to the TW line with pick-and-go's and it was Ben Pearl who sneakily dived between the TW players legs to score the first try. The conversion was missed but Sevenoaks deservedly leading 5-0. From the resulting kick-off, TW kicked deep and into Liam Thomas, the Sevenoaks captain's, hands and he decided to run the ball at TW. They finally managed to drag him down 40m later. From the resulting ruck, Ben Pearl chipped and chased with the TW fullback saving a certain try, but giving away a scrum to Sevenoaks. Again, the Sevenoaks pack pushed the counterparts meters back and Liam Thomas picked up the ball from the back of the scrum and charged over for the try. With the conversion missing the uprights again, Sevenoaks led 10-0 and the first half whistle went soon afterwards.
TW came out as a very different side second half and with the wind at their back, they launched attack after attack and with Sevenoaks being penalised on an ongoing basis by the referee, it felt like it was merely a matter of time before TW would score. However, this special group of players kept on playing for each other and with desperate defence at times, they managed to keep TW out from crossing the white wash. Such was the intensity and their commitment, players surprisingly started to ask to be subbed as although being top fit, they were knackered from throwing everything to stop TW from scoring. Finally, the breaking point came as TW heads started to drop, Sevenoaks managed to get out of their own half and win a scrum in the TW half. After another strong Sevenoaks scrum, the ball popped out on the side and Tom Hewitt, the smallest forward on the pitch, scooped up the ball and set off to the try line and ran straight over two defenders to score in the corner. The conversion was wayward but Sevenoaks led 15-0 and they played out the last 10 minutes continuing to stop TW from scoring, for a well-deserved victory against all the odds. The 'official' Sevenoaks players of the match were Liam Thomas and Sam Sherwood but this was a massive team effort so congratulations to the entire team who made their club, coaches and parents very proud.
Squad: Peter La Trobe, Andrich Skein, Fin Thomas, Rui Beaufoy, Max Gilbey, Jacob Bund, Ryan Dixon, Liam Thomas (C), Ben Pearl, Will Francombe, Alfie Stratton, Sam Sherwood, Max Avery, Sam Keenor, Alex Holden, Nich Maclean, Tom Hewitt, Louis Parker, Chris Barrett