Tonbridge Juddians U18As 15-10 Sevenoaks Academy 1st XV
In the second of back-to-back games reintroducing The Slade to club academy rugby, TJs ran out winners in a closely fought contest.
Defences dominated through the majority of this contest. The rivalry between many of these players at club and school level has been on hold for the past 18 months and it showed. Both teams seemed more interested in 'running it straight' than attempting to explore any space that may have been on offer. To their credit, TJs were the first team to combine some ambition with their physicality. Unfortunately for them, their execution let them down and a loose pass was thrown out wide under pressure from Oaks' defence. Flanker Barnaby Thomas pounced on the intercept and raced away from 60m out, showing impressive pace to beat the TJs back three cover. Zac Shirtcliff added the extras and Oaks found themselves 0-7 up without having actually had much of the ball.
Sadly, Oaks were unable to capitalise further on any TJs inaccuracy as they themselves struggled with unforced errors. Despite Oaks' scrum having the upper hand, dropped balls and turnovers led to TJs slowly but surely gaining ascendancy in terms of territory. Oaks failed to exit effectively on multiple occasions and eventually their luck ran out. The ball came loose at an Oaks scrum and the TJs scrum half reacted first, sprinting away with possession inside the Oaks 22 before feeding a supporting teammate to score. TJs were unable to convert, leaving the halftime score at 5-7.
TJs started the second half brightly and had clearly made some adjustments based on their halftime team talk. They forced a penalty outside the Oaks 22 in a fairly central position. They opted to kick the 3 to take them into an 8-7 lead.
Oaks responded well and solid defensive pressure led to a penalty to Oaks around 35m out on the right hand 15m line. Shirtcliff stepped up again to nail the 3 and take Oaks back into an 8-10 lead.
Despite their lead on the scoreboard, Oaks were now starting to come off second-best in both territory and possession. TJs had made the quicker fixes and were starting to dominate without ever really threatening the Oaks try line. Indeed, they coughed up yet more possession on half way and Oaks winger Juan Barnard spun his way out of two tackles down the touchline before grubbering the ball beyond the defensive cover. Unfortunately, Juan misjudged how close to the try line he was when, instead of diving on the loose ball to score, he attempted one final nudge with the boot which took the ball dead. A massive let off for the home side.
Oaks were unable to rally around this near miss and TJs took control for the remainder of the game. Their kicking game was keeping Oaks pinned inside their 22 and one felt that eventually, the dam must burst. Oaks' increasingly physical defence in the tight saw them repel multiple close-range lineouts and scrums. Inevitably though, fatigue crept in and on one fatal attack, TJs were able to win the gainline for consecutive phases under the Oaks sticks. With the hunting gold and navy defence sucked in, the home side finally connected their passes out wide to score a well worked try. They converted to head into a 15-10 lead.
It would be unfair to say that Sevenoaks didn't have opportunities to go on and win the game. Indeed, they managed to earn several lineouts inside the TJs 22 with the clock winding down. It wasn't to be though as crooked throws and solid TJs lineout defence kept the Oaks at bay until the final whistle.
Oaks will be disappointed with their display, especially in attack. That being said, 38 players across both squads got their first full-on club rugby in 18 months. With another double header this weekend vs Blackheath down at the Paddock, one feels that there will be plenty of opportunities for this group to put their best foot forward.
Squad list:
Alby Butt, Dominic Stangroome, Harry Corsini, Luke Walter, Gregor Pauling, Frank Kitchen, Barnaby Thomas, Will Murphy (C), Adam Davies, Billy Boyd (vc), Juan Barnard, Zac Shirtcliff (vc), Fin Stables, Joe Ryder, Louis Bouverie
Subs: Elliot Wright, Rhys Owen, Andrich Skein, Mac Leason, Angus Hall
Tonbridge Juddians RFC U18Bs 21 - 14 Sevenoaks Rugby Club Academy 2nd XV
Sevenoaks Rugby Club and Tonbridge Juddians RFC made a welcome return to Academy rugby on Sunday 12 September.
The curtain raiser to a double header saw the Academy 2nd XV streams of these two long-standing friendly rivals, well dating back to the merger of the Tonbridge and Old Juddians Clubs at least, lock horns at The Slade.
The match started at a high tempo that the sides maintained throughout and thanks to several jackals by James Kerton, who was having a stormer for the Oaks on the flank, the visitors managed to make decent early inroads into the TJs half.
The home side however landed the first points with Oaks up a little too fast from a set move and their line speed, impressive all day, opened a gap in the midfield resulting in a converted try for TJs.
The teams enjoyed a proper tussle for the rest of the half. Patrick Spice was pulling all the strings from 10 in the Oaks back line. Elliot Peters in the navy and gold pack was tackling everything that moved and this helped keep TJs at bay.
The TJs scrum became dominant as the first half progressed but Oaks had the edge in open play and hit back just on the cusp of half time as Finn Good collected a pass from close range, following a well worked move, to surge over the line. Finn slotted the extras to his own try to take the teams into the half time huddles at 7-7.
A chat at half time helped steady the Oaks scrum and credit must go to Oaks front row Will Dinsmore, Tom Hunt, and Harry French for battling hard for the full match
Oaks applied a huge amount of pressure in the early exchanges of the second half. When for all the world it seemed that they had taken the lead as Jon Odiyemi on the right wing was on the end of some exquisite interplay, an adjudged forward pass in the build up deemed the try void.
TJs then struck twice in quick succession to take a 21-7 lead into the final quarter.
So it was that Oaks rallied and it was no surprise when Justin Adesina, who had carried strong for the visitors all day, barrelled over from short range and with Good again slotting the extras the stage was set for a frenetic finale.
The game was definitely afoot however with Oaks pressing hard and in the ascendancy, time ran out as TJs ran out 21-14 winners.
Huge credit to both squads for a cracking display of rugby.
Squad list:
Will Dinsmore, Tom Hunt, Harry Fulcher, Sam Keenan, James Kerton, Charlie Day, Elliot Peters, Justin Adesina, Sam Hopkins, Patrick Spice, Jon Odeyimi, Finn Good, Ben Graham, Toby Goodman15. Henry Lynch, Daniel Craig
Subs: Rhys Williams