Sevenoaks Academy welcomed Canterbury U18s to the Paddock for the 2nd time in 3 months this Sunday. In the previous fixture, a noticeably weakened Canterbury side were pushed hard by 14-man Oaks, before ultimately winning comfortably.
With Canterbury clearly at full strength this time around, the young Oaks were fully aware of the task at hand.
The task was made even more difficult when Oaks infringed in the early exchanges. Canterbury drilled the penalty deep into the Oaks 22 and utilised their impressive lineout drive to catch Oaks cold, scoring the game's 1st try. They converted for a 0-7 lead.
Oaks were already on the verge of breaking as a couple of poor kick chases gifted Canterbury's incredibly dangerous backline with opportunities to counter. Oaks were almost immediately 5m out from their own try line again as Canterbury went for the early kill. This time around, Oaks held out and won the turnover. This seemed to spark something in the home side and after a very shaky start, bit by bit, they began to get some wins of their own. A knock-on here, a turnover on the floor there and suddenly the Oaks support had more and more things to get noisy about.
The only issue was that despite the improved defensive effort, Sevenoaks were still struggling to get their attack going. Their retention rate in phase play was poor and one occasion, the conceded penalty at the breakdown was once again drilled deep by Canterbury (indeed the home support felt that the kick had gone dead). Oaks repelled the initial drive, but the visiting hooker broke off the back of the maul to burrow over for Canterbury's 2nd try. The score at half time was 0-12 to the visitors.
This was a real make-or-break moment for Oaks. A huge amount of effort had been expended and yet they remained pointless. The half time replacements were urged to bring all their muscle and energy to bare to score next and keep the game alive.
Things got worse before they got better.
Canterbury had been pushing the boundaries of legality with their counter-rucking from minute one. One such counter-ruck, which it must be said was nowhere near being 'through the gate' led to a turnover after Oaks had managed to string together their best attacking phases of the match. Canterbury got away with one and the ball spilled loose from the ruck. Canterbury reacted first and from the line break, the home side felt no choice but to infringe again. Once again, the penalty was drilled deep and once again, Canterbury broke off from the failed maul to score again. The try was converted. 0-19. A hammer-blow for the home side.
Things looked bleak for Oaks, but the Canterbury score had been against the run of play. Oaks were forcing errors from the Canterbury attack and were finally starting to string some phases of their own together. Sevenoaks were now able to give Canterbury a taste of their own medicine as they put together repeated lineout drives of their own. The visitors were visibly rattled and infringed once too often for the referee's liking. A Canterbury player was sent to the bin and Oaks sensed their chance. The penalty got Oaks to within 10m of the Canterbury line. The pack did the rest. Elliot Wright was the beneficiary of a superb driving maul and Zac Shirtcliff added the extras. 7-19.
Oaks used their man advantage to dominate possession and territory for the remainder of the game, so much so that Canterbury lost another player to the bin. However, Canterbury's dogged defensive work at the breakdown was preventing Sevenoaks from playing their way to another score in phase play. Oaks went back to their driving game. Drive after drive was held up over the line or spoilt for a scrum turnover before Oaks finally got their reward with a couple of minutes left on the clock. This time, hooker Dom Stangroome was the man dotting the ball down. Shircliff added the extras to bring Oaks within 5 points at 14-19.
Sadly, Oaks' inaccuracy in phase play was their downfall as two promising attacks ultimately came to nothing. The final whistle sounded, with Canterbury players visibly relieved and Sevenoaks players floored by grief.
This was a heartbreaker for Sevenoaks. Despite a very poor 1st half in terms of attack, the reality is that this is a game they could have won. At full strength, Canterbury are arguably the strongest team in Kent at this age group, which demonstrates the improvement of this Oaks group since the 53-3 thumping away in east Kent back in November. What really stood out in this performance were the leaders in group. Captain Will Murphy was huge and his lineout deputy James Kerton aided in a fantastic effort at the set piece. Zac Shirtcliff emptied the tank on both sides of the ball and his goal kicking ensured that Oaks went into the final minutes with everything to play for. The returning Henry Thompson and Ruben Le Roux provided much needed physicality and new boy Henry Hartley brought massive energy off the bench with him.
Sevenoaks play National Cup 5th rounders Blackheath next Sunday at Well Hall, 11am ko. If they produce a performance anything like their 2nd half today, a big scalp might well be theirs for the taking!
Squad list: Alby Butt, Dom Stangroome, Drew Mercer, Henry Thompson, James Kerton, Elliot Wright, Elliot Peters, Will Murphy (C), Sam Hopkins, Billy Boyd, Joe Ryder, Pat Spice, Zac Shirtcliff, OIlie May, Luca Crowcroft
Subs: Gregor Pauling, Henry Hartley, Luke Walter, Adam Davies, Ruben Le Roux