Boy was this a hard one to take.
Sevenoaks travelled to Blackheath on Sunday to play a team that has made it to the quarter finals of this year's National Cup - they play Tonbridge Juddians next weekend.
Oaks have played Blackheath twice already this season. In the first encounter, between two close to full strength sides, Oaks found themselves 2 points up with 10 minutes to go before silly mistakes cost them the match and gave Blackheath a somewhat flattering 24-36 scoreline. In the second encounter, between two very mixed teams, Oaks dominated for 50 minutes before the game was called early due to a nasty looking injury to a Blackheath player.
The young Oaks' perceived improvement over the course of the season, combined with Blackheath potentially having one eye on their cup quarter final led to a cautious optimism amongst the coaching staff that an upset could be on the cards.
This did not transpire.
Sevenoaks started the game with the wind behind them and they took full advantage. Blackheath were caught cold and pinned deep within their own territory. Indeed, such was Oaks' early dominance that with a touch more composure near the Blackheath line (and it must be said, with better officiating of the lineout maul defence and offside lines) the visitors could very easily have found themselves a couple of scores up. Unfortunately, this wasn't to be the case. Multiple line breaks by the likes of fullback Luca Crowcroft and Zac Shirtcliff went unconverted and despite dominating the first 25 minutes of the game, Sevenoaks were kept scoreless.
Slowly but surely, the individual power and athleticism of Blackheath became more and more of a factor. The home side threatened to strike a couple of times before eventually breaking out and scoring a wonderful team try from inside their own half. 5-0 to 'the club'.
The score clearly knocked the wind out of Oaks' sails. They did manage another line break as captain Will Murphy ran a fantastic line through the middle, but once again Blackheath were able to snuff out the attack and win the turnover. They went quickly and managed to work a clever, low kick up into Sevenoaks territory. Oaks made a rare mistake at the lineout and Blackheath pounced, scoring their 2nd try after 3 rapid phases of turnover possession. Oaks somehow found themselves 10-0 down going into half time.
Oaks left the changing room to start the 2nd half visibly deflated. The two try deficit combined with the knowledge that they would be playing into a 15 point wind was clearly weighing heavily on them.
Blackheath, by contrast, had survived their early wobble and now had the look of a team that can claim to be one of the top 8 sides in the country. They demonstrated their credentials with a blistering counterattack from turned over Oaks ball almost as soon as the half had started. They duly converted and at 17-0 down, the belief that they could win all but left the visiting side.
To their credit, Sevenoaks stuck to task and although they conceded two more tries - each more painful to endure than the previous - they avoided the kind of 50 point drubbing that one can imagine a team of Blackheath's calibre putting on many a side in this situation. The game ended, almost mercifully, at 31-0.
In the immediate aftermath of this game, it would have been easy to spiral. To go from losing late in the game to back in October to losing by this margin and failing to score felt like going backwards........and yet, Sevenoaks fired more shots in 25 minutes of this game than they had in the previous 5 or 6 games combined against Kent's big three teams at this age group. Their lineout was once again completely dominant - against a pack with multiple Saracens Academy and Kent PDG forwards in it. Unfortunately, a common theme of this season has been a very poor standard of refereeing with regards to maul defence. Line breaks were created on more than one occasion from first phase scrum strike moves and perhaps more importantly for the future, many current U17s (and one U16) have developed into real leaders within the group.
James Kerton was absolutely outstanding at the lineout and in the loose. Luca Crowcroft was high class from start to finish and Elliot Wright was powerful and dynamic before a hamstring niggle forced him off frustratingly early on. Frank Kitchen, playing up again as the U16s had the day off, came off the bench and took on U18 forwards as if they were several years younger and about 15kg lighter.
This game could (and arguably should) have been very different. At some point, things are going to click for this group and when they do, they are going to deliver a huge performance.
Squad list: Alby Butt (U17), Elliot Peters (U18), Henry Hartley (U17), Tom Moseley (U17), Henry Thompson (U17), James Kerton (U17), Elliot Wright (U17), Will Murphy (U18), Adam Davies (U17), Billy Boyd (U18), James Akeman (U17), Ruben Le Roux (U17), Zac Shirtcliff (U18), Oli May (U17), Luca Crowcroft (U17)
Subs: Oli Langley (U17), Sam Keenan (U17), Frank Kitchen (U16), Harvey Galloway (U17), Louis Bouverie (U17), Patrick Spice (U18)