The academy 1st XV continued what will hopefully prove to be a resurgence of their Kent League season with their 2nd bonus point win in as many games.
A young Dartford Valley side started strongly and after 10 minutes, the scores were 0-0 and the overwhelming majority of possession and territory had belonged to the home side. Dartford were full of energy and intent, whereas a few of the Oaks players appeared to still be somewhat in bed despite the 13:30 kick off.
However, Oaks got the kick start they need as a botched exit from Dartford gave them a scrum bang in the midfield and only 5m out. A well executed scrum strike saw the ball worked to right winger Charlie Drysdale through No.8 Josh Martin, scrum half Zac Loder and fullback Tom Hyde. Drysdale scampered over, with fly half Will Brook adding the extras.
This seemed to spark Oaks into life for the remainder of the half as tries from Hyde and then Martin, with a single conversion from Brook, gave the visitors a 0-19 lead at the half.
Dartford Valley had begun the game with a bare 15, and fatigue began to tell in the 2nd half as Oaks found more and more space to make big metres on the counterattack. 2nd row Noah Bruce bagged the bonus point try before tries from centre (and MotM) George Rehbein, captain George Booth and the pick of the bunch, a wonderful first phase scrum strike score for winger Tiger Bussey, added some gloss to the scoreline.
For their part, Dartford Valley never stopped pushing for a score of their own and with a couple of minutes left on the clock, they got their reward with a well worked score from a close range scrum. Final score, 7-45.
Oaks will be very pleased with the ruthlessness of their 2nd half performance, as well as the 5 league points which keeps them well in the hunt for a 3rd place finish in the league. At their best, they are still a handful for anyone. The objective over the remaining 3 games will be showing their best as consistently as possible! They will need to do exactly this when the travel away to old friends and rivals, Sidcup, in the league on the 16th February.
Squad list : Charlie Gillespie, Sam Pearl, Colby Bedford-Eatwell, George Booth (C), Noah Bruce, Callum Le Roux, Tom Kerton, Josh Martin, Zac Loder, Will Brook, Joe Strebel, George Rehbein, Gerran Prescott, Charlie Drysdale, Tom Hyde
Subs : Luke Coll, Max Baker, Lucas Rumunn, Tiger Bussey