7 January 2007
With a strong wind, intermittent rain, a greasy pitch and a slippery ball, Medway's customary running game was likely to suffer in this match and so it proved. Handling errors by both sides were frequent, and the early part of the game broke down into a scrappy affair with a lot of stoppages.
With the wind at their backs and the slope in their favour, Ashford adapted to the conditions the quicker. Using their strong pack to their advantage at the set-piece and in the loose, they maintained pressure on the Medway 22. Ashford's talented fly-half kept the defence on the back foot with some deft chips and grubber kicks that came close to producing a score.
Then, in their first attack where the ball stayed in hand, the Medway backs produced a sweeping movement down the line that gave Tom space to race in under the posts, and Am converted.
Aaron stretches into the corner
Shortly after, a drive and offload by Vezza put Aaron into the corner, and then Vezza got on the scoresheet himself with a typical power run through the defence.
Ashford stuck to their guns, however, and for the rest of the half kept the game in the forwards where they had their best chance of success. In the final play of the half, a pick and go by the Number 8 from a five-metre scrum brought its reward and the try was converted to make it 17-7 at half-time.
Just after the break, Ashford scored again from a tapped penalty five metres out and at 17-12 clearly thought they might cause an upset. However, Medway changed up a gear and Ashford rarely escaped from their own half for the rest of the game.
Medway's pack began to exert some authority and as a result scoring chances became more frequent. Petchy went close but the ball was held up. From the scrum, Number 8 Gav picked the ball and fed the charging Vezza, who crashed through two defenders and over the line.
Vezza dives in from short range
A switch between the T**t and Vezza gave Jig space to jink down the wing, only to be brought down eight metres out. But he popped the ball perfectly off the ground for Jiffy to burst over the line to put the pack deservedly on the scoresheet.
Medway were now dominant, and the try of the match came next. The handling errors of the first half were forgotten as Am, Jig and Gav offloaded the ball expertly out of tackles to keep the momentum of the move going. Receiving the ball 30 metres out, Stewart baffled the last defender with a trademark dummy to jog in under the posts, and Am converted.
Medway went close on several more occasions, but it was near the end that Gav picked the ball from the base of a five-metre scrum and went into the corner to take the score to 39-12. Both sides can take credit for producing a competitive match in difficult conditions.
