15 April 2007
Hard ground and not a breath of wind made it a perfect day for Medway's running and passing rugby, so their supporters watched in disbelief as the team regressed two years. Sevenoaks are a fine side, disciplined, well-coached and skillful, but Medway seemed determined to make things difficult for themselves. Their score might have been doubled if clear overlaps were not ignored by individuals infected by try fever.
Aaron strolls in for the first
The first half started with a bruising midfield battle between the forwards with little headway made by either side. Medway looked the more threatening but, time and again, bad decision-making wasted chances to spread the ball wide and poor contact skills allowed Sevenoaks to turn possession over.
Nevertheless, Medway kept the opposition pegged back in their own half. Eventually some quick ball from a ruck on the 22 was moved to Aaron Dimmick who found the perfect angle of attack to slice through the centre of the Sevenoaks defence and stroll over the line for the first try. Stewart Stockford converted and Medway were just about worth their lead after 15 minutes.
It didn't last long though, as Sevenoaks came back strongly and put Medway onto the back foot. An attacking lineout on Medway's 5-metre line produced a textbook driving maul, and although Medway stopped it on the line the ball was squeezed out to a runner who dived over.
Not long after Medway were caught sleeping in the sunshine as Sevenoaks tapped a quick penalty on halfway, went left, and couldn't believe their luck as they outnumbered the defence by six to one. Scoring was a formality, although the lone defender did well to force the scorer far enough wide that the conversion was missed.
Medway went into half time 10 - 7 down, but a better second half display was enough to produce three tries and eventual victory.
The forwards drive Richard over
to regain the lead
Medway regained the lead when Aman Gill took a pass from the base of a ruck, broke the line and timed his pass outside nicely to give Stockford a chance to fool the defenders with an out-and-in swerve that put him over the line. Stockford converted his own try and Medway had a four point advantage.
The lead was soon increased to nine as a mistake by an over-ambitious Sevenoaks back gave Medway turnover ball and Medway's forwards set up a driving maul. Sevenoaks were marched 20 metres backwards until Richard Petch was able eventually to drop over the line with the close assistance of Paul Pierce.
Stewart gets the fourth
Medway now had most of the play and it was another Gill-Stockford combination that produced the final try of the game, this time following an attacking 5-metre scrum. Stockford converted again to increase the winning margin, and his personal tally, to 16 points.
