20 April 2008
It was a great way to end the season as the Medway U16s won the Cup at the Worthing Sevens. The eight teams at the annual invitational event were a high quality mix, and on the way to the winners' enclosure Medway had to beat the best of them: four of the top five Sussex teams, and the second best team in Essex.
Medway appeared to have the tougher of the two Pools. Their first opponents were Hove who had beaten Medway convincingly at the semi-final stage of this tournament last year, but it was a different story this time. Straight from the kick off the ball was recovered by Stewart Stockford who popped the ball up for James Davies to sprint 40 metres under the posts. Hove came straight back with a try of their own, but Simon Brooks restored the lead after a nicely weighted kick through by Aman Gill, and Richard Verrall rounded off the half with another. Then when Stockford scored early in the second half and stretched the lead to 24 - 5 Medway eased off and were nearly punished. Hove came back with two tries, but ran out of time and the final score was 24 - 17.
Second up were Westcliff, runners-up in the Essex League this season, who had run the tournament favourites and Sussex Champions Brighton close in their first game. But Medway were warmed up now and overwhelmed them 41 - 12 with some scintillating Sevens play.
The highlight of the game was an astonishing 25 metre reverse pass off the ground by Stewart Stockford that flew like a arrow to Jamie Chapman on the wing and gave him more than enough space to finish under the posts. This observer has never seen that attempted in a real match at any level before. Further tries by Simon Brooks (2), Chapman, Davies, Tom Bourne and Stockford put the game a long way beyond Westcliff.
In the third Pool game Medway came up against Brighton and expected it to be tough against Sussex's most successful side. Jon Saddington got Medway off to a good start with a try straight from the kick off, but Brighton immediately hit back with one of their own. Then Jamie Chapman sprinted in after a long pass wide from Richard Verrall, and from the re-start a kind bounce put Saddington away and under the posts again. A half time lead of 21 - 5 was unexpected but not undeserved.
Brighton looked to up their tempo and scored two converted tries early in the second half after breaks from neat inside passes, and suddenly there was only two points in it. Medway were not to be denied though and Verrall got his second of the match after Paul Pierce slipped him an inside pass, and Simon Brooks followed up a kick through from Stockford to wrap up a satisfying 35 - 19 victory.
Worthing had come second in their Pool after a loss to Heathfield, the surprise package of the tournament. As hosts, Worthing wanted to put up a strong performance in the semi-final and thry put Medway under a lot of pressure in the opening five minutes. Medway soaked it up and then showed their class with a break out involving an interchange between Stockford and Brooks before the ball was moved wide to the other wing to Verrall who scored. Another interchange this time between Stockford and Pierce put Gill in for the second, but then a rare bad pass from Medway allowed Worthing one back. Medway then ran away with the game as Verrall scored after a sweeping move from a lineout and completed his hat trick after good work from James Davies. Stockford then got a brace after Brooks and Bourne made dummy switch moves that allowed him to step through defensive gaps, and then a minute later he followed his own kick through to the in-goal to touch down just before the Worthing defender.
The 40 - 7 win was well-deserved and Medway were in good form going into the final against Heathfield who had surprised everyone again by beating Brighton in the other closely contested semi-final by 21 - 19 (although Brighton hotly disputed the score, claiming that they had converted all three of their tries).
Heathfield had plenty of possession in the first half of the final, but effective pressure play by Medway kept the Sussex side pegged in their own half. Then Medway broke and a kick through into the in-goal by Chapman gave Verrall a one on one race with a Heathfield defender that Verrall won by a head. Shortly afterwards Brooks broke a tackle and raced under the posts for a converted try to give Medway a half time lead of 12 - 0.
Heathfield had done enough in the first half to give them belief they could get the game back, and early in the second half they put pressure on Medway's 22 and were rewarded eventually with a try. But Medway's confidence was high and soon enough they broke and a sprint up the touchline by Verrall was follwoed by an inside pass to Saddington and once again Medway were under the posts. With the last play of the day another break gave the season's top try scorer Jamie Chapman the chance to go round his opposite number on the outside and race in from 60 metres for the last score.
It was Medway's 26th try of the day, sealing a 24 - 5 victory in Medway's fifth final of a successful season, and the celebrations could begin.
