1 February 2009
The season got serious on Sunday and the team put in a good performance in this play off for a Kent Cup quarter-final place. Starting well, they put the large Bromley pack under pressure at the set piece and were aggressive at the breakdown. Five minutes into the game Medway were within inches when the referee gave a penalty try for offside and Stewart Stockford added the conversion from in front of the posts.
It was harsh, being a first offence, but Bromley to their credit immediately countered and put Medway under pressure at the other end. For five minutes they battered the home defence and eventually broke it down with a forward push into the corner. In the strong, bitterly cold, wind nobody expected the conversion to go over from near the touchline, but a superb effort from the Bromley kicker levelled the scores.
Bromley continued the good work but eventually a break by Tom Bourne and good support play from the forwards enabled Ryan Ellis to perform one of his famous snipes from the base of a ruck in which he is invariably mullered within a yard. The ball was recovered by fly-half Aman Gill who went agonisingly close, but Ellis was able to try again from three centimetres and made it.
With the strong wind directly against them, Medway continued to keep the ball in hand and near the end of the half moved it down the line from a 5 metre scrum and Stewart Stockford on the loop went into the corner despite strong opposition. Stockford converted again and Medway enjoyed a comfortable 21 - 7 lead at halftime.
The second half was nearly all Medway's, with Gill at fly-half oiling the backs' movement with his fast hands and clever distribution. Stockford added another try to his tally with a break under the posts, then another snipe from Ellis was stopped but the excellent Richard Petch was on hand to pick up and go under the posts.
Medway, with the wind behind and ignoring the increasingly heavy snow flurries, were now rampant and a kick into the corner saw the ball recovered and good hands from Joe Jelfs enabled Aaron Dimmick to score from close in. Stockford missed his first kick of the day but the score was up to 40. Stockford replayed his second score with a dummy and a break through the demoralised defence and converted again.
Finally, Ryan Williams, an awesome sight with ball in hand, knees knocking out a drum roll to mark his progress, ran 40 metres while making only two in a forward direction, fumbled the ball, blamed it on a defender, then appeared to head the ball into the in-goal where Jamie Chapman raced onto it and touched down for the last try of the day.
