16 November 2008
Five weeks without a game showed against Shelford on Sunday. The Medway scrum was regularly disrupted by the lighter but technically superior Shelford pack. Yet the first ten minutes saw Medway with the better of possession and territory, but lacking penetration, until a handling error by Shelford allowed Simon Brooks to pick up and go under the posts for an opportunist try. Stewart Stockford converted.
The Shelford team's long journey from Cambridgeshire that morning seemed to have taken its toll, and Medway continued to press. Joe Jelfs went over for the home side but stout defence held the ball up. Then pressure from Medway drew the defence in, the ball was moved wide to Jamie Chapman in space and the ball grounded near the corner. A further try should have been scored when Stockford made a brilliant individual break, but he then wasted the opportunity by ignoring his support with the line at the team's mercy and possession was subsequently turned over and the danger cleared.
Shelford woke up at this point and started to show their technical ability and team play. The rest of the first period was spent mostly in Medway's half and the visitors went close several times in attempting to push over the Medway line. A possible try was judged to be held up and a string of penalties against the home side were spurned. Medway held out and turned round with a 12 - 0 lead.
The second half was almost a repeat of the first. Ten minutes in, Tom Barnes was able to drive over the line from ten metres out and Stockford converted.
Shelford looked the more likely to score from that point on, and were rewarded after 20 minutes when a tapped penalty drew two defenders while a runner went through the centre and under the posts for a converted try.
The sides cancelled each other out after that, and the contest became a stalemate in the middle of the pitch. Shelford played well as a team and were more adept than the home side, especially at the set-piece, but were thwarted largely by Medway's determined defence. The loose confederation of individuals that is the Medway U17s, on the other hand, managed the trick of winning while playing as if they'd never met each other, and the score remained 19 - 7 till the end.
Our thanks to Jack Carlin and Ryan Dowsett of the U16s for being dragged away from training to cover injuries.
