12 October 2008
When Whitstable arrived and the bulk of their forwards was noted it was immediately clear what Medway's game plan would be. The comparative mobility of the Medway pack and the pace of the backs was more than enough.
Whitstable kept possession for the first two minutes of the game, but the moment Medway got the ball a crossfield kick was sent up to test the pace of the defence. Jamie Chapman outstripped the cover and picked up to go into the corner. Five minutes later the ball was moved rapidly wide and an inside pass put Simon Brooks clear and under the posts. Only a minute passed before Medway's third try, a quickly tapped 5 metre penalty that Joe Jelfs carried into the corner.
Whitstable then had their best period, and nearly forced a pushover try, but an infringement on the ground gave Medway a penalty, and Whitstable failed to get back in the Medway 22 for the rest of the game.
Medway, on the other hand, kept to their tactics of simply bypassing the mountainous Whitstable forwards, and the backs ran in four more tries before half time.
Medway's forwards could more than hold their own against the Whitstable bulk and provided plenty of ball for the backs to exploit. Clearly at a weight disadvantage, they more than made up for it with mobility and technique, and when they won a scrummage against the head, a pick and go from the base by Number 8 Tom Barnes gave Ryan Ellis the chance to put a grubber kick through to the corner for Chapman to score. Then Chapman claimed his hat-trick when Barnes combined with Aman Gill, and not for the first time Medway found they had five backs against two out wide. Chapman's finish was a formality.
A kick over the top by Whitstable gave fullback James Davies the chance to counter. Beating his man he made a well timed pass to Simon Brooks whose rapid change of direction put him under the posts. Davies then got the last try of the half when Tom Bourne crashed through the defence before offloading for the fullback to skip round the last man to make the score 39 - 0 at the interval.
The second half lasted only ten minutes. Caught offside at a scrum, Whitstable conceded a penalty which Billy James carried into the heart of the defence, before Gill picked and went over in the corner. Then another penalty a little closer gave James the chance to go all they way by himself. Brooks converted four of the nine tries, one a superb effort from out wide, and the referee ended the game 25 minutes early with the score 53 - 0.
Man of the match: Tom Moore
