Tunbridge Wells Rugby Club,Saturday 10th April 2010,Sub-Page

Tunbridge Wells 1XV 15 v 27 Beckenham 1XV

Wells took to a perfect St Marks playing surface looking for the double over Beckenham having sneaked an important 30-31 win in the first game of the new London 1 South season back in September of last year.

The home side found themselves short of five of the squad who had delivered league salvation the week before: Mark Higgins, Pete Binham, Steve Daly, Jon McMahon and Mike Doherty failing to recover in time and being replaced by: Paul Miles, Tom Pithouse, Henry Wagstaff, Ollie Rogers and Simon Beamish. Psychologically it was difficult to start the game with the intensity that had been required the week before and Beckenham took an early lead when scrum-half V Mahuratiki got through on the left for his brother to convert from the touchline 0-7.

The first half had few scores after this with Luke Giles sharing a penalty goal with T Mahuratiki in the 34^th and 36^th minutes. In general Wells were having trouble with the Beckenham sides pace and their very quick method of rush defence which gave the normally dangerous Wells backs little space to move. This added to Beckenham’s ability to clear out ruck ball aggressively and in the correct body position gave Wells little first half chance to get on the scoresheet, and left the half-time score at 3-10.

At the start of the second half though and within a few minutes of play Tom Hathaway playing at No 8 took advantage of a very flat pass from Beckenham to intercept and beat the pursuing pack from the halfway line with Luke Giles narrowly missing the conversion 8-10. Here was an opportunity to seize the game in front of one of the biggest crowds of the season? However, in an 11 minute period Beckenham took the game away from Wells as with quick ball they dominated the game. On 50 minutes Mahuratiki kicked a penalty from in front after Wells had handled on the ground 8-13, and five minutes later fly half Wright put in an inch perfect lateral kick to full back Perry who scored on the right for Mahuratiki to convert 8-20.

Despite efforts to get out of their half , fatigue and a strong northeasterly breeze pinned the home side down and Fly half Wright took advantage of missed tackles to go in under the posts for a converted try 8-27 on 61 minutes.

There was still plenty of time for Wells to launch a last quarter onslaught and if the peripheral vision had been a little bit better then two glaring overlaps in the 65^th and 70^th minutes would have been exploited but sadly on the day it was not to be. It took fullback Toby May who has been outstanding for Wells since his return from Bath University to crash through from 30 metres and for Giles to convert on 80 minutes which by then was too late to effect the destination of the points.

This has been a ‘curates egg’ of a season in a league where little has divided the middle of the table, with Wells achieving a fourth from bottom position which with 3 more wins in a 26 match programme would have taken them to sixth. With a draw and two wins including the crucial away win at Old Elthamians Wells had a reasonable end to the season and must now concentrate on strengthening the squad and on building the new groundfloor extension to the clubhouse when work commences at the end of April.

SQUAD: Lewis Russell, Paul Miles, Richard Sparks, Mick Sedgwick, Tom Pithouse, James Gwinnett (C), Nick Doherty, Dane Hurley, Tom Hathaway, Henry Wagstaff, David Coombes, Luke Giles, Ollie Rogers, Siti Turagaiviu, Stuart Morten, James Warren, Simon Beamish, Toby May

TRY: Toby May, Tom Hathaway

CON: Luke Giles

PEN: Luke Giles

THE OLD GUARD

This Saturday sees the thirds at home vs TJ’s and the fourths at home vs Gravesend whilst the club also hosts the first Veterans County game between Kent and Essex with the side from over the Dartford Bridge threatening to bring England legend Jason Leonard with their squad. KO 3 00pm.

For more pictures of this and other games visit Bruce Elliott's site HERE

Tunbridge Wells 2XV v Thanet Wanderers 2XV

Cancelled Match

TRY: N/A

CON: N/A

PEN: N/A

Tunbridge Wells 3XV 49 v 7 Foots Cray 2XV

Report to follow

TRY: Tuite x4, Kemp x2, Simpson, Alexander Z, Teague P,

CON: Dave Barton x2

PEN: N/A

Aylesford Bulls 5XV 19 v 36 Tunbridge Wells 4XV

What can I say - after a feverish Friday taking the reins from our esteemed Team Skipper Fran, it was close to being a core of 4XV regulars going into battle short handed. But, once again the club found depth with a couple of colts and "not-so" colt coming to our aid.

The 4's kicked off with the sun behind them and within in minutes centre, Dan Miller, powered over the line following a break from a line out by scrum half Alex Maynard, which was fed down the line. As with this entire match, passing out of contact was pin point.

A woken up Bulls side realised that being League Champions doesn't mean the season stops. Good kicking and strong lineout work from Mat Ratcliffe, saw Gavin Ward roll the maul from a 5 yard line and feed Stephen "Billy" Harvey to score. Mick Mallion added the points and the sun felt good on our backs.

Miller ran in another try following more expert handling, and then a period of defence followed showing that even without the ball Wells were here to win. Some outstanding tackling from the Father/Son Maynard combo, Paul Nalder and wings Mallion and Andy Child kept Wells line clean. Mark Goff's decisive kicking and sniping runs put Wells back on the attack at every opportunity.

The final score of the half followed another line-out artfully taken by Ratcliffe and then driven forward. No.8 Will Dedman broke free and covered half the pitch to score between the posts. Mallion added the 2 making the halftime 0-24 to the 4XV.

The second half showed Wells true 4XV spirit. We lost Dedman as he was having difficulties shaking his cold, and Gavin Ward suffered a bad landing in the tackle which aggravated his back (not helped by being asked to second row.....) With 2 off and only 1 substitute, Luke Wratten took to the wing, Andy Child stepped into the centre and "Try Machine" Miller moved into the back row with Simon Waymont (normally a centre too!) Billy took over the second row duties as we opted to go 7 in the pack. The lose of pack weight and manpower put Wells on the back foot and two well worked tries were conceded to an Aylesford team who knew how to expose the weakness and play the extra man.

Sod it, we'll just have to do it Champagne Style then!

Dan Miller took a loose ball from a line out - burst through, tried to chip over the last man, but it bounced it off his arm back into Dan's hands who toddled off and scored his last try of the season, this time as a forward. Alex Maynard was forgiven by his Dad for earlier ball hogging ("GIVE ME THE F#~'ING BALL") when he broke-away and scored between the posts giving Mallion an easy last 2 points.

Alas word on the game went to the Bulls. "Oil Tanker" Parsons collected the kick-off after Alex Maynard's try and as he was running up the right, there was no stopping or turning him, and not a hope of a left hand pass, so several Bulls just guided him into touch. The line out was disrupted, but Aylesford won the ball back and stretched Wells defence, scoring the final try and polishing it off with a conversion.

Hats off to everyone, thank you for a great game, and some inspiring handling. Let's do it again next week in our final hurrah against Gravesend at home.

SQUAD: Simon Parsons (C), Andrew Maynard, Arthur Mazzey, Matt Ratcliffe, Gavin Ward, Simon Waymont, Stephen "Billy" Harvey, Will Dedman, Alex Maynard, Mark Goff, Mick Mallion, Mark Shergold, Dan Miller, Andy Child, Paul Nalder, Luke Wratten

TRY: Dan Miller x3, Will Dedman, Stephen "Billy" Harvey, Alex Maynard

CON: Mick Mallion x3

PEN: N/A