Tottonians from near Southampton in Hampshire, were Medway’s opponents at Priestfields on Saturday.
Tott’s are enjoying a successful first season in London 1, their recent form has been good and last week achieved an unexpected home victory over league leaders Sutton and Epsom. They were also keen to prevent Medway notching up the “double” as Medway had secured a narrow away victory back in November.
It was no surprise therefore, that this game went down to the wire, either side could have won, and Tottonians missed the chance to secure a draw with the final kick of the game.
With Medway playing into a cold northerly wind in the first half, Tott’s took the early initiative and enjoyed plenty of possession and field position. This good start was rewarded after a quarter of an hour when a poor clearance kick from Medway missed touch, Totts retuned with interest and after several phases scored their first try wide out on the left, 5 – 0.
Going behind jolted Medway into action and they began to get into the game. After 20 minutes they looked to be through to score a certain try but the final pass was intercepted by a covering Tott’s defender. Five minutes later, they did level the scores when Luke Burns and Charlie Wardzynski combined for the latter to go on a dazzling run, beat several defenders, and score an excellent individual try, 5 – 5. Now enjoying their best period of the game, the home team extended their lead on the half hour mark when following concerted pressure, a flat pass from Dan Harvey allowed Matt Gardner to break the defensive line and score just to the right of the posts.
Harvey’s conversion gave Med’s a useful looking 12 – 5 lead. Disappointingly, Medway conceded a needless penalty just before half time which Tott’s converted to narrow the scoreline to 12 – 8 at the interval.
Medway then committed the cardinal sin of conceding either side of half time and allowing Tott’s to take the lead. Failing to deal with the kick-off presented Tott’s with good turn over ball. They clinically went through several phases and were able to batter their way over for what looked a bit of a soft try defensively from Medway, 12 – 13.
Both sides struggled during the second half to build pressure and control the ball for long periods. Medway made too many mistakes and it seemed every time they got into a good position an unforced error allowed Tott’s to clear their lines. In accordance with this pattern, Medway retook the lead after losing a good attacking lineout. Somehow they managed to turn over the ball as Tott’s tried to exit and a good pass from Harvey released Ben Dance to draw the covering defence and he passed to Doug Ebanks, who still had plenty to do, but his strength and power enabled him to make the line wide out on the right. 17 – 13 to Medway.
Medway extended their lead on the half hour mark with an excellent long range penalty from Harvey, 20 – 13, and when Tott’s had their hooker yellow carded with eight minutes to go, the crowd probably expected Medway to secure a comfortable win. To Tott’s credit, they never gave up and in the dying minutes produced the best try of the game. Running the ball from deep inside their own 22, they went through phase after phase. Excellent skill levels enabled them to press the Medway line and eventually create an overlap for their right winger to score a try and bring the score to 20 – 18. Fortunately for the home team, the kick into the wind, from Tott’s was narrowly missed.
An entertaining game for the spectators with the lead changing hands four times. Both sides were competitive but Medway probably edged the game via their dominance at the scrum which was a constant problem for Tott’s. Medway can play better, but this was a pleasing win against a good determined side. Medway’s man of the match went to Number 8 Matt Gardner who has a fine game in the loose.
Medway now have another free weekend, and the next game is away at Gosport and Fareham on the 19th March. Coach leaves Priestfields at 10.00am.
Medway’s team;
Matappa, Sandison, O’Leary, Easton, Rutherford, Huntley, Fernyhough, Gardner, J Dance, Harvey, Burns, B Dance, Liua’ana, Ebanks, Wardzynski Subs; Petch, Garofalo, Beaumont (all used).