By a strange coincidence the score line in this local derby against Aylesford was exactly the same as last week’s result against Warlingham.
The game was a tough battle between two sides, played in ideal conditions for running rugby, and in front of a sizeable crowd of both Medway and Aylesford supporters.
Medway welcomed back Owain Fussell and Charlie Wardzynski and they fitted in well to the home teams three quarter’s that possessed more cutting edge and was probably the main difference between the two teams. Medway’s forwards maybe edged the lineout battle whereas the Aylesford pack had the better of the scrums. Medway’s back row of Beaumont, Huntley and Samuela ruled the breakdown and were a constant threat in the loose.
All of Medway’s backs played very well and produced their best display of the season. Half backs Dance and Best were superb with the latter winning man of the match, Fussell and Burns punched up the middle time after time and the Aylesford defence struggled all afternoon to contain their running power. The back three of Chalmers, Liua’ana and Wardzynski all played extremely well and were a constant threat in counter attack and when the ball was moved wide.
The first half an hour of the game was a power struggle and it looked like the game could go either way. Most of the play was between the two 22’s but Aylesford did go close on several occasions but excellent defence by the home team kept them at bay – just. The deadlock was broken on 31 minutes when Wardzynski cut loose and made a fine break, Beaumont, Liua’ana and Burns all handled well and then the ball was recycled to Best on the rewind for him to cut through and score the first try. Ollie also made the difficult conversion to give Medway a 7 – 0 lead.
The decisive point of the game came on the stroke of half time when Medway scored their best “team” try of the season. The move started deep in Medway territory and wave after wave of attack, quick recycling, excellent handling by forwards and back alike, telling yards made by Burns, Chalmers, Best, Humphrey and Brice and eventually the try scored by Fussell under the posts. Head groundsman Mel Collins was even seen to do a little jig in celebration! Best made the simple conversion to give Medway an important 14 – 0 half time advantage.
After seven minutes of the second half Medway stretched away further when Samuela did well at the back of a scrappy scrum, his excellent offload found Humphrey at pace and he fed Dance to dart over for Medway’s third try. Aylesford then quickly hit back with a try of their own when a Medway lineout in their own 22 went astray to gift the visitor’s forwards with a simple score, 19 – 5.
With the game still possibly in the balance, neither team found it possible to string their phases of play together and the error count, and ref’s whistle dominated proceedings. Eventually after 33 minutes Medway managed to score their fourth try and gain the valuable bonus point. Again Samuela did well at the back of a difficult scrum, Best and Fussell combined well to release Conor Chalmers to race away from 40 metres and score another quality try. Best converted well and then added a penalty on 36 minutes to complete the scoring.
Fine performance by the three quarters and back row but the front five of Brice, Humphrey Cooley, Easton and Taylor also worked very hard all afternoon against strong opposition. Well done to the whole team.
Medway team;
Brice, Humphrey, Cooley, Easton, Taylor, Huntely, Beaumont, Samuela, Dance, Best, Liua’ana, Fussell, Burns, Chalmers, Wardzynski, Petch, Weobley, Catlin.
Next game is at away against Old Colfeians in the League on Saturday 7th December 2013.