Medway travelled to Old Colfeians on Saturday in the knowledge that a bonus point win would lift them up into second spot in the league as Tunbridge Wells were without a game this week.

Old Colfe’s lowly league position and Medway’s recent impressive form meant their players, support staff and travelling crowd were all confident that the bonus point wins was possible and probably likely. Well unfortunately, and as is often the way in sport, the game did not quite follow the script and Old Colfeians proved to be a resilient outfit that were difficult to overcome. Medway did score the four tries required for the bonus point, but in truth squandered a number of good scoring opportunities and should have won by a bigger margin. Their play lacked accuracy and was littered with mistakes which prevented them from ever fully dominating the opposition. Old Colfeians to their credit, managed to disrupt Medway’s play and did extremely well at the break down, slowing Medway’s quick ball and often turning over possession. The Old Colfeians back row had an impressive game.

Medway started fast right from the start and were “held up” after crossing the OC try line. From the resultant scrum the ball was fed out to Rueben Meares, he passed to Fred Tila who crashed over for the opening try after only four minutes, converted by Dan Harvey. Medway extended their lead further after 16 minutes following a long period of pressure. From a scrum beneath the OC posts the ball was moved blind and the impressive Rueben Meares slid through a gap to touch down for an unconverted try, 12 – 0. At this point everything seemed to be going to plan and one expected the visitors to press on and put Old Colfeians to the sword. However it took a full forty more minutes before Medway scored again, mid-way through the second half.

Old Colfeians managed to raise their game and had periods before half time when they threatened the visitors try line which required stern defence to hold them out. When they had possession, Medway struggled to control the ball and their flow was constantly broken by either individual errors or good disruptive defence by Old C’s.

The malaise and growing tension in the Medway faithful was eventually broken after 20 minutes of the second half as huge pressure on the Old Colfeians scrum told and No. 8, Eanna Flanagan scored a push over try. With the elusive bonus point fourth try now in reach, Medway pressed hard and battered the home line with attack after attack. They were rewarded after 29 minutes when Dan Huntley burst through some tired defence to score a converted try kicked by Harvey, 24 – 0.

In the end job done, but a frustrating day for Medway who will not be satisfied with their performance and know they can play better. Old Colfeians were great hosts and their spirited performance had a lot to do with the Medway frustration!

Next week Medway entertain Beckenham at Priestfields which also promises to be another hard fought game.

Medway team;

Petch, Humphrey, O’Leary, Easton, Rutherford, Huntley, Beaumont, Flanagan, Dance, Harvey, Liua’ana, Meares, Tila, Garofalo, Wardzynski, Subs Cooley, Sandison, Mataapa