PATCHED UP CRANBROOK GIVE GOOD PERFORMANCE IN DEFEAT.
It is often a question of damage limitation in fixtures against a well resourced club such as Sevenoaks, who new to this league this season, look likely to join Canterbury in proving too strong for most, the RFU not allowing promotion of second teams above this level.
So on a beautiful, warm autumn day, again with no significant breeze, Sevenoaks kicked off. Retaining the kick off Cranbrook showed their intent immediately as the ball was moved wide to the backs who made ground A dropped pass provided the first scrum, this showed that again Cranbrook did not have the resources to cope as Sevenoaks edged Cranbrook back, culminating, after phases, with a try on the left side.
Play continued with an even competition at the ruck, but Sevenoaks were to dominate the scrums and had the edge in the lineout, despite some good work from Josh Parkes and the returning Rory McDowell.
Despite conceding a soft try on 20 minutes when the defence left a gap on the right by not drifting across as instructed, the visitors were looking threatening and when a long pass by fly half Hugo Orpin left wing Jacob Isteed with his opposite number to beat, a strong and confident finish produced the first try on 23 minutes converted by Orpin.
Although Sevenoaks used varied plays to advance involving both backs and forwards, some good tackling kept the line intact for a while with young scrum half Oscar Wookey despite his slight frame doing particularly well. A third try for Sevenoaks was replied to as Isteed again got the better of his man for a carbon copy converted score, but a further score for Oaks and a penalty kick produced a half time score of 27-14.
Prop Miles Stockman had to retire injured in the latter part of the first half, but when his replacement Louis Stone also had to retire 20 minutes into the second half, scrums had to become uncontested as Cranbrook had no further replacements, laws when this occurs resulted in Cranbrook playing with 14 for the remainder of the game.
They had though started the 2nd half with a smart try by Orpin who spotted a gap down the left from a tapped penalty, showing good pace to score.. Sevenoaks though responded when turning over a scrum gave them the opportunity.
With uncontested scrums and a further Cranbrook injury to McDowell, reorganisation was necessary which had repercussions in the last part of the game. McDowell's last act though was to produce an inventive overhead pass after a nice pierce of forwards passing interplay, this set Jed Westcott free down the left touchline, showing good pace to outstrip the cover to score near the posts for perhaps the best try of the day, Fabian Rimmer converting with a drop kick for the bonus point try.
Although Sevenoaks scored more tries as Cranbrook tired in the warmth, of note was the hanging drop kick offs by Rimmer which Cranbrook chased with gusto, causing some disruption of the catcher and a turn over ball.
Given earlier comments on resources, this was an encouraging, vibrant Cranbrook performance with two more debutants in Tom Gransbury and Paul Whittall, this against a good, all round stronger team. Cranbrook had, despite set piece difficulties, a reasonable share of the ball which they often used well, but will wish to tighten up on some defensive arrangements as a couple of scores should have been avoided.
The next part of the season becomes critical as to how it pans out, with matches against the 3 clubs below them, commencing next week with a home match against Ashford.
The team was: 1 - D Houghton-Judge, 2 J Brambley, 3 M Stockman, 4 J Parkes, 5 S Jovanovic, 6 R McDowell, 7 J Fowler, 8 S Shillabeer, 9 O Wookey, 10 H Orpin, 11 J Isteed, 12 F Rimmer Captain, 13 J Westcott, 14 D Roberts, 15 P Whittall.
Replacements: 16 L Stone for Stockman 40 mins, 17 D Martin for McDowell 62 mins, 18 T Gransbury for Orpin 50 mins.