HIGH CRANBROOK ERROR COUNT LEADS TO DEFEAT IN FAIRLY EVEN GAME.
A trip to Dover amidst storm Darragh lead to difficult conditions with a strongish wind blowing more across the pitch than down it, but it was the chill the wind created, that added to a wet morning which made handling difficult, though it rained little during the match.
The pitch held together reasonably well but it favoured the heavier Dover pack, and Cranbrook soon found themselves on the defensive. Disapoingly two early tries were conceeded both from rolling malls where the scrum half then a forward broke off without receiving a challenge, both being expertly converted in the wind.
From the restart Cranbrook gained a lineout in midfield and moved the ball left where Jed Westcott found himself in space, being able to round his marker, draw the fullback and pass inside to his supporting Captain, centre Hamish Gillanders who was able to ground comfortably and near enough to the posts for flyhalf Henry Milligan to confidently convert for a 14-7 score after 10 minutes.
Dover continued to have the better of territory largely because their scrummage and lineout were working well, whilst Cranbrook retained most lineout ball under heavy challenge and some scrum ball under very heavy challenge where No8 Sam Shillabeer excelled with a number of collects, so protecting rookie scrum half Ollie Wookey who was struggling to get the slippery ball away accurately.
Cranbrook did though tackle keenly to deny further scores and came more into the game in the 2nd quarter, but no scores were made as small errors occurred too often, notably when an overlap looked possible, full back Elliott Barbour chose to chip towards the corner but on the crosswind the ball drifted directly into touch.Towards the interval Dover scored again from close range for a 19-7 interval lead.
Into the second half Cranbrook attacking attempts were sporadic as the very slight slope and breeze favoured Dover. Despite a strong defensive effort further mistakes in particular with kicking kept Cranbrook pinned back. Dover did manage one further try towards the end, whilst in the last few minutes Cranbrook at last had a sustained amount of ball in the attacking half without creating an opening.
So the match finished at 24-7, a better outcome may have been had after a determined team effort, but the error count was too high and too far in excess of the hosts, whilst on the adjoining pitch the valiant 13 man Nomads enjoyed a mudfest but went down by 3 tries to nil.
The team was 1 L Stone, 2 J Posey, 3 T Humphreys, 4 J Parkes, 5 T Hamphlett, 6 S Jovanovic, 7 H Overy, 8 S Shillabeer, 9 O Wookey, 10 H Milligan, 11 J Westcott, 12 A Cornwallis, 13 H Gillanders, 14 W Harrison, 15 E Barbour.
Replacements J Brambley for Stone 60 mins, J Fowler for Parkes 22 mins Parkes for Westcott Halftime, Westcott for Milligan55 mins, C Fowler for Shillabeer 65mins, Stone for Hamplett 75mins.