This was to be another hard day at the office, as Crowborough welcomed second placed Old Colfeians to Steel Cross. Following their narrow loss the previous week to league leaders Medway, OC’s were keen to get their own promotion hopes back on track.
Seemingly hewn from huge blocks of granite and probably fed on steel bars, the gigantic OC pack immediately took the game to the relatively diminutive ‘Boro eight, whose confidence, gained from their past two second half performances was such, that they stood their ground, putting in the crucial tackles to keep their line intact. The back division had also learnt their lesson from the previous seven games, and by swiftly bringing up their defensive line flat were able to close down the space, preventing any real momentum from developing for the first 15 minutes.
However, OC’s are renown for their prowess at the lineout, with well drilled catch and drives, and as the first quarter came to an end the resistance was broken and OC were 7 points up courtesy of their #4 and metronomic #10, who was not to miss a kick all afternoon. Within moments the flat ‘Boro back line was penetrated as it doglegged, leaving a simple gap to be exploited by the centre.14-0
Crowborough continued to front up, but the momentum was relentless, and in spite of some excellent defence again, from Ben Searle and Liam Derrick, there were just too many chest high tackles, which, against large pacey outfit as the OC’s were totally ineffective. This onslaught broached the increasingly ragged line on two more occasions to deliver two scores, the final one on the stroke of half time giving the visitors both the lead and the four try bonus point. 28-0
The second half was more of the same. Much more, as Crowborough shipped five more converted tries during a torrid 25 minute period. To their credit and with 15 minutes to go , ‘Boro, although now well and truly beaten continued, dazed and almost on autopilot, to put together several useful moves, one of which saw Liam Derrick feed a long pass out to prop Richard Tasker, who released Connor Hand on the wing to round his opposite number for the unconverted try in the corner that ironically brought the biggest cheer of the afternoon. 5-63
During this match, each time that ‘Boro had attacked, a lack of vision, practice or confidence, had seen the move break down. However with this one score, and on the end of a record hammering, the confidence mysteriously returned, this time with the forwards taking on their mighty opponents to drive them backwards over the line for a Rob Horsfall-Turner unconverted try bringing a little bit of pride back to the side with three minutes to go. 10-63
This three minutes was all it took for OC’s to drive in the final nail, with a simple try out wide on the left that took the final score to a miserable 10-70.
Next week Crowborough travel to 9th placed Portsmouth in London Div 2 South West, for a London Division Cup encounter, and welcome respite from league duties.

Match report by Rick Howe

And the Referee today’s was Kent’s Gareth Edwards.