Crowborough once more travelled north of the South Circular, to take on second placed Old Colfeians. Crowborough’s preparation was not helped with non-availability and late cry-offs, but ‘Boro have in recent games, rediscovered their confidence, and with the return of Charlie Butler and Alex King in the backs, strengthening the squad, Crowborough were determined to consign the memory of the ignominious 10-70 home defeat of last November, to the history books.
The Crowborough eight have come on leaps and bounds since the turn of the year, and with Mark Rosier playing with renewed vigour in the powerhouse, they have taken on, and humbled, far larger opposition.
From the outset the ‘Boro pack once more set out to dominate, and for fully fifteen minutes the game remained deadlocked as both sets of forwards tried to gain the upper hand. However they breed them big in South East London. Very big!
With Chris Yates and his opposite number trading penalties at the end of the first quarter, the OC pack managed at last to isolate the ball at the back of the maul , and trundled the last ten metres to score the opening try that was well converted.10-3
With the revised ‘Boro back line only getting together in the pre-match warm up, defensive alignment was always going to be an issue, and so it proved some minutes later, when in an effort to push forward with the press defence and prevent momentum from developing, discipline faltered and the line doglegged, providing a yawning gap for the OC #10 to exploit, and with support on either side, and with tacklers trailing in his wake, set up the #6 to score under the posts. With a howling wind affecting kicking the conversion hit the post. 15-3.
‘Boro still felt that they were very much in the game and took the ball back deep into the OC 22 where three separate attempts to drive over the line were stemmed, and when the inevitable knock on occurred OC were awarded the scrum, which they won and then attempted to attack. This time Chris Yates’s press defence had a better result as the inside pass was well read by Yates who intercepted, then side stepped the first tackle before committing the wing and passing to the supporting Connor Hand who avoided the final cover to score under the posts. Chris Yates converted. 15-10.
As half time approached the OC pack made one final push to take their maul over the Boro line and put daylight between the teams. However as they crossed the line, diminutive Ben Searle got under the ball carrier and seven others, to hold the ball up as the referee blew for half time with the score an intriguing but representative 15-10.
The second half saw much of the same Crowborough effort and OC skills, with Ben Searle and Chris Yates both making telling breaks and crucial tackles, but it was to be OC’s who identified and exploited the attacking opportunities that Boro’s backline alignment presented, once more allowing the # 10 to break through, and with ineffective tackling and support runners to hand, the converted try was a foregone conclusion.22-10
The fourth bonus point try came in spite of an excellent and fearless tackle by Ben Searle on the charging second row, but his efforts could not prevent the score, although once more the post prevented the conversion.27-10
Crowborough, to their credit still believed! From an OC scrum on the ‘Boro 22, Ben Searle stole the ball from the back of the OC scrum and made 50 metres before being brought down on the 5 metre line. As the support arrived the ruck provided quick ball, and with a three man overlap the score was a formality. The inside break may have seemed a vague possibility, but it clearly wasn’t, and the chance to narrow the gap to just 10 points was lost.
To add insult to injury, and against the run of play, the OC clearance up field provided the platform for a quick counter and suddenly the potential ten point gap went out to 24 as the scoreboard recorded the converted try.34-10
Ben Searle was then shown yellow and spent the remainder of the game in the bin as OC’s took advantage of the extra man to run in a final try. 41-10
Crowborough can take a lot of credit for holding promotion chasing OC’s to a margin of 31, and should take this renewed confidence forward into their remaining four games, three of which are against the other promotion chasing teams in 3rd 4th and 5th places, although the results of the final few games will most probably focus on those of Deal, Heathfield and Bromley, who are on 29 pts, 28 pts and 27 pts respectively and with some surprising recent results, who would predict the final standings at the base of the division!!!