A flyaway win

On a day that started for some players and parents before 5am, the players, coaches and some parents headed to Gatwick for the 8:35 Aurigny flight to Guernsey.

The coaches were wary that the lack of full training sessions since the last game due to the weather may leave the players a bit rusty. Combine that with the early start and nerves were the order of the day. We got lucky with the weather and a smooth flight dropped us onto the Channel Island on time for the short bus ride to the Footes Lane stadium. The warm up was interesting as an over-officious official moved us off the secondary rugby pitch over the road onto a small patch of grass near what will be a cricket pitch in the summer, and then complained we were cutting up the cricket pitch! Never mind, the boys threw themselves into it and were soon responding well.

The wind was a challenge for goal kicking as Joe Tolkein found out pre-match but the boys headed onto the pitch at game time to be met by a team of officials fully mic’d up for the match ahead - very professional!

Kicking off to start the match the ‘Borough boys put good pressure on Guernsey and forced an early turnover with some quick work through the hands putting in Toby under the posts for the first try within 2 minutes, converted by Joe Tolkein. The boys showed they were switched on by being set for the re-start before the conversion was taken. Their reward was a second try 2 minutes later for George Boynton following some strong running from the re-start. The conversion from out wide in the wind was missed - not surprising!

The dream start continued with another try for George on 14 minutes and Josh Radford on 22 minutes to take the score to 0-22. Although the try scorers get the plaudits, these were team tries with strong carrying from forwards and backs alike, much improved rucking and good clean ball for David and Joe at 9 and 10 to distribute. The kicking game that the boys have practised this season was not practical in the wind - an attempted box kick from David visibly moved back towards him after initially looking good!

Guernsey had the upper hand in the early scrums but our boys didn’t panic, gradually improving to steal a couple against the head by the end of the game.

Guernsey then spent their first sustained time in our 22 and we’re rewarded with a try on the half hour mark to get on the board at 5-22.

From the restart Crowborough put sustained pressure on in the Guernsey half and were rewarded with another try for No8 Felix Glynn just before the break, converted by Joe. The half ended 5-29.

The second half started with some good work from both teams between the 22s and the deadlock took 15 minutes to break with Hudson Benyon breaking through to find the try line and take the score to 5-34. A few minutes after the re-start we received the first ever yellow card for this group, and, yes, it had to be a Tolkein! Following in his fathers’ footsteps, Joe Tolkein was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle. What a sin-bin through!

While Joe was off the field Jaedon slotted into 10 from fullback and kept play flowing. For a while the boys were down to 11 as Toby suffered a knock to the nose with blood pouring out. The boys didn’t panic and controlled the game through strong carries from the likes of Jake, Ben, Elliott and both Felix's, with Josh Radford popping up everywhere and Josh Rhodes and Hudson hitting some strong lines in mid-field from passes from David and Jaedon too.This continued until first Toby returned and then Joe was released from the sin-bin.

Within a minute of being up to full compliment Toby crossed for another try which Joe converted to take the score to 5-41. A series of strong carries had the boys pressing hard for another score that looked like it had come with Felix Glynn picking up and going from the base of a scrum and looking like he had grounded the ball over the try line, for the referee to disallow the score as he hadn’t seen the grounding. Was it dropped or grounded? Opinions are divided!

A very strong, determined team performance with all boys giving their all, defending solidly, pressuring the opposition and offloading with accuracy. The coaches were delighted and celebrated with the other parents and with our hosts who had very generously paid for our flights out.