Tough Conditions at Steel Cross

Match Report by Rick Howe
Photos By Drew Pratt
And our Referee today , Mr Simon Bingham.

Round 7 already, with Crowborough welcoming Bromley to a soggy Steel Cross for this second versus third matchup.
With matches cancelled or abandoned throughout the South East, it was a brave call earlier in the morning, to confirm that the game would go ahead confident in the belief that the much renovated pitch, would shed the previous 12 hours deluge?
Good call. By 2:30 the highest pitch in Sussex provided a surprisingly firm surface for running rugby, but the wet slippery ball would lead both sides to play the “Eddy Jones kick`em high and long” mode of play, in the hope that the receivers would make the errors.
This was never going to be pretty, and it was fully 20 minutes before the new scoreboard saw any action, when Bromley slotted a penalty for handling on the ground. 0-3
From the restart, the excellent Bromley #15, had his own ideas on how to handle the increasingly slippery ball, and, ignoring kick and chase, immediately went on the attack, slipping two tackles before finding the line undefended fifteen metres away. But before he could celebrate Ollie Clinch arrived from left field at pace to snatch the glory away.
The remainder of the half was a litany of long and often aimless kicks, many of which unaccountably were allowed to bounce, making it a lottery of a game. With the clock running down, Rob Lester made a 40 metre break before being hauled down on the Bromley 22. ‘Boro moved the ball left and set up the maul, with two pick and drives the left hand side opened up. With everyone expecting the break to go left, Sam Marchesi went right and fed Ollie Clinch who found the gap to score under the posts, converting his own try as the half time whistle went. 7-3
Crowborough were soon back on the scoreboard, following a Bromley penalty that was reversed, when the Bromley #8 saw Yellow. From the lineout 15 metres out from the Bromley line , ‘Boro set up the maul sucking in the defenders, so that when Sam Marchesi released Jonte Frazer he was able to turn the ball inside to the supporting Andy Kidd who crashed over for the try with Ollie Clinch adding the two points. 14-3
However Bromley were still not done, and a well worked move down the right saw them score out wide with an excellent touch line conversion to make it a four point game and seven minutes left. 14-10
Crowborough’s match management at this stage of the game has been a constant area of anxiety for the travelling faithful. However, this time the side continued with the kicking strategy keeping Bromley penned deep in their own half, and as the clock ran out Harry Marchesi lofted the ball into touch to bring the game to an end. 14-10
This result keeps Crowborough in second place, behind Canterbury 2nds whom ‘Boro meet on 18th November, for what should be and interesting tussle. But before that Crowborough have a second consecutive home fixture this Saturday against Ashford whose match against Charlton Park was abandoned. KO 2:30
Crowborough’s second string also had a fixture at Steel Cross, against Uckfield 2nds running out eventual 44-7 winners.