On a rare dry, windy but bitterly cold afternoon, Crowborough travelled to Ashford for an absolute “must win” game to keep their season from falling apart. Earlier in the season the result at Steel Cross also finished 12 -21 with the visitors again taking the win .
Crowborough have not played for three weeks, and due to the atrocious weather in recent weeks the Wealden clay at Steel Cross was a quagmire curtailing any meaningful training activity. It was with this back ground that ‘Boro took to the park.
Ashford started this match intent on putting the Sussex side in their place and recording the double. Predictably, from the opening whistle, Ashford used their gigantic front five to blast their way through the lighter ‘Boro defence; off-loading to the close support, before recycling to do it all over again. It was not pretty but it was highly effective.
On the back foot, ‘Boro absorbed the pressure, but were forced to back-peddle, coming to a halt on their own 5 metre line . Ashford recycled possession but an over confident half back dropped the ball at the feet of Ed Croft ,who needed no second invitation. Sweeping up the ball in a single motion and spying a gap, he slid through and sprinted up field chased by the Ashford wing. As the Ashford 22 was crossed the wing caught up and hauled Croft to the ground. Sam Marchesi in close attendance took the off-load and slung out a long pass to Josh Jarvis who crossed over and put the ball down between the sticks for an Ed Croft converted try. 0-7
Ashford were not to be daunted, and once more attempted the bludgeoning tactics, this time to greater effect. Ignoring three points from a ‘Boro indiscretion they put the ball into touch 5 metres out from the ‘Boro line. From the line out the drive crossed the line but for what was to be the first of three similar occasions, the ball was held up. From the drop out the Ashford #11 took the ball on the full and evading three half hearted tackles , crossed over in the corner for an unconverted try 5-7.
The rest of the half followed the same pattern, with the ‘Boro defence manning up against a now predictably narrow front five attack. When ‘Boro turned the ball over , rather than playing expansively to the strengths on the wings, too many players tried to exploit non-existent gaps, making re-possession an unnecessary lottery. 5-7 HT
From the restart ‘Boro took the attack to the home side, and with a scrum on the Ashford 22 drove them back to within three metres of their line. Controlling the ball at the back of the maul Callum Main broke open, and in the act of diving for the line had the ball snatched from his grasp and cleared up-field.
Clearly ‘Boro had the measure of the larger home pack, and having done it once, preceded to repeat the action. From a penalty awarded in their own half ‘Boro’s Ed Croft hoisted a huge “Gary Owen” deep into the Ashford 22, where it was fumbled by the full back. With the ‘Boro scrum putting on the pressure keeping the local defence honest, Sam Marchesi picked up at the back ,dummied to his left before slipping inside the cover to score an Ed Croft converted try.5-14
If Ashford were worried they didn’t show it. Straight back they came, bulldozing their way through the defence and over the line for a converted try to bring the score to a precarious 2 point lead for the visitors 12-14
With ten minutes to go ‘Boros’ new found confidence in their ability to dominate the home pack drove the defenders back into their own 22. Picking and driving at will, it was for the fifth time this season that evergreen Richard Tasker finished off the final drive, which Ed Croft un-erringly slotted to take the score to 12-21.
Crowborough tried to get that final bonus point try , whilst Ashford attempted to get within losing bonus point territory, but time was against both ambitions , and the game came to an end recording another 12-21 result!
Back at Steel Cross Crowborough 2nd XV ran out 58-17 winners against Shoreham 2nd XV .
Considering the lack of ball time since Christmas, there were several positives to take away from this ‘Boro performance, significantly the defensive work of the pack, and their solid showing at the set piece which stunned the larger home side. Prior to kick off the ‘Boro backs, with ball in hand at last, showed real enterprise moving the ball swiftly through the hands and out to the wings. Sadly this is still a work in progress as they had more difficulty in replicating the unopposed play under game conditions, with the result that the wings were under utilised. With two weeks before the next run out there is plenty of time to address this.
Next week Crowborough have a fallow week before facing high flying fourth placed Deal at Steel Cross, at the end of the month, for what is another must win match-up. Of the remaining seven fixtures, only Dover and local rivals Heathfield are away fixtures.