1st XV
Matches
Sat 19 Oct 2019  ·  London 2 South East
Hove
27
22
Crowborough RFC
1st XV
A tough afternoon down by the seaside....

A tough afternoon down by the seaside....

Ian GEERING20 Oct 2019 - 08:05
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Borough lost this fixture, Hove didn't win it !

Match Report by Rick Howe

Second placed Crowborough travelled to the south coast for this game against fourth placed Hove, last Saturday, for a match that they should and probably could have won, in the final minutes of this contest.
With Ollie Clinch given a precautionary week off, Crowborough welcomed back the half back pairing of Tom West and Ali Main who, immediately they got any of, what was to be limited possession, released their backs with speed and precision.
For fully 15 minutes both sides were tested, with Hove having the luxury of copious amounts of ball, coming up against a dogged, determined and seemingly impenetrable ‘Boro defence, and having some 70% of the possession, perhaps they should have got on the score sheet earlier than they did.
However it was ‘Boro, with just scraps of possession who went ahead with a well worked try set up by Matt Botterman bursting through the defensive line to off load to Ali Main in support on his left. As the channel opened up he drew the first defender before popping the pass to Connor Hand. The two then inter-passed as defenders came across but it was Connor Hand who crossed the line to set up his own conversion which was just pulled wide. 0-5
Hove were soon back in the game when the centre took advantage of a hesitation in play, when the #9 appeared to knock on, but as play continued the Hove centre cruised in to score a well converted try 7-5.
Crowborough then edged ahead from a Connor Hand penalty after the Hove #10 and captain, floored Ollie Jude-Trailor with a no arms tackle and was lucky only to receive a penalty that Connor Hand converted .7-8 HT

The lack of a card seemed doubly galling, when having watched Hove escape a yellow card earlier, Richard Tasker was then shown one for handling on the ground.
The extra man then started to tell as Hove took the first score of the second half after a long run down the wing ended with the score out wide. The conversion was excellently converted, taking the score to 14-8.
Crowborough had showed that they were more than capable of making a game of this encounter when they secured quick clean ball, but that was easier said than done. With less than 25% of their own line outs won, and under pressure to get quick ball from the scum, much of the limited ball was squandered when it was inaccurately kicked away, constantly handing the initiative to the opposition.
A yellow card to the Hove #4, was followed by two more quick tries by the home side which went unconverted, and would have been the final nail in the coffin for most sides, but ‘Boro rallied, seemingly needing this almost impossible challenge to get fired up. 24-8.
Attacking deep in the Hove 22, and with just five metres to the line, Mitch Malherbe’s final pass to Connor Hand was deliberately knocked to the ground by the Hove centre. Whether it was a penalty try, or a yellow card or both was the touchline discussion with supporters from both sides being somewhat perplexed when just a penalty was awarded.
Crowborough called for the scrum, and as Tom West flung out a zipping pass to Ali Main, he pump dummied the centre and popped up the ball to a fast arriving Mitch Malherbe to cruise through the gap to score under the posts for another Connor Hand converted try.24-15
With the initiative swinging towards the visitors the momentum was stemmed when the official gave a yellow card to Ali Main for not releasing. The resulting penalty saw the home side widen the gap to twelve points 27-15.
With the clock in the red with just a little injury time to go, ‘Boro once more attacked the Hove line. With the home pack showing signs of flagging, and with a huge shove from ‘Boro the Hove pack buckled and went backwards allowing Matt Botterman to pick up and score to bring Crowborough to within losing bonus point territory with Connor Hand adding the two extra points.27-22.
There was still time for the restart and ‘Boro took the restart ball intent on achieving the impossible. Sadly there was to be no fairy-tale ending as half the Hove pack ensured that Botterman was unable to off-load as he was bundled into touch for the official to blow the final whistle to bring the end to the game.
This was Crowborough’s second consecutive defeat and they are only too well aware that they will need to address a few tactical and performance issues on the training park this week, in order to get back to winning ways , when they welcome Old Alleynians to Steel Cross next Saturday.

Match details

Match date

Sat 19 Oct 2019

Kickoff

15:00

Meet time

12:30

Instructions

Meet at the Club for 12.30pm
If you are going direct please advise Ian or Dan by 11.00 on Saturday Morning !

Competition

London 2 South East

League position

3
Hove
4
Crowborough
Team overview
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