1st XV
Matches
Sat 16 Nov 2019  ·  London 2 South East
Crowborough RFC
1st XV
12
7
Charlton Park
Borough come out on Top ......

Borough come out on Top ......

Ian GEERING17 Nov 2019 - 20:59
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After another close encounter at Steel Cross

Match Report this week is by Graham Callard.
And our Referee today is Stewart Goodwin.
On a dank and dreary day at Steel Cross these two sides were separated by two early Crowborough tries and one midway through the first half by the visitors. It was a testament to the Steel Cross grounds team that any rugby was played after the volume of rain that had fallen in the area over the past 10 days.
Crowborough started brightly with the forwards playing a controlled off-loading game with Captain, Matt Botterman, Will Creasy and Harry Slatter all making good forward progress. Tom West and Ali Main got the backs moving when presented with the ball and when Ali Main gave the deftest of passes to Rob Lester allowing him to break the defensive line things looked promising. From the ensuing position ‘Borough found themselves deep In Charlton Park territory and from a lineout a well executed catch and drive allowed Harry Slatter to power over for the opening try. With just five minutes gone and the Oli Clinch conversion Crowborough were 7-0 to the good.
The try galvanised the visitors into action and with Jeremy Montes leading the charge Crowborough now had some defending to do, which they did with some aplomb. Charlton Park got themselves into some good positions only for the last pass to go astray, something that plagued them throughout. With about 15 minutes gone Crowborough extended their lead after some excellent interplay between the forwards. Andy Orchard made good ground before off-loading to the fast charging Tom Kent in support who crashed over for Crowborough’s second try. Oli Clinch missed the extra points. 12-0.
Charlton Park playing some attractive rugby with backs and forwards linking well clawed their way back into the game. Montes was a thorn in ‘Borough’s side with scrum half Tommy Nightingale and fly half Rio Cooper sniping away when the opportunity presented itself. On the 27 minute mark Charlton Park reduced the deficit when Montes finished off a series of good off loads in the corner. Cooper added the extra points. 12-7.
The visitors finished the half much the stronger and it was only resolute defending by the Steel Cross men and sloppy last ditch passing by Charlton Park that kept the score at 12-7 at the break.
The second half started much the same as the first with Crowborough coming out of the blocks much the quicker. Oli Clinch had an opportunity to extend the home lead but his long range penalty effort went wide. Not long after Rio Cooper for Park had the opportunity to reduce the gap to four points but his effort also sailed wide. The game ebbed and flowed but with both sides defending as if their lives depended on it neither side could break the deadlock. In the growing gloom and with the pitch sapping the energy out of both sides legs game became somewhat bogged down in mid-field with more handling errors plaguing both sides and the penalty count increasing. Oli Clinch had another opportunity following another but yet again his effort sailed agonisingly wide.
Charlton Park’s pack started to dominate the scrum putting ‘Borough under increasing pressure but the defensive line held firm; a last ditch tackle by Zeb Kisbee epitomising the effort. The game could have been put to bed when with the ‘Borough scrum going backwards the ball squirted out to be picked up by Matt Botterman. With no-one at home down the blindside he drew the defence to him before off-loading to Oli Clinch. Clinch made good metres and the simplest of passes to Zeb Kisbee would have seen Kisbee over in the corner. No, the pass went astray and that opportunity went a begging. In the dying minutes Matt Botterman was correctly penalised for off-side but was harshly shown a yellow card. ‘Borough held on however to close out a scoreless second half for the 12-7 win.
As a footnote Steel Cross hosted two other games with the 2nd XV beating Newick 31-10 and The Crows going down to Eastbourne 2’s 38-0.
Crowborough travel to bottom placed Maidstone next week kick off 2:30pm

Match details

Match date

Sat 16 Nov 2019

Kickoff

14:30

Meet time

13:00

Instructions

Meet at 13.00pm.

Competition

London 2 South East

League position

4
Crowborough
5
Charlton Park
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Main Sponsor - freemarketFX
Main Sponsor - Merlin Lazer