Saturday 9 April 2005 – Powergen Kent 3

A great result and a good performance to finish the season of. The whole team played well in a game we dominated and deserved to win.
Side: Giblin, Ross-Wilden, Fisher, 

Griffiths

, Young, Randall Leitch, Aaron White, Greg White, Vere, Oosthuizen, Mick, Andrews, Lowth, Wichard, Tobin  Subs Sealy, Twigger, Platts.

Thanks to everyone who played and all those who came along to support.

 See you at club day (gather at 1pm for a 3:00 kick off) and at the Ginger’s French Weekend - please let me know availability for both asap.

 Also do not forget the Footscray 7's on 7 May - we have entered a side.

 Steve
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Saturday 5 March 2005
Royal Bank of Scotland RFC    11    Old Williamsonians RFC   8

After another torrid week getting a side out we eventually managed a squad of 18 players and again thanks to those who played out of position – James Tobin on his last game for the club at Hooker, Simon Lawson at Scrum Half and Sam Ross-Wilden on the wing (again).
As expected after all the weather we have had the pitch was soggy and it was a typical forwards battle with the Bank dominating the scrums and winning their fair share of line outs (ours and theirs).
However despite trying to establish ourselves early on we conceded the first try of the game off a well worked move from Old Williamsonians who scored in the corner on the blind side after a scrum. Whilst the score was good they only gained field position due to us missing a number of tackles on their back row.
After this score we gradually established ourselves on the game and spent much of the next 20 minutes in the OW's 22. Our front row was putting theirs under intense pressure and eventually something had to give and it was their loose head prop who was left wandering around somewhat dazed. Whilst this weakened their front row even further we had to be careful as anymore injuries would have led to scrums going uncontested and us losing our advantage.
We eventually won a penalty which Trevor slotted to bring the scores back to 3 - 5. OW's then came back at us and a period of sustained defence saw us hold out on our 5 metre line before good tactical kicking saw us regain field position. After a period of scrums and rolling mauls the ball was fed on the blind side for Trevor to go over for the try.
Unfortunately ill discipline saw us concede a penalty late in the first half so half time score was 8 – 8 which was not at all reflective of the Bank's dominance.
The second half was much the same story with us spending most of the time in the oppo's half but being unable to convert territory and possession in to a score. Both Wayne and Simon Lawson went close with strong runs and the Backs continued to look dangerous every time they got quick ball and could run at the oppo. We did slot one penalty to lead 11 - 8.
Despite spending a good deal of time in the 22 our achillies heal reared it's head and we gave away silly penalties whilst in strong positions which saw us lose the advantage. We must be more disciplined in these situations as it only hands the ball back to the oppo when we could have been in a strong position ourselves. Lets let the referee make the decisions and keep our discipline.
Eventually we managed to hang on in a tense last 10 minutes (which seem to go on forever) to secure another 2 points - our record since Xmas looks better with 4 league games played and 2 won.

Again well done to everybody for coming down - apologies to Steve Edser and Martin for coming down as subs - with the scoreline as tight as it was we could not get you on but thanks for showing your support.
We now have 3 league games left starting with next weekend against Kings College Hospital so lets get to training on Tuesday so we can build on what is going well to get a couple more wins before the season end.

Please confirm your availability asap for this weekend.

Thanks

Steve

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Saturday 29 January 2005

Royal Bank of Scotland RFC    48                        Greenwich RFC   0

At last a win!!!

A good performance saw us run in 8 tries against a spirited Greenwich side.

The whole team worked well together and good quick ball from the forwards enabled the backs to cut through the Greenwich defence on a regular basis. For a brief spell in the first half we let Greenwich back in to the game – although defended well when they attacked our line. The biggest criticism would be the penalty count and we must keep this down in future games. Good performances from all this weekend, naturally Alex and Phil scoring hat tricks being the highlight - this after Richard had told the outside centres and wingers to be more Greedy - you could hear Henry on the other wing groan hearing Alex may be more Greedy!!!!.  Seriously the Backs played very well working together to create numerous chances. In the forwards Wayne made one storming run down the flank from a kick off - I am not sure if he was tackled or just fell over exhausted but it could a fair time to get to the resultant scrum.  The scrum played well particularly on their ball and due to the pressure of the front 5 Sam was able to take a number of balls against the head.

Credit must go to Greenwich who despite being down to 13 men in the last 10 minutes agreed to keep going even after being offered an early finish.This was a good weekend for the club with us fielding 2 sides for the first time this season. Thanks to all those who turned up - particularly to Marc Jones who came along to watch and ended up propping all afternoon (despite his injured hand). Our next target is to try to repeat this on 19 February when the 1's are away to Deal (lets ensure we fulfil this fixture as having got 2 points in the league we do not want them deducted - the club will run a coach if there is sufficient interest so please let me know asap that you are available and are interested in travelling by coach) - the 2's are away to Orpington that same weekend. In the meantime we have 2 second team fixtures away to Park House and Greenwich - please make yourselves available.

Thanks to everyone for turning up on Saturday.

I hope all those injured are recovering.

On a slightly down side only 5 of us turned up for training on Tuesday and it was not worth us going out - please continue to make the effort to get to training, Richard puts a lot of effort in to the sessions and some if us travel along way to get there and it is frustrating for all if we cannot do anything constructive.  Training has been fun this year and all of us who have attended have found it worthwhile - lets keep the momentum going until the end of the season.

Steve

Further good news is that the committee have agreed an all out recruitment drive following recommendations and suggestions made by club members, mainly JKS and will be following various avenues to recruit new players.
Anybody who can help with this would be appreciated both in terms of time and ideas.

 

Saturday 22 January 2005
Royal Bank of Scotland 2^nd XV    18
St.Mary’s XV   26
Tries:   Lowth, Fisher and Bank
Conversions:    Oosthuizen

A competitively fought game where our backs could carve through the opposition on a regular basis - unfortunately up front we were unable to secure enough ball (especially in the second half) to enable us to win the game. As with a number of games this season we were not as fit as the opposition forwards and neither were we aggressive enough - we need to work on this for the coming league games as now we have a set of backs who can run through most opposition back lines we need to ensure we deliver the ball and the necessary support to ensure we win some games.
Good debuts were made by Steve Beattie (on the wing) and Mark Williams (at No 8) and it was good to see a squad of 20+ players down for this game.
Next weekend is our key weekend and we want to get two sides out – there will be food for everybody after the game and we are also planning a quiz night in the bar afterwards.
Please ensure your availability and let the skippers know asap so we can select the sides.
See you all at training on Tuesday - please make the effort this week as we build for this weekend.
Thanks
Steve

 Saturday 8 January 2005 – Powergen - Kent Three League
Royal Bank of Scotland RFC   17
Edenbridge RFC  22

Tries:   Phil Black (2)

This was a good game of rugby played in windy conditions which surprised the opposition given their "relatively" easy victory on their home ground earlier in the season.


Having lost the toss we were made to play into the strong wind in the first half and made good use of the rolling maul and lineout possession to keep the  ball. The Bank started the stronger side and immediately took the game to the Oppo. The forwards took the upper hand in the opening exchanges and with our strong set of backs putting in some heavy tackles we spent the early part of the game camped in their half - unfortunately we were not able to convert this on to points and as soon as they got clean ball they were able to kick with the wind to take field position.


On one of their first forays in to our half they managed to break off the back of the maul and due to some missed tackles went in under the posts to lead 7 - 0.

The Bank side came back and again dominated possession and a driving maul from  the  10  metre  line  took  us in to their 22 only for the referee to penalise us for pulling the maul down (and giving Sam something of a dressing  down  even though it was not him). The resultant penalty saw them clear their lines with a huge kick and the pressure was lost. Despite continuing to drive forward we were unable to break their defence down and went in to the break trailing by that 1 try.



As usual despite talking about it we went to sleep at the start of the second half and with Edenbridge now adopting a running game (due to the wind) we fell off a couple of tackles and another score followed.


This seemed to get us back on track and with us now able to use the wind we got ourselves in to a position where they conceded a penalty which Trevor duly converted.


Edenbridge then made a break away down the flank and scored a further try in the corner.


With Joseph making his debut at scrum half the forwards and backs were linking well and looked dangerous every time we went forward – eventually we had a scrum well inside their 22 form which Arron picked up and went blind offloading to Phil who scored - Trevor converting from the touchline.


We then continued to pressure their line without being able to make the breakthrough until 5 minutes to go when a move probably involving most of the team led to the majority of their side being committed to the break down and we were able to get quick ball out to Trevor who then fed Phil to score (in the bar afterwards the ref described it as the best try he had seen this season) - Trevor converting from the other touchline.


Unfortunately despite our efforts we then ran out of time with the final score 22 - 17 to Edenbridge.

Their were a number of positives to take from the game and we must be encouraged from the performance although we still need to convert this in to a victory. We also need to pick up ourselves up quicker when a mistake is made - all of their tries were as a result of missed tackles and we must also cut out the penalties.


Joseph playing his first  ever game at scrum half had a great game, the entire  back line looked threatening going forward and were well drilled in defence and the forwards made good use of the rolling maul although we still need to work on body positions as the maul progresses.

Thanks to every one who turned up to play and to watch, sorry we were not able to get all the subs on - lets take this step forward in to the next few weeks with a couple of victories for the "2's" before we take on Greenwich on the 29th in a must win fixture.


We need to get two sides out on the 29th so can everybody please make a note  now and endeavour to keep that Saturday afternoon / evening free – we have two sides at  home (probably for the only team this season) so lets make it a good day with 2 victories.


Please get down to training on Tuesday 7.15 and let the skippers know about your availability for the next few weeks ASAP (if you have not already done so).


Please also carry on looking out for new recruits from your workplaces / groups of friends - the more players we can get down the more the club can progress.

 

Steve

 

Royal Bank of Scotland Group RFC  10
HSBC Group RFC  45

A depressing scoreline for a performance that was quite inspirational in the majority.
After much scrabbling to find 15 players that were (a) not injured, (b) in the country (c) not otherwise occupied we took the field with 15 players (thanks to a last minute call to a friend of the White's returning to rugby after a year's absence through injury). Despite the disorder, the fact that as usual many players were playing out of position, the fact that we had to field injured players and our coach, and that people weren't used to playing together we fielded a relatively strong team.

HSBC came into the game expecting to dominate but we showed from the start that this wasn't going to be the easy game they had expected. From their kick-off we gathered well, kept the ball where we had the forward strength, set it well for the backs and drove back into their half.

The first half was dominated by some hard work put in by the forwards, including good some good rucking and close quarter drives in attack with (for a change) the support to recycle the ball, some robust defence by the backs finally putting the training theme of getting into their faces in defence into practice.
HSBC scored a penalty finally after about 10 mins and unfortunately got a further two tries and conversions during the rest of the first half. One of these however was clearly in touch and even took out the corner flag before touching down. The only problem was the 9 year old HSBC touch judge being 'generous' in his interpretation!

We had a good percentage of the possession but only managed a penalty from Arran despite pressurising their line well with some good attacking, and well supported, play.

The second half started well with both teams evenly matched for the first 20 mins, RBS nicking it points wise thanks to a runaway try form Les following further pressure from our backs in defence.

For the last 20 mins they began to dominate (how many of the match reports this year have a similar pattern?). Their excellent backs, ably supported by their mobile and strong loose forwards, began to pick up momentum going forward and we would have lost by a greater margin but for some excellent last ditch cover tackles from the backs and the forwards still able to get round the pitch as quickly as them.

We still held them close until the last 10 mins when 21 of their points were scored. (14 in the last 4 mins).

The positives:

1)       People making the effort to get round the park and put in the tackles.

2)       Les's snatch-and-grab try; tackle, rip the ball from opposite number's arms and run just over half the pitch to score under the posts - just seeing their gutted faces was excellent.

3)       People enjoyed playing as we put up a good fight and made a good deal of the running in the game

4)       Big thanks to those making the extra effort to come back and play for us and fill the gaps - Wedders, winger friend of the Whites (Paul? - I always was bad at names), Richard, Randall, Les.

To be improved:

1)       Fitness to last us that last quarter

2)       Practice - lets get the basics drilled on the practice field.

3)       The continuity - I know much is injury driven but please make every effort to keep those Saturday's  free.

LAST NOTES:

1)    We have our last training of the year on Tuesday 14th before the second team game on Saturday - please try and be there

2)    Next year we have a hugely important start to the year with the games we are targeting for our Wins. Please make every effort to get to training (starting again on the 4th January) and be available on the Saturdays (in January particularly)

Cheers

Ken

Saturday 4 December 2004 - Powergen – Kent 3

Royal Bank of Scotland Group RFC                   3
Orpington RFC                                                  31

Despite the final result there were periods in this game where we "gelled" as a team and managed to put together some good periods of play between forwards and backs with some excellent ball recycling. However yet again the difference between the 2 sides was fitness which was evident in the last 20 minutes.

This week our backs looked sharp every time they got the ball and thanks must go to Arron and Stuart Barry for playing out of position yet again and to Ken for making his comeback despite his knee not yet being fully recovered. Yet again we were plagued with injuries with Sam Wilden (chest), Les (Hamstring- yes he has got one) and Mikzy (bruised sternum and thumb) all having to leave the field.  It was good to have James Tobin back after injury.

Orpington were a well drilled side in the line out and had some fast running backs which caused us problems although in the first half some big tackling saw us hold the score to 12 - 3 at half time.

Unfortunately from the kick off my error led to an immediate score from which we never really recovered and despite some good passages of play and some time spent camped on their try line we were unable to cross and did not make proper use of overlaps which we had.

Good performances this week from Steve Tate (again playing at scrum half), Malcolm Munro and Alex helped to keep the score down.

We must continue to work on our fitness away from training and playing so we can concentrate on drills and rugby skills on a Tuesday - it was good to see 11 people at training last week - lets keep this up - training will continue this week and next.

This weekend we have the return fixture against HSBC - please let me know your availability ASAP.

Steve

Saturday 20 November 2004 - Powergen – Kent 3
Royal Bank of Scotland Group RFC                   7
Footscray RFC                                                  67

There is little point in dwelling on the result of this game. A big thanks must go to all those who took part and those who came along to support.

Why people ring up on a Friday afternoon and tell me they will be there and then don't show (without letting us know - appreciating some exceptional circumstances are unavoidable) is beyond me - it is happening too often this season and it lets all the rest of the team and the club down.

This was a first team league fixture and we started with just 14 players by half time we had lost Tom Banks (shoulder ligaments) and Andy Ruocco (ankle ligaments) and then early in the second half we also lost Ben Shanahan (badly  dislocated finger). Thank goodness Les had come along straight from work to help us out - We also effectively lost Marc Jones with knee ligament  damage on Friday afternoon but as we were short he agreed to play but clearly in a lot of pain.

At the start of the second half when we only had 11 players on the pitch the ref agreed to abandon the game after 60 mins which their skipper thankfully agreed to.  However it is testament to the players on the park that it was during this spell with Marc Jones back on the pitch (at scrum half!!!!)  that  we  scored  a well worked try through good driving play by forwards  and  backs  with  Wayne  going  over  in  the corner - Arron then slotting the conversion from the touch line. A well deserved reward for the effort put in.

Despite the scoreline there were some great performances - Sam Wilden had his best game ever for the club, Ben Shanahan prior to injury tackled everything coming at him and special mention must go to Arron White, Stu Barry, Tom Fisher and Phil  Black who continued to take the game to Footscray  despite  being hopelessly outnumbered. Special mention must also go to Steve Tate who agreed to play at scrum half and jump in the line out and carried both off extremely well.

Up front it was the usual story, Sam and Adrian apart (and Arron when he was in the forwards) we lack mobility and must get around the park more. Our aggression levels are not as high as the teams we come up against and whilst we can show in phases that we can play well (HSBC) we must continue to do this every week.

That said I hope the experience of Saturday will not put the hard core of players we have turning up on a regular basis from carrying on - we all know we need a huge recruitment drive (and if anybody has any ideas please come forward) but we need the nucleus of players who we have to continue to want to play and who up until Saturday had been enjoying it.

Hope to see you at training on Tuesday - we do have a second team fixture this weekend (12  o clock kick off at home against Darenth Valley) of you are available please let me know.

Hope all those injured recover quickly - we need you.

Thanks also to Jerry for being a very busy ambulance driver the day after his wedding!!!! - Thanks for coming along to watch - totally appreciate you could not play - have a great honeymoon.

Also thanks to Mikey for coming down as soon as he finished work to arrive on the sideline changed 3 mins before the ref abandoned the game - thanks for making the effort - sorry all in vain.

I am sure all those who played on Saturday questioned why (I know I did) but we have to fight back and  we all want to keep the club going but to do so  we  need everyone’s support both in terms of playing and recruitment (it cannot just be down to the nucleus who make themselves available regularly)

- please give it some thought.

Apologies if this seems somewhat hard but we need to do something and soon.

Steve

 

 

Saturday 13 November 2004 - Powergen – Kent 3
Royal Bank of Scotland Group RFC       8
HSBC RFC                                             51

Scorers Try Andrews, Penalty Andrews

 

Firstly  thanks  to everyone who turned out for the club on reunion day and

also  to  all  those who came along to support. It was good to see some old

faces both on and off the pitch. 

Despite  the scoreline we can take some positives from the game, the spirit

remains  good and nobodys head dropped. We continued to fight until the end

which  was  evidenced  by  Trevor's  score  late  on  following a period of

sustained  forward  pressure and a rolling maul which carried us a long way

down the park. 

We  have  been  using the rolling maul to good effect throughout the season

although due to a lack of communication we tend to lose control of the ball

at  the crucial moment. This is something we have been practising regularly

in  training  and  it  was good to see the work being transferred to a game

situation. 

We  started  the  game  well and went ahead early on through a penalty from

Trevor  which  followed some good passages of play. We actually started the

game  playing  in  their  half and taking the game to them which led to the

penalty  -  we were winning scrum ball and the lineout improved as the game

went  on.  We  lost Les and Jerry early on through injury to be replaced by

Marc  Jones  and  Sam  Wilden  and  despite  these  changes  the pack still

functioned  well  - which is due to the fact that we do all train together.

The  backs  looked  dangerous  when they got the ball with Trevor, Alex and

David  Philipps all playing well together and Tom Banks having another good

game  at  full  back.  Thanks  to Andy for playing on the wing (due to a no

show)  and  also  thanks  to Phil Black for turning up with his kit despite

only getting back from Oz that morning.

Whilst  the  scoreline is disappointing we must continue to remain positive

and keep working on things in training to improve our game. Please make the

effort to get down on a Tuesday so we can continue to improve both in terms

of skill and fitness for the rest of the season.

I  hope  all  the injuries picked up on Saturday are improving - please all

let me know your availability for this weekend asap..

 

Steve

Try:  James   Conversion: Stu Barry

Tries - David Philipps & Phil Black

Tries: Omonua, Martin, Rick Leitch  Conversions: Neale