Match Report Archive
Sevenoaks 10, Tonbridge Juddians 36
09 Nov 2008
(Report courtesy of Tonbridge Juddians)
This game was affected by school Rugby this week rather than the weather. Both teams were missing the Judd School boys who had been asked not to play Club rugby this weekend due to the school’s Daily Mail Cup commitments.
This meant that there had to be structural changes to the pack (in particular) but this did not alter their strength and had the added bonus of some new faces stamping their mark on the TJ season.
From the start TJ’s played their rugby through their forwards, a tactic that has served them well throughout the season to date. TJ’s won the majority of loose ball and rucks with excellent spoiling play. Adam Vickey, in particular, seemed to be everywhere carrying and setting up the larger forwards to carry on their bullocking runs. This method led to the initial try by Johnno Hinton.
Spoiling play led to the second with John Jackson kicking out a loose ball on the wing, which was then hacked ahead again by Rob Cruickshank who managed to touch down.
Having mentioned the excellent forward play, credit should also be given to the backs. Good distribution and handling, good choice of running lines and pre-planned moves allowed them ample opportunity to cross the line. Tom Davis finished two such runs either side of half time.
TJ’s first half domination saw them lead 24 – 0 at the turn. Continued forward pressure into the second half was only thwarted by the referee blowing up for a variety of offences. Despite this, both Tom Davis & Craig Gazzard finished off strong forward momentum to stretch the score.
Sevenoaks did cross the line twice in the second half but this didn’t change a sound effort by TJ’s right across the field. A creditable win by a weakened TJ XV against an equally affected Sevenoaks team.