Confidence high after crushing win
“We needed a bit of a performance"
Skipper Ben Cliff feels Saturday’s resounding victory over Askeans is the perfect preparation for Whitstable’s biggest game of this season this weekend.
Saturday’s win at Reeves Way took the Blues back to the top of Shepherd Naeme Kent 2 on points difference from Brockleians, who are their next opponents.
Both teams have maximum points after five matches and Cliff says Whitstable will travel to SE9 for their big showdown full of confidence.
He added: “We needed a bit of a performance after the last two games which had been a little bit underwhelming. The wind did not help when we played Faversham (a game they won 22-13) but the conditions were good on Saturdayand we produced some outstanding rugby.
“They just could not live with us and we were as pleased with the clean sheet as we were the point we scored because it’s something we talked about, not conceding.”
Cliff picked up three of Whitstable’s 11 tries, with Jamie Piggins, impressive on his first start at full-back, adding two more.
The remainder came from Marck Olive, Will Reid, second row Andy Newman – described as being everywhere by Cliff – replacements Leeroy Chaipa and Daniel Till and scrum half Andrew Huey, who also kicked eight conversions in and outstanding individual display.
Brockleians maintained their 100% start with a 48-7 victory at Bexley and Cliff is expecting a tough encounter this weekend.
He said: “ We’ve heard they are quite big up front ad young in the back so it may be a case of trying to grind them down and hoping out fitness will get us through.
“Saturday is going to be a big test but there’s a lot of confidence in the squad at the moment, we never go into hames thinking we might lose, we go in expecting to perform and to get a positive result and that’s down to the self-belief Mal(Blus coach Mal Graves) has helped install.”
Match report credit to KM group
Try
Ben Cliff
Try
Jamie Piggins
Try
Andrew Huey
Try
Andrew Newman
Try
Marck Olive
Try
Jamie Piggins
Try
Ben Cliff
Try
Leeroy Chaipa
Try
Ben Cliff
Try
Daniel Till
Try
Will ReidKey moments
Highlights
As it happened
- Whitstable
- Askean
- 0
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Ben Cliff Try 5:00'
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Andrew Huey Conversion 6:00'
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Jamie Piggins Try 9:00'
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Andrew Huey Try 14:00'
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Andrew Newman Try 30:00'
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Andrew Huey Conversion 31:00'
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Marck Olive Try 44:00'
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Andrew Huey Conversion 45:00'
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Jamie Piggins Try 46:00'
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Ben Cliff Try 50:00'
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Andrew Huey Conversion 51:00'
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Leeroy Chaipa Try 55:00'
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Andrew Huey Conversion 56:00'
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Ben Cliff Try 60:00'
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Andrew Huey Conversion 61:00'
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Daniel Till Try 70:00'
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Andrew Huey Conversion 71:00'
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Will Reid Try 77:00'
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Andrew Huey Conversion 78:00'
Team selection
Piggins, Jamie
Crane, Ryan
Cairney, Antony
Bowers, Luke
Reid, Will
Olive, Marck
Huey, Andrew
Hudson, Robert
Holness, Sam
Graves, Mal
Newman, Andrew
Hall, Matthew
Taggart, Joey
Cliff, Ben
Pepper, Luke
League round up
Other Shepherd Neame Kent 2 results
Comments
League table
| # | Team | Pl | Pts |
| 1. | Whitstable | 16 | 71 |
| 2. | Foots Cray | 17 | 66 |
| 3. | Brockleians | 16 | 63 |
| 4. | Lordswood | 16 | 47 |
| 5. | Bexley | 16 | 41 |
| 6. | Faversham | 16 | 25 |
| 7. | Dartford Valley | 16 | 21 |
Team sponsors
Affiliations
Club sponsors
