Swanley 1XV vs Westcombe Park III 22.09.19
*Match Report*
With the Rugby World Cup in full flow, there was an air of anticipation among the Swanley boys to truly get the season started with a bang!
Anybody following the Rugby would have seen an action packed morning with the Aussies taking a win over a tough Fijian side, as well as the All Blacks beating the Saffas...something that the boys were only too keen to point out to the South African ref before the first whistle had even blown (perhaps not the wisest or most tactile move they would make that day!)
1st Half
Another hot sunny day saw the sun beaming down on the pitch with an intensity that could only be matched by George Oliver’s gleaming smile! The Swans were set to receive but had the advantage of the hill for the first half.
The Swans showed their dominance in the first 5 minutes keeping the visitors deep in their own half. A defensive scrum was formed on the visitor's 5m and The Swans beast of a pack smashed through, driving Westcombe Park back onto their try line. The ball was quickly cleared, then dropped by The Swans only to be gathered by the young gun George Oliver who snake-hipped his way past two tackles to score in the corner. Stuart Tate lined up the tricky conversion but failed to make the distance (he clearly missed out on his Weetabix).
Westcombe Park kicked off sending the ball about 8ft off the floor straight to Hayden Cook's reliable hands, who in turn drew the defence and released
Westcombe Park stayed positive with strong plays through their backs, however, the line speed of The Swans quickly shot them down. Sporting a brand new scrum-cap, James Yates put in a fantastic shift all game, constantly keeping his opposite number out of the game, all whilst looking like the fatter, uglier, and shorter offspring of Ant Sumbler and James Whitlock . To his right, squad newcomber Welsh Dan (Dan Eade) was playing 13, he completed Swanley's most vertically challenged centre partnership since records began. Whilst only being able to amass an average height of 5.6ft between them, their combined defence was impregnable (a trait not often seen in Swanley).
A late tackle on Paul Hately made The Swanley Flock gasp from the sides, but the ref let it slide, insisting he didn't see anyting wrong.
2nd Half
Coach George Morris has some strong words with the team, causing The Swans to come out flapping like a flock of protective Cobs safeguarding the river banks, epitomised by some enormous hits from Jack Nash and Guy Cooke. The blistering pace of James Davies (aka Wesley Snipes) allowed him to spin the ball out to the backs, Paul Hately kicked for territory, resulting in The Swans position deep inside the visitor's 22. The lineout was lost but excellent pressure from Swan's captain Ant Sumbler caused the visitor's 10 to drop the ball, which the newly reformed James Yates was only too eager to hoover up, he then drew the centres causing an overlap which enabled Welsh Dan (Dan Eades) to score his debut league try! Stuart Tate lined up for a near certain conversion but clearly was wearing two left boots and wagon'd it wide of the posts!
Westcombe Park soon found themselves in The Swans half with wave after wave of attack, Shane Odell and George Oliver battled tirelessly with relentless try saving tackles. Eventually however, the usually fail-safe George Oliver was bumped over and the visitors scored in the corner.
Spurred on by their recent try, Westcombe Park then took it upon themselves to call for back up in the shape of their 2nd Team who had finished their game early and were now arriving en masse.
Phantom pregnancy sufferer Paul Hately hobbled off the field with a jealous glint in his eye whilst commending his best chum James Yates' performance. The backs all stepped in one and James Yates was now in charge of the back-line.
Westcombe Park had the majority of the pressure in the last 15 minutes, keeping The Swans boxed in but the eagle eye of the Swanley blind side Sam Haslam swiped the ball and saved The Swans from conceding a near certain try. In a rare turn of events James Whitlock came off his wing frequently to bully the visitors at the rucks; but it's fair to say his throwing in wasn’t up to his usual high standard.
With minutes left, The Swans put one last bit of pressure on Westcombe Park with Stuart Tate bursting through the defence, riding two tackles, and passing majestically to James Yates, allowing him to trundle over the line! Jamies Davies (aka Wesley snipes) had enough of Stuart Tate's two left feet and stepped up to slot the conversion.
The whistle blew, and the scores stood at Swanley 1XV 22 - 5 Westcombe Park III
Special mentions go to:
Pocket rocket Tugboat (Paul Stephenson) for immense scrumming power and three carries.
Slight of hand Sam Haslam for stealing more balls than a knock off Nigel steals copper.
George Oliver’s courageous tackles and strong carries.
And finally James Yates who was a strong contender for scrum-cap of the day!
MOM - Stuart Tate for his turnovers and carries.
Rambo - Dan Eade for his kamikaze tackles
DOD- George Oliver for finally getting bumped (it must be said he could have walked away with any of the awards).
Thanks also to James Aitkenhead (aka Baconhead) for filming 500 videos, each 7 seconds in length. A big thank you to our very own Photographer and kind sponsor of the club Pete Bresser for his award winning photography! One final mention to The Swanley Flock , who were out in their droves basking in the sun and encouraging the boys, it didn't go unnoticed.
On a sad note, Swanley's oldest player was retired from the game on Saturday, his arthritis finally got too much for his frail old knee! Thankyou Dave Coombes (aka Cheesecake) for your efforts over the last three seasons, you fought tooth and gum for your position you old bastard!
Another home game next week will see us face Beckenham and hopefully this time Fred Roberts will get a permission slip from his Mummy allowing him to play!
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