Medway RFC Cougars

Sunday 6 March 2011

Medway 20 - Tunbridge Wells 35

Tries: Simpson, Lazell, Whitnell, French

Cougars Squad:

The Cougar's bad luck with injuries continued as we lost the 'Baby Faced Assassin', 'Nice South African' and 'What me sir' going in to this game, joining our long term injuries in the treatment room. If he had any hair left 'Laces' Marriott would certainly have been pulling it out frantically as he contemplated how best to approach a game armed with only five fit backs. Additional head scratching was needed as a refereeing crisis was also in full flow meaning that 'Sir' Pat was about to lose his morning off. So amongst much adversity, Medway went into this Kent Festival League/Cup Preliminary match, and to top it all off it was brass monkeys at Priestfields and 'Marvin' Stone ("brain the size of a planet and they make me coach the forwards") was in a surprisingly good mood, making everybody somewhat naturally nervous.

The 'Thespian' Fitzpatrick won the toss and elected to play uphill and into the wind in the first half with the plan surely to be to keep it tight before using the wind and hill advantage in the second half. Well if that was the plan it went right out of the window in an opening twenty minute spell from Tunbridge Wells that saw them surprisingly bully the Cougars off the ruck and maul, securing quick quality ball for their backs to attack at pace. In that opening twenty minutes the Cougars shipped four converted tries as Tunbridge pulled them all over the pitch. The last was particularly well worked as Tunbridge turned a defensive line out into attack with a well worked box kick over the top that a chasing back was able to scoop up and charge in for the try. With the 'Teetotaller' Kennedy having broken a finger things were looking bleak for the Cougars at 28-0 down and still with fifty minutes to go. However, the Cougars dug deep, emphasised by Kennedy returning to the field with his broken finger strapped. Shortly after, 'Bum Fluff' Marchant put in a quality box kick of his own from the defensive 22 to the opposition's 22. Things were looking up and the Cougars slowly but surely were regaining their composure and confidence. Medway were now assured up front and were beginning to dominate. An eight move at the base of the scrum saw 'Wing Commander' Brown make good ground followed by a courageous (broken finger or not) charge through the centres by the 'Teetotaller'. The forwards took over and drove the maul fifteen metres up to the line. The referee was in a great position (what 'Sir' Pat - never!) as the maul collapsed over the line and 'Gorgeous' George grounded the ball. The 'Ginger Peril' Gowdy narrowly missed the extras in the difficult conditions and the score was 5-28. Up until this point the game had flowed with very few penalties being conceded by either side, but that was to change in the blink of an eye as a maul collapsed over on the wing, a scuffle followed, a hat was knocked off (see crowd - we keep telling you to stand back from the line!) and a punch was thrown by the Tunbridge prop. The result was ten minutes in the sin bin and Tunbridge down to 14 players. Despite the man advantage, and some great phased play with plenty of ball retention, Medway couldn't break through and Wells held out until half time when they got their prop back.

At 5-28 down 'Laces' and 'Marvin' read the Cougars the riot act before sending them back out onto the pitch with some inspired Churchill (oh yes!) quotes (something about fighting on the beaches and the land - at least I think it was Churchill and not Quadrophenia) ringing in their ears. Five minutes into the second half and more great ruck and maul work by the Medway forwards saw them camped on the Tunbridge line. 'Bum Fluff' had a dive for the line but was held short. Medway recycled the ball and this time the 'Mimic' Lazell picked up at the back of the ruck and dived, making it with inches to spare. Another difficult kick for 'GP' who again missed narrowly. In the ascendancy now, things were looking good for Medway. However, a backs move from Tunbridge started in their own half and under pressure saw 'GP' taking the Churchill thing to extremes as he couldn't resist a shoulder charge on his opposite centre long after the ball had gone. It looked worse than it probably was but the result was the same - ten minutes in the sin bin for 'GP'. With the man advantage Tunbridge attacked well and from a scrum inside ten metres, they worked an eight move with a pop to the looping nine who drove for the gap in Medway's defence and the score was 10-35 after a successful conversion. A man down and on the back foot again Medway defended with all their might. 'New Boy' Nebbs made a great cover tackle at full back to thwart a dangerous Wells attack before Medway turned defence into attack to set the 'Mop' Morgan away down the wing. Only the 'Mop' could provide the comedy moment that was to follow as he was bundled into touch by the Tunbridge cover. He lost his footing and slid over on his back collecting the half way marker flag between the legs (ouch!) as he did so. If that wasn't bad enough the flag bent all the way back until it could go no further and then came back towards the 'Mop' catching him full in the face (double ouch!). But it wasn't over yet as the Tunbridge player also lost his footing landing in a heap on the 'Mop's' head (triple ouch!). Nurse 'Gladys Emmanuel' Wardzynski raced to the scene to ask the 'Mop' where he was hurting and when he replied "the nuts" she promptly about turned and raced away again - that's the NHS for you. The 'Mop' returned to the field with a new nick name - 'Flag Face' and £10 lighter for the damage caused to the flag. On play continued, with 'Chatterbox' Wardzynski now pulling the strings and keeping Medway going forward. The return of 'GP' added that extra dimension to Medway's play once more. More forward dominance saw the Cougars maul the ball some fifteen metres up to the Tunbridge line, 'Care Bear' Irons and the 'Thespian leading the way. The referee was again in an excellent position (twice in one day!) and as the maul collapsed was on hand to see 'Never Surrender' Whitnell ground the ball. 'Chatterbox' took the kick missing narrowly leaving the score at 15-35. The Cougars were sticking to their strengths and another spell of phased play, rucking and mauling, saw 'Junior Frenchie Mark II' French in his favoured scoring position - two metres out at the base of a ruck. He picked, he drove, he scored and then he spoke a lot, in fact he's still speaking about it now. The score was now 20-35 after another missed kick at the extras and that was how it stayed until the final whistle as both sides contested the final five minutes evenly.

A big thank you to Tunbridge Wells for making the trip up the A26. They are a quality side and we wish them well in the Festival Cup competition. As for the Cougars, we continue to be slow starters on match day and until we address this we will continue to find it difficult to win games when we give the opposition a three or four try head start on us. Today, we almost got there with the final try count at 4-5, and but for the missed extras the final result might have been different. There's no denying we put pressure on ourselves. That said, there are some positives with 'Wee Man' Marriott, 'Samson' Last and the 'Terminator' Bailey all putting in a shift. 'Never Surrender' Whitnell, 'Care Bear' Irons and the 'Thespian' Fitzpatrick, ably assisted by the other forwards, eventually built a platform that allowed 'Bum Fluff' Marchant and 'Chatterbox' Wardzynski to bring our makeshift centres 'Mimic' Lazell and 'Teetotal' Kennedy into the game with some great crash, bang, wallop play. Kennedy was the epitome of the side playing three quarters of the match with a broken finger. 'GP' Gowdy brought steel when switched to the centres and 'Flag Face' Morgan and 'New Boy' Nebbs stuck manfully to their task. However, the undoubted man of the match for some great line out work and spirited running was 'Wing Commander' Brown - well done Tom!

(Scribes, Dan '95 percent' Stone and 'Sir' Pat Nolan)

Paul's Pictures