Sevenoaks Acorns battle in the mud
Dec
The Sevenoaks Acorns made heavy weather in muddy and wet conditions to record a 22-14 away win against old foes Maidstone over 45’s on Saturday. With the tight five of Thurnell, Morris, Shirtcliff, Groves and Emmins dominating the scrums and number eight Nicholson securing clean possession on both teams throws in the lineout, there was an abundance of quick possession for the backs, superbly marshalled by evergreen centre Carling, to feed off.
After a few phases of midfield rucks and mauls, livewire scrumhalf Werner opened the scoring with a quick nip around the fringe of the maul. He and flanker Mortassagne were a constant thorn in the opposition side and provided strong links between the pack and the speedy backs, with a svelte England showing a particular turn of pace on a number of occasions with McMorran always in close support.
While forward power allowed the gain line to be crossed on many occasions, the slippery conditions did not allow multiple phases and free flowing rugby from both sides was sadly limited. However, after some great interplay by the backs and a number of close pop passes, Carling went in to score, followed soon thereafter by another well worked try from outside centre Boatman to take the lead to 17-7 at the interval.
The second half saw Maidstone come back strongly and repeatedly attack the Acorns line, resulting in a second try from them. However, the Acorns immediately launched a counter attack and some strong driving from flanker Bampton and good piercing runs from Gowie and fullback Galler took play to within metres of the opposition line where Thurnell collected and barged over in true prop forward style to record his first try in an Acorns jersey. Maidstone continued to attack but were repeatedly repulsed due to some excellent defence from the ageless Middleton and Richardson in the forwards and Grice on the wing, to take the score at the final whistle to a respectable 22-14.
This Saturday (5th December) sees the Acorns take on the might of Weavering at an away fixture, also played at the Maidstone RFC ground.
Sevenoaks Acorns from: Groves, Morris, Mortassagne, Thurnell, Richardson, Shirtcliff, Emmins, Middleton, Nicholson, Bampton, Werner, England, McMorran, Carling, Boatman, Gowie, Grice, Galler
