Hot going at Chichester!!

CHICHESTER 23 -SIDCUP 19.

.. to play this match between two unbeaten sides in London 1 South. But credit to both sets of players to provide an entertaining match that was played in temperatures reaching 29 degrees on the second day of October. Even the visiting supporters reached for their sun hats and sun cream and the occasional cooling beer! The pitch had a rich supply of grass which was welcomed by the players.
Although the game was interrupted for the much deserved water breaks the game, although not a classic, was intriguing and the visit to England’s south coast ended in defeat for Sidcup by 23-19 but Sidcup came away with a well earned bonus point.

Sidcup were missing two regular back row forwards in Elliott (injured) and Poff (unavailable) but the new formation of Evans, Gilbert and Nevin were industrious , Gilbert showed good touches from No 8 with his driving runs and Evans and Nevin performing well at the line out.
Sidcup started well and with minutes Hardy had converted his first points of the day with a penalty in front of the posts but Chichester were soon back in the game with a jinking run from their full back, to score under the posts ,ably assisted by a poor clearance kick and a few missed tackles from Sidcup .This pushed Chichester into a 7-3 lead. With both sides winning their own set piece ball and with no front row wilting at this stage Hardy converted a further penalty only to be matched again by Chichester with a penalty for the very popular decision for being offside in midfield,10 – 6 to Chichester.

With 25 mins gone Sidcup produced a great try with some individual jinking from fly half Ubee from half way before making the final pass to the supporting Harrison who went over in the corner. Hardy converted from wide out to give Sidcup the lead 13-10. With two further penalties, one to each side, Sidcup lead at half time 16-13.

With both sets of players using the shade of the trees for the half time talk is was going to be a tough second forty minutes. Chichester started the second half with a dropped goal after two minutes, making the scores leval at 16-16 after a poor catch from the restart from the visitors and then sustained pressure on the Sidcup goal line for 15 minutes. But hard work from the Sidcup XV kept Chichester without a score.
Sidcup started to make waves into the Chichester half and went close on two occasions with trying scoring attempts but could only came away with a penalty to hold on to a tight lead 19-16.
With 12 mins remaining Chichester took a quick tap from a free kick and went over for a try by the posts which was converted to seven points giving them a lead of 23- 19. Sidcup retaliated with sustained pressure on the Chichester line and tried hard in vain going for the driving maul pushover. This was thwarted by Chichester and the final whistle was greeted from elevation from the Chichester players.

This was Sidcup best performance of the season to date and full credit must be given to all players to toil in the barmy English heat of October. Sidcup have now played 3 out of the top five teams in the league and will be fairly pleased with their league position to date.
Sidcup entertain Haywards Heath this Saturday which will follow the Vice Presidents and Centurions lunch in the Clubhouse .Kick off is 3pm. See you there.

Report by Phil West
Your usual correspondent has now recovered from Scotland’s defeat on Saturday and will resume his coverage this week! Come on England!