Sat 6 Oct: Trojans 14 - Sidcup 51

The visitors started well and in the first ten minutes had forced Trojans into conceding three penalties of which two were kicked by fly-half Matt Ody to give them a 6-0 lead. On the down side, lock Joe Thomas was forced off with a shoulder injury and after a bit of a reshuffle Iain Wilson came on to hook with Tom England going to flanker and Mike Elliott going up to the second row.

Within five minutes Trojans had pinned Sidcup into their own corner and the pressure drew a penalty which saw prop Sam Carmen seeing yellow for his first offence of the game. From the resulting penalty scrum Trojans released their centre to score under the posts. The conversion was kicked and Trojans led 7-6.

The half continued with the penalty count as well as a few tempers rising especially that of forwards coach Jim Roques who is not the best of spectators! However, two tries from his forwards in quick succession should have pleased him; returning skipper Peter Grayson and number eight Nike Gilbert both crossing and with Ody kicking one of the conversions the score was 18-7 but not for long.

From the restart, try scorer Gilbert collected the ball and made a superb break into the Trojans half. His pace though had surprised his teammates and he was isolated and forced to throw a chancey long pass. It proved too chancey and Trojans intercepted to run in sixty metres under the posts despite the best of chases from Richard Roddis. An easy conversion and now it was only 18-14.

With half time beckoning Sidcup found themselves with a lineout on the Trojans five metre line and following the catch and drive Jamie Cutler broke from the back of the ruck to score but the tackle on the line damaged Cutler and that was his last action of the afternoon as he was replaced by Daniel Evans. Ody by now had kicked the extras and half time was taken with the visitors 25-14 up.

The second half started with the strong Sidcup pack in the ascendency and with numerous phases of forward pressure they found themselves camped on the Trojans try line with a penalty advantage. This they did not need as Tom Page scored, the kick was converted and referee Mr Whalen sin binned a Trojans flanker. The lead was now 32-14.

It took Sidcup almost all of the ten minutes to make their numbers advantage count and they did this through England after another trademark catch and drive. The kick was missed, the Trojans player recalled to action and Sidcup led 37-14.

The Trojans players were now tiring and with the Sidcup scrum so dominant a hard last fifteen minutes was to be endured by the hosts. Sidcup's mass of possession provided from the forwards meant the backs had the freedom to stretch their legs resulting in tries for Roddis and Phil Evans who had replaced Callum Thomson. Ody kicked both conversions and the game ended with the victory 51-14 and in scoring more than four tries a bonus point was earned.

It was a strong performance from a fitter, younger team and put to bed the disappointments of a week ago and of last year's visit to Eastleight. Sidcup moved to 5th in the table and this week take on Gosport and Fareham at Crescent Farm after hosting the annual Centurions and VPs lunch; kick off is 3pm.

Team: Roddis, Clarke, Day, Thomson (Evans P), Woollard, Ody, Cutler (Evans D), Page, England, Carmen, Thomas (Wilson), Mizen, Elliott, Grayson (c), Gilbert.

Otto - 9 Oct 12