Kent club festival.

A cold day but a warm glow surrounded Sidcup for this year’s Kent festival at Ashford RFC. An early start was required as the first game was planned for 9.30 God the mum’s won’t be happy on this year’s mother’s day …
On arrival while travelling through the sleet and snow on the M20 finds the ground very well watered by the inclement weather but the conditions had apart from the biting wind dried up,rumours abound as it becomes apparent teams are dropping out, IT’S A RE-DRAW, ! oh great that’s a completely new outlook on the planned team selection , as I watch the pools being written up it becomes apparent that the team are very similar and there is no re-draw just a few amendments.
Our pool of 3 includes Sittingbourne and our local rival Bromley , both sides with large packs , we had met both sides earlier in the year but this was a completely different team as Sidcup TEAM would be the strongest possible leaving our play all policy behind for this festival.
With a strong squad present we decide to go straight from the start the biggest issue would be the cold for our boys as we have a few boys feeling the cold.
Sittingbourne are first up, although they look a large side the plan was to get into their faces straight away and the plan worked with a break by Luke and a tries under the posts , Dan converts and 7-0 up after 2 mins, the sidcup side goes through the basics and fast flowing rugby is the order of the day , half time and the changes abound with Christian, Dan B, Eion, Harrison C, vish for his sidcup debue, all on with and further tries by josh ,Dan, Zak add to a satisfactory start for the boys and a 26-0 win for Cup.
Straight off and coats on KEEP WARM BOYS. The wind starts to cut through everyone and my feet are bloody freezing, the game times are now booked and we have to wait 1 3/4 hours for our next game.
Bromley next and as we know they have a strong pack with the commitment to match , umm same again but tackle low and hard , did we did we !! we kick off and there back row runs the ball back but straight in to jack who stopped him dead in his tracks Harrison straight over the ball on his feet to rip , his holding and a penalty result , run it straight away as the confidence shows and break straight through to score again , Luke S is limping as the cold takes it toll. Levi is on and how well he has come on since joining another Luke S in the making. After further breaks and support and another 2 tries half time beacons and the side look comfortable I thought Sos the Bromley coach would have a plan to come back and he did, although a strong break through the center and pass out wide to Levi and back inside to josh for a fine try and Cups 4 the Bromley side came back with a renewed vigour the Bromley side camped on our line a good 4 mins but the defence stood strong , although a committed tackle by dan masters sees him floored with a ban on the head in the corner but another win to Cup, 22-0
We now await the winner of group 4, Thannet or Blackheath, with the Blackheath making lots of handling errors the Thannet side took control of the game and winning through, so Thannet would be our quarter final.
The Thannet side a very large side big pack and back line but they all go down when tackled a brief chat about the front row and a change at hooker sees a plan for next season put into place earlier than planed with Harrison Britton (pack leader) changing from no 8? This is a gamble ,so lets see , Cup kick off , a brief battle in the midfield and the Thannet side look even bigger than we thought but he Cup boys cut The large pack down and the plan working both Hs on the pitch for a few months pays off and the boys start to move the ball around a well worked tries between the pack and backs sees a couple of tries , then in a unfortunate incident and a Thannet tackled wing goes down heavy with a neck injury, the game is stopped , we all do what we can but the air ambulance helicopter is called and the player taken to hospital, Sidcup WISH HIM WELL.
The game is restarted on a adjacent pitch but Sidcup can now smell victory with some great flowing rugby tries are run in from all over from backs and forwards with jack moore breaking to score in to the corner a very well played game. The game is our but the injury to Dan sees us without a goal kicker and conversions go missing. Final score 34-0 but the injury to the Thannet player obviously took its toll on the Thannet side.
Semi-final. Who , Aylseford another side we have played this season and know a little of, after a little chat with the pack we start receiving the kick , straight back and there pack has there tails up , the good news is Dans back on the pitch for the kicks if we score, yes we can as we finally go over in the corner. Although the sidcup side are moving the ball it is very error strewn, but after another from Luke half time comes, josh Fenn is limping, of goes josh and on comes Lee white who has proved his worth to his team mates at this festival. Luke yields to Christian and the second half starts a few forays and sidcup start to spill penalties! The defence holds then Aylseford break wide , a great cover tackle form Sam Connelly and the ball goes loose picked up quickly by sol usher who breaks blind to run the full length of the pitch to score under the posts and put the game to bed.
All in all the draw was kind to Sidcup and we now play TJs in the final the current Kent champions will pose a completely different set of issues for the Sidcup side .
Well done all
Porky