Darfordians 3's 15 - Sidcup 3's 10

On a blustery day at Dartfordians, Sidcup 3rd XV attempted to build on a promising start to the season against a much improved Darts side if recent league form was anything to go by. The build up to the game saw cup spoilt for choice in terms of front five but sadly lacking everywhere else.... luckily the bench was not literal or it would have been creaking.

Having lost the toss (well done Woody.) Darts opted to go with the wind and sun behind them in the first half and as expected whenever the opportunity arose they would look to kick into the corners and turn the defensive line around. This was covered manfully by Rashid 'Mo' Bisabimana and Teddy Bevan who always looked dangerous running from deep.

Sidcup played with ambition in the opening stages assaulting the Darts defence but a lack of aggression at the break down resulting in penalties and some loose hands when going wide gifted darts possession. In the scrums that followed Jorel Paul had a torrid time with a younger but definitely more experienced prop turning him inside out, questions remain as to the legality of this but the real victim here was poor old Tom 'Maz' Wicks who was slowly having his arm removed as Jorel repeatedly shot up like a bloated jack in the box. Some wise words from the bench tried to prevent this but his opposite man adjusted and this time Jorel fell flat on his face, the pattern another darts penalty.

Sidcup's line speed and intensity in defence kept darts contained for a while with huge hits flying in from Tommy Crisp and some key tackles made out wide by Mo, Teddy and even Dave Gregson getting in on the action smashing someone into touch. However with the referee blowing up at breakdown and scrum alike and the wind giving Darts an edge eventually missed tackles started to creep in through the midfield and Darts went over for the first score of the game, 5-0 with the darts kicker failing to find the posts.

Shortly after darts were over for another score where a quick tap penalty gave up a soft score to go 10-0 down, not reflective of the vigilance in defence shown so far but again the Darts kicker struggling in the wind.

A spell of Sidcup pressure with a dominant line-out being marshalled by Captain Woody and big carries from George Osborne and Dan Wakefield got Sidcup to within the darts 22 and for once the ref deemed Darts to have infringed at the breakdown directly between the sticks. I can only assume this came as such a shock to Dan Leighton that he forgot the ball was supposed to go over as he sliced it under the crossbar this did go further than his attempted box kick that we are pretty sure travelled backwards.... score remained 10-0 approaching the half. This miss was then punished by some slick hands from Darts just before the break which saw them cut through the Sidcup defence and go in for the 3rd score of the game, darts kicker however still not at the races leaving the score 15-0 at the half.

With the scrum a weakness and a lack of aggression at the breakdown changes were needed.... if only to keep Maz alive. Jorel made way for the vastly more experienced Andy Hind and George Osborne having battered the opposition was now struggling with a shoulder knock bringing in the sniffling Joe Custy.

The impact was immediate as the first scrum after the break saw the previously dominant darts scrum buckle under pressure, Andy proving too strong for his opposite man and caving him back into his second row. This lead to cries of foul play from the darts pack but fell on deaf ears as the referee had watched them do the same thing for 40 minutes. This gave Sidcup the platform they needed allowing Max Drysdale making his first start at 10 to start pulling the strings.

After some sustained pressure a penalty won at the scrum lead to a smooth lineout off the top to the backs. A move straight off the training ground and they cut the Darts defense to ribbons, Teddy Bevan the scorer in for the first of the half, 15-5 and the momentum clearly shifting.

The game went a little flat as it passed 60 minutes, much like the wind which had been such a telling factor in the first half, Darts defending well and Sidcup unable to finish some promising breaks. With concentration starting to faulter (note: Crispy had been staring off into the distance at most breaks in play anyway and even almost missing a line-out completely) Sidcup were forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel with Crispy making way for the recently inked Tom Dunster and the exhausted Dan Wakefield coming off for the eternally broken and tape wrapped Matt Floyd.

With time left for the upset sidcup piled the pressure on the darts defence. Darts now giving away penalty after penalty. The ref pulling up darts for infringing a few meters out, pretty much every member of the sidcup pack had uttered the words scrum.... It would appear the darts defence heard this too and switched off, the only one who hadn't was the referee so when Custy tapped and went quickly off loading to the wing allowing Mo to finish in the corner the ref awarded the try again to cries of dismay from Darts. Naturally another kick went missing and the score was now 15-10 with just under 10 minutes to go.

What followed was a push to the finish line Darts desperately trying to hang on and going down to 14 men when the referee finally had enough of their straying offside to try and stifle the Sidcup attack. A break to right wing saw Custy with Greggo outside him... could this be the first Sidcup try for Dave Gregson and a match winner at that!! Nope. Into contact.... ball lost, opportunity gone.

Darts were now in possession and the clock was winding down to nothing...then in a charitable albeit it completely ridiculous decision the Darts 9 chose to box kick.... this was fielded by Mo with the clock surely now dead, could this be the chance for one last Sidcup attack.... Isolated and not realizing it was last play Mo returned the charitable act with a kick over the top. Darts gratefully recieved and hacked the ball into touch. Game over with darts hanging on and Sidcup losing out in a fiercely contested 15-10 away loss.

A much improved performance showing the effort going in on the training ground. A strong platform to build on as League leaders Beckenham await next week. Fantastic effort from all involved.