David (nearly) topples Goliath Dartfordians A 25-20 Sidcup A

A courageous and thrilling team performance for Mother’s Day.

The first half saw us struggle to come to terms with the sheer size of a couple of the Darts boys, but our boys defended very well with Sam Brown making several try saving tackles from full back. Ultimately though the sheer size and considerable weight of the Darts forwards allowed them a two try lead. What we needed was an uncompromising reply and that’s what we got. Frank received the ball from a ruck and spotting a gap, charged through, shrugging off several tackles and pumping those legs to carry himself, and the Darts defenders clinging on to him, over the line. Having been shown the way, Sidcup now added that extra determination, Max DL showing grit in defence along with strong, straight running in attack. Jack making a brilliant break from fly half but stopped just short of the line. We had turned around a shaky start and the boys showed great character in not letting their heads go down, credit has to go to Gabriel who was a mature captain, encouraging the boys and talking correctly to the ref. Darts managed to squeeze another try just before half-time and the half ended 3-1 to the hosts.

The second half saw a new level for the Sidcup lads. Fighting for every meter and every chance to steal the ball. Dan making some vital turn overs and Elliot and Lewis putting some real pressure on the opposition in defence and attack.

This new level of determination started to pay dividends as what looked something like a driving maul disintegrated and the ball popped out to Frank who simply had to touch it down for his second try.

As a team we started to put together some good phases of play getting the ball wide and pressuring the opposition which we hadn’t really managed in the first half but too often the final link wasn’t quite there and made scoring hard. Credit to the defensive effort put in by Darts, they forced several good turnovers and nicked at least one try from an intercepted pass.

However the tide was turning, Tommy proving the old adage ‘the bigger they come the harder they fall’ true as Darts biggest player was helped from the field after a trade-mark tackle which topped a strong performance from Tommy. (No serious damage done and we wish the Darts player a swift recovery)

Jack was finally rewarded with a try from another break from first receiver, and Max D-L added a try to his name top cap a very good first A team game for him.

As the pressure on Darts increased so did our intensity, Tom making several sniping runs through heavy traffic, crucially staying the right side of controlled aggression. It’s a balance that we as a team will have to master, if we are to do well at the Kent tournament. We were however beaten by the clock, as I firmly believe that had the game been 5 mins longer, we could have snatched a victory.

Games like these are however not about winning at all costs, but about improvement and enjoyment, on those counts it was a very successful morning.

The whole team played well, Harry, Murat, Josh, Jonathan, Draven and John although not mentioned specifically above made valuable contributions, without which the over all performance wouldn’t have been as good. The emotion after the final whistle, showed how this team means to the boys and on that foundation we can build great things. All in all, a fitting Mother’s Day performance.

Dartfordians B 5-70 Sidcup B

In the B team game we lined up confident of getting a good result following our victory at home earlier in the season. With a mixture of experience, new blood, bulk, pace and a fair sprinkling of skill the team played an absolute blinder from start to finish and dominated their opponents, scoring 7 tries in each half and conceding just once.

Us coaches were delighted with the way the boys played as a unit, offered each other great support and brought variety to the play, using our power in the forwards to make the hard yards up the middle, but then getting quick ball via our half backs, good hands through our centres and feeding out to the pace on the wings. We were particularly pleased with the organisation from captain Zeka who guided his less experienced teammates well, of our work at the breakdown which gave us a constant platform to attack, and our solid defence allowing us to steal ball both out of the mauls and off the floor. We asked the boys NOT to play like England the day before and it seemed to work - textbook stuff !!

In terms of tries scored I think it was as follows - and if I’ve got any wrong then apologies but the boys were scoring them faster than I could write them down !!
1-0 Zeka
2-0 George
3-0 Ollie
4-0 Alex
5-0 Sam W
5-1 A Darts player
6-1 Harry C
7-1 Aidan
HT
8-1 Harry C
9-1 Luke
10-1 Oscar
11-1 Sam W
12-1 Sam W
13-1 Kyle
14-1 Sam W

As with the performance at Park House a couple of weeks back, it is hard to call out individuals after such a great team effort but a few deserve special mention:

Harley: in only his 2nd match for Sidcup was a real handful at the breakdowns and showed strong running throughout

Luke, Oscar and Ollie: did what they do best offering physicality in our forwards to gain territory, and ripping the ball at will from opposition forwards

Dominic: much more vocal and snappier in terms of arrival at the ruck, good distribution and vision in attack as opposition tired - all attributes of a good scrum half

Sam W: visibly grew in confidence through the match and displayed some elusive running to grab 4 second half tries in his best display so far

Harry C and Alex - kept their positional discipline really well on their wings and both scored showing real turns of pace. I was also really pleased to see them along with Max S and Kyle switching positions when asked, which will add to our versatility in tighter matches.

Finally, man of the match Aidan - belied his relative inexperience and showed real determination, strength and reading of the game to unsettle the opposition defence and scored his first try to cap a great all round display.

It was a fantastic team effort and I think coupled with the A team’s hard fought battle, proves that the future is really bright for this great squad of boys.

Fair play to the Darts B team lads for keeping going during what must have been a demoralising defeat and playing with good sportsmanship. Special thanks reserved for all the Mum’s who gave up their Mothers Day mornings to come and lend their vocal support - much appreciated by all the players I’m sure

Sidcup Rugby Football Club

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