Match Report: Deacons away to Gillingham Anchorians 2’s

Deacons away to Gillingham Anchorians 2’s

Grit, graft and determination pave the way.

Another revised Deacons outfit lined up against a very different Anchorians team from the fixture played at the MTG. Anchorians brought out some young talent with a number of colts enjoying their first taste of senior rugby. With Zingari’s fixture cancelled we picked up some youth and wisdom to bolster the squad & once again featured a Father/Son combo. Finally, after years of ‘weighting’ 😉 Jez & Piers Weigh took the field together.

Buoyed by a full bench, the sun shining and knowing we had been improving with every game confidence was high amongst the Deacons & receiving the kick off the game was on!

Intent was clear from the off with some strong carries into contact. Anchorians were strong at the breakdown and competition for the ball was fierce.
The first scrum was intense with the City boys unable to capitalise on what has been a strong area of the game all season. Fortunately with some quick analysis from Alasdair Kite and smart changes across the back row it didn’t take long to fix the set piece.

Once again it took the Deacons some time to settle. The first 30 was tense. Anchorians had much of the ball meaning we had to defend hard for long periods of time. As hard as we tried it was difficult to keep the home side at bay & we went 2 tries behind. The wind was in our favour and neither were converted, the kicker choosing to aim for an entirely different pitch on both occasions.

When we did have the ball we looked dangerous. With Rob Horan acting at 10 (our infamous Dan Head suffered an ouchy ruling him out) combining with the centre partnership of Canterbury stalwart Jake Upward and incredible developing talent Ed ‘the excorcet’ Exley we looked really sharp on attack.
With the backline being marshalled by Piers Weigh playing out of position at fullback, it was clear we would get across the line if we could maintain possession and after a period of pressure built through the forwards we celebrated Jake Upward steaming across the try line setting up an easy conversion for Rob.
At 10-7 we could get back in this game…..

Once again we received the kick off with some purpose, setting a platform to work forward from. Things were starting to click with forwards working together to move the ball into space & release the backs.
It was off the back of some fast hands from Dylan Coyle (9) hitting no8 Ethan Tighe working his way through a couple of tackles and keeping his feet before offloading the sweetest of passes to the Deacons hooker running a ‘world class hard line’ beating a tackle and leaving only 25m between him and the try line before the referee called them back for an infringement from some time before – we all agreed that was a monumental turning point in the game.

Deacons scrum set a platform allowing Jake to once again cross the line for a sympathetic conversation and we went up 10-14.
We’d waited a lot of match minutes to be ahead, but the lead didn’t last long, Anchorians taking the opportunity to capitalise on our lapse of concentration to once again take the lead.

But with the wind in our sails the Deacons continued to apply pressure in all areas of the park before a loose ball and some fantastic handling skills saw Joseph Butler-Moor dot the ball down to increase our lead in only his second game this season.

Going into the half time Haribo we were up on points and ambition, the second half was gearing up to be a real battle if we wanted to maintain the lead and win the game.

Restarting with some half time changes Deacons drew first blood. Brad Nicholson powering over the line like a beautiful balletic bear.
For the forwards, Ronnie West thrived under the pressure of stiff competition from his oppo in the front row, Alex Acaster moved selflessly to second row allowing Carter Jefferys to thrive on the flank – moving at such a pace off the scrum to effectively shut down any momentum from their 9. Ethan Mussel on the other flank had a phonomenal game, tackling with power and precision and being a nuisance at the breakdown; and Lennie West’s guest appearance for 7 minutes gave us all a boost because he’s got a wonderful demeanour that lifts us all.

The rest of the game was an arm wrestle. Jez Weigh came on for some of the textbook shithousery he’s been known for for years. Gillingham scored again to narrow the scores.
Dylan Coyle took a moment off from moaning & whinging to score a try (we’re all still waiting for another drop goal attempt) which bought us some breathing space.
Once again, Gills came back at us going back ahead. Any mistake from either side would result in points – it was tense.

But cometh the hour – cometh the men. In a blistering attack combining forwards and backs, some slick passing and watching through our fingers, the ball ended up with young Jorge who has been learning his craft with us quietly over a couple of seasons. He also understood he was going to come up short and fizzed a pass that none of us knew he had in him to Callum Townsend (returning from a horror injury earlier in the season) to score under the posts so Rob could slot the extras.

Up by 4 points. With less than 2 to play!
There was nothing else to be done. Get the ball back and finish the game.
We did so, the ball finding its way back to DC to kick it to touch with the nonchalance of another fine 9, DC formerly of Quins.

We’d done it.
Beaten our fellow league foundation team with a really great, close, good natured, well contended game of rugby.
Thanks Anchorians.
But it was just a rehearsal for next week’s big game against Folkestone 2’s – at home at 3pm.

MOTM – Alasdair Kite – silent but deadly, floating like a butterfly, stinging like a Bee. He was everywhere in defence and a menace in attack.

It’s the twilight of our season, with a couple of games to win to finish strong. There’s still time to get involved as a player, or a supporter. Come and be a part of the Deacons family community rugby with us. #oneclub