Match Report: Deacons v Bexley

Let’s start here: Bexley hadn’t made the trip down to Canterbury in over twelve years. Twelve years. That’s long enough that some of our own players weren’t old enough to drive the last time it happened. So when they finally rolled back into town, you’d think the hosts might ease them in gently. Instead, the Deacons decided the correct response to “welcome back after over a decade” was “let’s have the wildest 80 minutes either of these teams has played all season.” Naturally.

Early on, this had all the makings of a classic back-and-forth. Bexley scored, we equalised, they scored again, we equalised again, the kind of mythm where you start wondering if the two sides had secretly agreed to trade punches like a heavyweight fight nobody wanted to end. Somehow, despite all that trading, Canterbury found themselves up 21-14 at the break. A one-score lead in a game that had already produced five tries before the harbo came out.

Bexley leveled it at 21 all early in the second half, and for a few minutes you could squint and convince yourself this was still anyone’s game. Then the Deacons backs remembered they had hands and pace, this is where things got a little unfair. Slick, quick passing, running rings around a Bexley pack that looked like it was built in a lab to maul you into submission up front but had no answer once the ball got wide. Bexley got one back to stay in touching distance, but by then the Deacons had found another gear entirely, and the only remaining question was how big the final margin would be. Bexley snuck a late consolation try, which, fine, everyone deserves a parting gift.

Final score: 54-33. First win of the season, and not a quiet one.

The scoresheet reads like everyone put their name in a hat and all of them won. James Limmer bagged a brace. Rob Horan, Ben Jones, Piers Weigh, Ollie Toms, Taylor Green, Louie Mason, and Jamie Bentley all got in on the act too. Eight different try scorers in one game is the rugby equivalent of a team where literally everybody shows up to the stat sheet.

Speaking of Jamie Bentley: imagine making your Deacons debut and deciding, somewhere around the first half, “actually, full-back isn’t doing it for me today, put me at scrum-half instead,” then playing an even better half there, and topping the whole thing off with a try. That’s not a debut, that’s a flex. Man of the match, deservedly, and a performance that suggests this won’t be the last time we’re writing his name into one of these reports.

A genuinely complete team performance, top to bottom. Next up, the Deacons go on the road to Gillingham Anchorians.

Tries: James Limmer, Rob Horan, Ben Jones, Piers Weigh, Ollie Toms, Taylor Green, Louie Mason, Jamie Bentley

Player of the Match: Jamie Bentley