Pilgrims Match Report

Pilgrims 26
Bromley 29

Pilgrims took to the field at the MTG on a high from their victory over league leaders Brighton last weekend, but were hampered by a number of unavailabilities within the squad leading to Tyrell Thomas, Alex Smith and Joel Poulter all stepping up to make their league debuts for the Pilgrims.
The visitors drew first blood when they scored from a pick and go after their well drilled backline- led by ex Canterbury back Harvey Young- moved the ball well to get in behind the home defence. Despite 2 strong tackles from Hunt & Devine, Bromley dived over for a converted score, 0-7.
The pilgrims kicked long and chased well and their aggressive defending forced Bromley into some illegal defending which allowed Hewitt to step up and slot the first pilgrims points of the day with a penalty, 3-7.
Bromley continued to threatened going down the slope with ball in hand and quickly added a second score which came from some slick handling that got their pacey winger the ball in space out wide and he eluded the covering pilgrims defence to score in the corner which was well converted by the Bromley centre, 3-14.
Again the Pilgrims responded with good attacking play of their own leading to a second penalty goal from Hewitt- 6-14.
A pattern started to develop as another Bromley foray into the pilgrims 22 led them to score their 3rd try despite some aggressive pilgrims defence, this time their otherwise exceptional kicker missing from out wide, 6-19. This was followed up when pilgrims visited the Bromley 22m with Hewitt adding his 3rd penalty to bring the HT score 9-19 with supporters aware the slope is usually worth 10 points.
Fresh from some words of encouragement from coach Mal Graves, the pilgrims came out for the 2nd half firing. The aggressive defence and direct running of back row men Isaac Devine and Max McCormack was giving the pilgrims plenty of front foot ball going down the Hill. The mis-firing scrum was now holding its own and gave the pilgrims a good attacking platform. Hewitt added a fourth penalty to make it 12-19 before they added their 1st try after powering over from close range to make it 19-19.
Bromley elected to go for goal when given the opportunity arose rather than kick for the corner which they had done previously. 19-22.
The Pilgrims were starting to impose their will on the game with the direct running and aggressive defence causing Bromley problems. A fine break by Prop Tyrell Thomas was followed up by some slick handling which saw the pilgrims score under the posts to take the lead 26-22.
The last 15 minutes saw both sides giving everything which resulted in a yellow card each, first to Bromley for a high tackle before The pilgrims were reduced to 14 with the clock ticking down as their aggressive defence was deemed to aggressive by the very good referee. With the final play of the game, Bromley sucked the home defence in with a series of forward runners before moving the ball out wide to score in the corner. They added the extras to take the win 26-29 leaving the pilgrims with a losing bonus point from an entertaining but ultimately frustrating afternoon at the MTG.