An overcast day, tacky underfoot, not much of a wind, but playing out on Pitch 2 (middle pitch of the old 3) because of our usual pitch being over used and the drainage not handling the rain that has tipped down all week… Enough of the pre-amble to the game…

Sidcup kicked off up the slope towards the railway line and we immediately mis fielded the kick and put ourselves under pressure. Sidcup took the lead early on 0-7. The game was relatively frenetic, and no side really took control, following a clean catch from Mike Ozdilli (8) and drive by the forwards on the 22 we provided clean ball to the backs to pass it across the field with Nigel Wong (14) scoring in the corner, 5-7. The Stags, playing down the slope had several phases of play where they applied pressure to Sidcup, but could not convert the good work into points, too many small errors and an ability to get the final pass away.

We transition the match report to summary format as both our regular correspondents were out of circulation….

HT 12-12

Mike Ozdilli’s (8) try at the end, evidenced the strength of our scrum all game. We kept opting for the scrum after multiple penalties and free kicks, refusing to kick the three for a LBP and opting for the four try route, have not seen our scrum dominate like this for over 5 years…. FT 26-27

In Summary we scored 4 tries to their 2 and still lost the game…. Our pitch management was not good enough, we gave away too many penalties in our half to give their kicker 15 points,
final passes, execution, discipline and exiting all led to a very disappointing day for the stags

Man of match as selected by Chris Swann (DoR): The whole front row:
• Jack Van Bussel (1)
• Ricky Hollamby (2)
• Andrew Barton (3)
The scrum was dominant all day culminating in penalties and a push over try at the end of the game. The lineout was great.

Special mentions to:
• Luke Risman on debut, a dominant carrier and defender
• Jack Van Bussel (1) rising from his death bed to fight for the boys
• Will Tyrell (15) a constant threat every time he was on the ball, adding the much-needed edge in the back line
• Tom Wootton (17) when he came on added a much-needed dynamism

Welcome back
• Daffyd Rees (11) on a long-awaited return, exquisite with the boot and the steady presence needed on the wing

Scorers:
Nigel Wong (14) (try)
Mike Ozdilli (8) (try)
2 further try scorers to be identified
Max Tipping (9) (3 conversions)