For 7th in the table to beat the team immediately above them before the game by seven tries to two is most satisfying and this was certainly no less than the team with greater speed of body and mind on the day deserved but there were undoubted blemishes : much of the play in the first half in particular was scrappy, the forwards were not quite as precise in all of their line-out play as last week - although there were still two tries scored from line-outs - and there were unfortunate lapses in discipline. For a far from straight forward penalty to be turned into what was closer to a gimme by back chat is bad enough : to prefer getting one's retaliation in to the taking of a gilt- edged try scoring opportunity, all the hard work for which had been done already, is unforgivable. And the culprits it has to be said were not totally without previous in such matters. It is difficult to imagine coach, Stefan Smith being amused by either of those incidents.

That scrappy first half could hardly have started better for the Stags as Gravesend coughed up the ball when under little pressure at the kick-off, and it was recycled quickly through a couple of phases before winger Heath Morley was left with no one facing him on the blindside and CS had points on the board in less than two minutes. Hooker and captain, Darryl Gore could not convert.

On another lovely autumnal day but with a not insignificant breeze at their backs the home side's game plan did not have to be too sophisticated : get the pill into the bottom corner and strike from there. And that was what they indeed sought to do most of the time but a combination of stalwart Gravesend resistance on the one hand and their own imprecision on the other ( including one penalty kicked to the corner which Gravesend snaffled easily with a clean catch) meant that there was no further score until well into the last ten minutes of the half : a matter of some concern to the home support given that the away team had that wind advantage to come.

When the next try came, ironically, it was not from close range where Gravesend had so valiantly defended their line but from deep with a Gavesend kick fiielded cleanly. quickly moved as before and the ball ending up again in the hands of Morley who cantered in for his second, the try again unconverted.

10-0 would have been a rather modest half time return for all CS's grunt and territorial superiority and left room for speculation as to whether such a lead could possibly be enough. But as it happened the first half scoring was not yet over: first a Gravesend break-out resulted in the aforementioned gifting by CS to Gravesend of a far simpler penalty than it should have been but then, having been beasts one moment, CS produced a moment of exquisite beauty themselves the next : driving a lineout maul from outside Gravesend's 22 all the way to the line. Just as a sailing dinghy for ever tacking gracefully perhaps in a narrow channel, the CS pack moved inexorably towards their finishing line with the deft hands of Captain Gore on the tiller. It was entirely fitting that he should eventually touch down himself and this time add the extras.

There was sufficient breeze, however, still to leave room for the odd doubt as to whether it might not be possible for Gravesend to come back from 17-3 down in the second half - in which case CS's earlier missed opportunities might still be rued. Those had also included another of those tragi-comical kicking moments that have afflicted CS this season : this time involving a long range but straight penalty attempt on the breeze by James Houston who was not at all amused when no tee was provided for him after the election had been made - and his hurried effort from the ground then did not ever actually even leave it. How on earth did the likes of Don Clarke manage in the old days James? The reason for the poor tee service was that our tee boy, aka Detective Constable Tom Sincock, had other duties at the time: being fit and agile and no stranger to roofs, he is of course also the main man responsible for the retrieval of our match balls and was otherwise engaged at the time - so no fault whatsoever attaches to him!

The restart after the interval saw our assistant coach Mike Drayson, on earlier as a temporary blood replacement for prop Jamie Evans after Jamie had received an unfortunate cut to the head freakishly caused by one of his teammates' boots, confirmed in a more permanent capacity. CS were soom attacking again and squandering the also aforementioned try scoring chance because of their indiscipline. That, however, was where the nonsense stopped and from there on in until a final little flurry from Gravesend at the death it was essentially one way traffic. Four more tries were scored, all through the forwards. First lock Arno Van der Spek scored from a pick and drive; Joe Clarke was then the beneficiary of another well organised line out drive ( converted by Gore) ; Mike Drayson was on hand after James Glasson picked the ball at a ruck and ran 20 metres leaving Mike with what was - for a prop - a relatively long distance - but luxurious run in -under the posts ( converted by Houston) ; and finally there was another front row try for Sam Glasson, this time picking and driving and smashing through three defenders .

Gravesend, did their best to dislodge a little of the icing from CS's cake at the death with two tries of their own , one from an exquisite crossfield kick of pinpoint accuracy by Tom Goss to Reuben Potaka, but nothing could really change the fact that for nearly all of the second half the omlette served up by the CS forwards had been a particularly tasty one. Taking the game as a whole, however, a concern would have to be that other sides might be less accommodating than Gravesend were CS to be unable to retain their composure at all times or to be so cavalier with hard won scoring opportunities.

There will be some hard fixtures in the run-up to Christmas certainly - the team has a welcome break next Saturday - and skipper Darryl is relishing both a short break and the challenge ahead: "The game on Saturday was an important one to win. Having back to back wins leading into the week off gives us confidence as we build towards games against the heavyweights of the competition."

Players of the day were Cameron Reed and Tim Wells.

CS's next game is against Dorking, away on 12 November. Next home game is on 19 November v Havant when we have a major ex-players' lunch which we hope you will support. Details from Doug Suart on 07850 250996 .

CS scorers :

Tries:

Morley (2)
Gore
Van der Spek
Clarke
Drayson,
Glasson S

Conversions:

Gore (2)
Houston