Lordswood 27 – 3 Faversham

The game was a physical encounter that was always going to be decided by territory due to the difficult blustery conditions.

Faversham showed early tenacity from the kick off and pinned Lordswood into their own 22 for the first 5 minutes of the game, but some hard defence from the Lordswood set piece and centre partnership of Callum Watkins and Paul Notley meant they only came away with 3 points to show for their efforts.
Lordswood decided that was enough points for the Castaways to have and prevented Faversham from scoring for the rest of the game.
Right from the restart Lordswood piled on the pressure and managed to gain possession deep in their 22. Jay Gregory picking up from the base of the scrum and making a bee-line for their 10 channel, a quick recycle and Mark Dorman powered over the line to the left of the posts.
James Dorman converts.
7-3
Not long after James Dorman attacked the space in behind Faversham’s right wing and Lordswood regained possession after a great kick chase from Stephen Chapman and James Carroll.
From here Lordswood went back to the forward attack and after some valiant defence Mark Dorman sniped over from the base of the ruck for his second try. 12-3

The rest of the first half was a central battle with Faversham trying to get a foot hold in the game but being denied by a superior pack and set piece. Lordswood turning defence into attack and pressurising Faversham at every breakdown.

The second half proved fruitful for Lordswood with James Dorman pinning Faversham in their 40m for the majority of the half.
Not long after the restart Tom Dallas capitalised on some solid running from Callum Watkins who was stopped just short of the line. Then Tom with a pick and go, competing with 3 men had quick help from Mike Keohan who helped drive him over the line for Lordswood’s 3rd Try of the match. 17-3

Now seeing their hopes being dashed at the Woods, Faversham started to become desperate with some underhand tactics and some panicky play from their half backs.
One such instance led to a rushed kick being gathered by debutant Elliot Wood on the right wing, who threw a long 30m pass to Full Back James Carroll. Carroll, spotting space wide, also threw a long bullet pass to the sprinting Stephen Chapman and with a lot of work still to do, shrugged of one tackler and raced over in the corner. 22-3

Lordswood didn’t have long to wait to be applying pressure on the Faversham defensive line again. The next try was a satisfying team effort.
Some great running by Mark Dorman and support from captain Chris Callaway saw the ball secure at the base, where Tom Dallas turned scrum half passed to James Dorman. Dorman using the wind put up a high ball to test the right wing of Faversham who knocked the ball on under pressure, the loose ball was gathered by Callum Watkins gaining another 10 meters. Jack Winwood producing fast ball to James Dorman, releases Jay Gregory into space toward the posts. Jay with a deft offload to Ben Butler, offering a straight running line managed to take the ball just shy of the try line and halted the drifting defence in doing so. With Jay Gregory back at the base he picked up the ball and committed his nearest defender and offloaded to James Dorman. Quick hands from James to his brother Mark and again fast hands to Elliot Wood who managed to sneak over in the corner. An excellent team try on his debut.
27-3
For the last 5 minutes of the game Faversham went all out, plying their big ball carriers at every opportunity. Some heavy hitting and some great line speed knocking them backwards continuously. Nearing the end of the game James Carroll put his body on the line to prevent their runner from scoring in the corner, injuring his collar bone in the process. Everyone became resolute to not let the ball cross the line.

There was some great rugby on show only marred by some occasional foul play from both teams.
Lordswood take a leap forward in their progress to keep 2019 an unbeaten year.

Man of the match was a difficult decision, but the huge impact made by Elliot Wood after coming on couldn’t be ignored.

#unbeaten2019

Location

The Woods