Vets start their title defence with a win

The Vets started their season as defending champions and knew they would have to bring their A game to come away with a win against New Ash Green. The last 4 encounters at Vets level have seen the Old Boys come away with nothing.

With the game taking place on remembrance day the teams came together to share a moments silence before kick off. The stage was set and Old G’s would kick up the hill to start the game.

Straight from the off it was obvious that it would be a long afternoon for the forwards as the kick off was fumbled and a scrum called not 5 seconds in to the fixture. A few phases later the Old Boys were awarded a penalty for players coming off their feet at the ruck, John Poulson, feeling fresh after a night at the clubs Oktoberfest celebration stepped forward and slotted it over to give OG’s the lead. 3-0.

This got Old G’s off the mark but New Ash Green were undeterred by the early points and once they got their hands on the ball showed some great running and an ability to get the ball wide in slippery conditions. Several errors on both sides and some tactical kicking kept the play largely in the middle of the park with any attacking attempts shut down. It would take 20 minutes for either team to break through. Just as the rain picked up Mike Hodge spotted a gap and hit it, breaking through a handful of tackles on his way over the line to score under the posts. Poulson would convert comfortably. 10-0

The old boys were ahead but NAG knew they could score if they could stop the errors, after some hard hitting phases they were close and all eyes were on the line. Old G’s defended well but the Nag pack was able to push them over the line to open their account for the afternoon. The conversion was missed out wide. 10-5

The stalemate was back on and neither side would find any success before the end of the half.

Half time and Old G’s knew they could use the hill to their advantage but it would require everyone giving everything they had in the tank and using the big hitters and hard runners like Martin Povey, Tom Hammerton and Steve Reece in the pack and Mr. T, MFS and Hodge in the backs.

While the sun had come out and the rain slowed the conditions were now making it nearly impossible for either side to get anything going and the forwards were starting to feel the effects of a day of scrummaging. It would take a huge effort and a very impressive run of play for NAG to get themselves over the Old G’s line and get themselves in the lead for the first time ibn the afternoon. 10-12

Straight from kick off the Old Boys piled on the pressure, keen to get the lead back. This paid off almost instantly as another penalty within range for Poulson was given and the ever reliable JP saw it over. 13-12.

Old G’s were back in the lead but it was clear that they would need more than a 1 point lead to have any opportunity to breathe, NAG could sniff another win!

Mark Fenton-Smith would be the hero of the day after breaking clean through the defences he ran largely untouched to score the much needed try. JP got the extras to bring his total to 10 for the day. With 10 minutes left on the clock all the Old Boys had to do was hold out for a little longer to finally overcome their bogey team.

NAG had other ideas and went on the offensive in a way they hadn’t all afternoon. After 5 minutes they had found a weakness and gone over for a try. The conversion was good and it was a one point game.
They kept their foot firmly on the gas and straight from the restart were all over the old g’s. Being kept just outside the 22 NAG were given advantage for poor play at the breakdown and went for a drop goal. It narrowly missed it’s mark but this didn’t matter. The NAG 10 then lined up his penalty, everyone from both sides knew that he was very reliable from the boot and that it was a simple kick for him. Amazingly it just missed again, this left Old G’s with mere seconds left on the clock and a 22 drop out, there was some confusion over whether they could kick it out to end the game or not which resulted in Dave Boyer opting for a grubber kick which was then carried into touch. The ref wasn’t happy at this though and awarded NAG a scrum. Their 10 dropped back into the pocket and waited for the ball, the pass was good and the drop goal looked to be going over but remarkably it was hit slightly left and missed it’s mark again.

This was the end of the game much to the relief of Old G’s players and support alike. They had finally done it, at the 5th time of asking Old G’s managed to scrape the win over NAG.
As always in this fixture the competition was fierce but and New Ash Green were great opposition, we wish them all the luck in with the rest of the Vets cup.

A few special mentions from the game go out to Dan D’Cunha in his first game back at the club in years and Vernon Ras who made his club debut, joining after playing against the 2’s for Gravesend 2 weeks ago.