1st Team win on the Road

So for the 3rd league weekend in a row our opposition decided against fulfilling the fixture (clearly forgetting an 87-0 victory from 3 years ago) due to the fact we are ‘too strong’ - if no one plays us how would they know this?

Which meant once again we relied on a Kent club offering us a game

This weekend saw us visit Medway RFC second XV

As with our previous journeys into Kent we expected an opposition full of experienced players supplemented by a few rising stars, it would seem injuries in their 1st team squad meant this Medway side had an abundance of youth though and some very good players to boot.

An early mistake from Medway allowed Dagenham to open the scoring from the kick off as Jordan Calverley finished an excellent break for a score of 5-0

Further scores from Frankie Neale and Josh Cook saw the half time figures at 17-0.

The half had been totally dominated by Dagenham forward play as the scrum worked to great effect again and the driving play was effective at times, however Medway defending was first class as was their organisation which meant they were still in touch

Making a couple of changes to the side the second 40 was a little harsh on our hosts as Dagenham scored 4 more tries through Nathan Farrell, Jermaine Darkwa and 1 more each for Neale and Calverley shows a one sided score line but this wasn’t a fair reflection of the game as Medway had significant passages of possession and territory without that final finishing touch

A final score of 40-0 to the visitors isn’t a fair reflection of the game

DoR Brian Wren had this to say after the game

‘It’s very disappointing to have yet another league game cried off. When you consider the 3 who have cancelled have all given us a bit of a shoeing in the last few years it makes you wonder if some clubs only play if they’re going to win.

Once again we’ve had to reach out to a Kent side and thankfully Medway were happy to host

The game wasn’t as one sided as the score might suggest, they had a very young squad who struggled a bit with our set piece which is probably where the game was won

There were some excellent performances especially from Evan Westcot and hooker Chris Warner both of whom are starting to cement places in the squad.

We played a little too loose at times and some of our play was messy but you can’t ignore 7 tries

Our defence was tested again today which was good for us and our scrum was very powerful so all in all another good result.

One negative from the game was the injury to lock James Garwood who has dislocated his shoulder. Hopefully he’ll have a speedy recovery

We appreciate Medway taking the game and look forward to a return leg’

So another win for the 1s if a little sloppy and on to next week when, at last, league opposition will venture to Central Park in the form of old rivals Billericay

Team: Jones, Warner, Clarke, O’Toole (Garwood), Kitenge, Darkwa (Westcot), Viera, Sinfield, Cook, Neale, Darkwa, Pruce, Driver, Farrell, Calverley.