When we turned up at home with the Bexley team already there and out warming up with a game of touch we suspected that we'd be facing a few different faces from the game at their place. Never the less the sight of a team warming up is never a portent for the game and we made sure they got the tough game they expected.
As expected the new faces in the Bexley line up made their weight felt early on, their massive prop taking a pass in midfield and breaking through the defence to set up their score which they duly converted. With their intent now obvious we stepped up our game and preceded to dominate posession for rest of the game. The first 3 scrums of the game were awarded to Bexley but the front row of Ian Woods, Dave Gearing and Simon Baker won all 3 and set up our stall, you may have a big runner but if you don't get the ball then he can't run. With the scrum dominant we marched up the field to set up an attack, I'm not entirely sure what set it up as I was off patching up a blood injury but I returned to the touch line to see Simon Baker again denied by an unsighted referee as he touched down from the back of a driving maul. The respite was brief as at the next scrum we drove the Bexley pack over the line for Paul Holman to touch down, the score excellently converted by Zack Baker-Waterman. As Mr Angry, Ash Baker, pointed out to us on the way back to the half way line we'd clearly established domination in the pack and needed to play to that. However the next score came from a bit of good fortune, a little inter passing amoung the forwards on the half way line led to Ian Campbell attacking their back line, with their full back looking just a bit shaky under kicks he opted for a reverse kick back into the corner but fluffed it and just chipped into open space behind their centers. Their full back did indeed make a hash of trying to gather a bobbling ball and Ben McNeill picked up the loose ball and set Tony Wheeler off for a score. The third try of the half came from another pushover this time Paul Holman breaking blind and gifting another easy score for Kevin Mockler. The last try of the half came from a piece of shameless poaching by Simon Baker, a driving lineout was marching inevitably towards the Bexley line with Dave Gearing in charge at the back, Simon saw his chance, disengaged from the front of the drive, slipped round the back, grabbed the ball and flopped over for his score! Maybe he should have had one earlier but this was shameless poaching!!
With the wind at our backs for the second half we should have made more of it but we still opted to play with the ball in hand. We started the half with a score almost immediately from the kick off, Bexley made the mistake of letting the ball bounce and them compounded the error by flapping the ball back, Ben McNeill grabbed the ball again, only about 15 yards out and looked set to score but was tackled, he managed to get the pass away to Ian Campbell but he too was scragged by a desperate defence. With John Stemp having a great game at 10 we ran some good ball out of defence but the old legs in this team are not really suited to 80 year runs so perhaps inevitably the moves would break down. If Mr Angry had had his way we would have kicked for more field position but it was not to be so. Two scores did come in the second half. With the Bexley pack still under pressure, despite juggling around with who played where in the front row, the ball slipped out under their flankers feet and Ian Campbell was on it like a shot, with their back line already on the goal line Ian swivelled out of the attempted tackle and scored. The final score, for Brocks, came to Ben McNeill who capped off a fine debut by running the ball in from 30 or 40 yards after John Stemp and the rest of the backs had broken the defensive back line of Bexley.
Despite being heavily on the back foot Bexley never stopped trying to play with what they got and it was perhaps a reward for the effort put in by their 6 and 7 that these two players combined in the final play of the game to run a fair distance, eluding many tackles to score under the posts.
It was a fairly attritional game by way of injury with 3, or maybe 4 Bexley players being forced to leave the field with injuries, a twisted knee, a shoulder injury and a twisted ankle did not help them and we hope they all recover fully and quickly. John Stemp also decided that anything young Jack Stemp can do he can do better and made a complete mess of the team photo by smashing his nose to bit on their 7's head. He should ask Jack to recommend a good ENT surgeon!