Despite only losing 3 games this season there was no expectation of an easy win as we travelled to KCH for the final competitive game of the season.
KCH were a tough opposition in the first league game of the season as they ran in a try from the first kick off and another one soon after to leap into a 14 nil lead. So nothing was taken for granted. They were out early and warming up. We weren't as we waited for Simon Baker to turn up with the shirts!
But we started knowing there was no come back to be had next week, lose now and that's it, ending on a loss. Not something we wanted to do after the effort we've put in this season. We quickly established that despite having a minimal warm up we were by far the better pack. Their scrum was under pressure as was their line out. However it took us a while to establish our game as the referee was setting out his stall and as we were dominating posession we conceded all the penalties. Despite this and initially arguing back we realised that we had to bring the referee back onside. So we shut up and got on with the game (eventually!!). Once we'd got back into the referee's good books we camped in the KCH half and kept up the pressure. The first score game from the forward domination. A 5 yard line out to KCH was slapped back under pressure from Tony Cornwell and Dave Gearing gathered the loose ball to score untouched. There was no respite for the KCH team, unable to escape the strangle hold the Brocks pack had on the game they were unable to get out of their half. Chances came regularily, Jack Seakins failed to ground the ball out wide and Ben McNeill was bundled into touch at the corner flag. KCH tried to kick their way out of their half but only suceeding in giving Brocks another score. After the ball was run back Ash Baker received the ball around the 22 and pressed forward, spotting that the defence was not eager for the tackle he stepped inside a defender and scored under the posts with Zack Baker-Waterman converting. The next score came from a lineout, won cleanly in the middle by skipper Matt Lillie, the ball was passed out into the midfield for John Duffy to run up. From the ensuing ruck quick ball was passed on to Paul Holman who ran through the remants of the defence to score under the posts again, Zack again doing the honours with the conversion.
Wanting to keep this game plan going in the second half but using the wind to push KCH back it took a while for us to get back into the game. KCH has realised that posession was scarce and had starting running penalties back. Field position was more even but posession was still in Brocks favour. It took a while for the score to come but eventually it did. Pushed back to their try line KCH were holding out, John Duffy, Tony Cornwell, Kevin Mockler all tried to break the final defence but KCH held out, finally with the ball only centimetres from the line Simon Baker drove over in the corner. The KCH defence was pretty solid close to the scrum but out wide they were leaving gaps and coming up short on the numbers front. Ash Baker had spotted this and briefed the backs well. A good lineout on the half way line was pushed out by Kevin Mockler, Ash took the ball up with John running a dummy line, Ben McNeill was in the gap and Ash found him perfectly. Ben then did the rest beating 2 or 3 defenders on a 40 yard run to the line. As in the first half there were chances we should have taken. Adrian Hughes had a run down the left but was bundled into touch. Zack chased an Ash Baker kick and picked up the ball after the bounce wrong footed the defence, he looked set for a score but he was just tackled short, still with Adrian and Ben in support a little pop pass would surely have put either of them in but the ball went loose and the chance was missed. Our final score came from a lineout, once again cleanly won it was passed out to Ash who cut back towards the forward, beating a couple of their defenders he then crashed through the remaining defence for his second try.
KCH were not done and kept pressing. They never gave up and after a messed up move from Brocks in the midfield they picked up the ball and ran though some poor tackling and scored. this lifted them considerably. Watching the next 5 minutes you would have thought they were the team leading. But breached once we were not prepared to concede another score. Despite running many phases at our defence we did not concede a futher score. But the game still ended with KCH pressing hard but with us resisting all their attempts.
A good season for us, we think we've finished second in the merit table but positions really mean nothing. The main thing all season has been about enjoyment, and the winning has certainly helped.