Old Gravesendians vs. Old Colfeins
50 12
On remembrance Sunday Old Gravesendians welcomed Old Colfeins. Everyone got there bright and early to see that Colfeins only had a few players. The line-up was decided and in the 1st half Jon Everid, Sam Bauckham and Richard Harman would play for Colfeins. At 11 o’clock the teams lined up on the half way line for 2 minutes silence. After this we kicked off playing up the hill.
Jack Gibbs started the game with a brilliantly high kick that left the Colfeins one thing to do and that was to knock the ball on. From the resulting scrum we got the ball out to and the move enabled centre Aaron Farnell to step up the pace and beat a couple of defenders before popping the ball of to winger Ben Harvey, who was just held up and the subsequent scrum enabled number 8 Jon Cockel to score in the corner. This was sadly missed by Jon. Minutes later an almost identical scrum was won quickly and centre Ryan Lockyer managed to pick a dogleg and leave the defense for dead and score under the post. Service was resumed with Jonny Cockel slotting this straight through the posts.
The game was restarted quickly and caught us napping the ball was eventually knocked on and Colfeins had there 1st chance to test us. Luckily great work at the scrum meant that we won the turn over. Jack Gibbs put boot to ball and cleared the ball out of harms way. Colfeins fullback picked the ball up but great timing and a brilliant dump-tackle by centre Aaron Farnell stopped his path. This pressure was relieved momentarily when centre Aaron Farnell was put through a gap and scored easily under the posts. Jonny “Wilkinson” Cockel knocked this over with ease.
With the game in our own hands great passing enabled fullback Kacey to speed down the wing and pass the ball to winger Ben Harvey who thought he had scored until he realized he had gone over the dead ball line. The 22m drop out was taken quickly and from the resulting line-out winger Elliott Purdell was clean through but like Ben went over the dead ball zone. Not a very good day for wingers.
The game was put further in doubt for Colfeins when centre Ryan Lockyer scored his second of the day. Easily converted by super Jon Cockel. There was still time in the 1st half for centre Aaron to score again after brilliant work from Ryan Lockyer and a brilliantly timed pass enabled Aaron to dive over superman-style under the posts. With time ticking by winger Elliott had time to redeem his earlier miss by touching down nest to the posts. Even the best miss a few and that’s exactly what Jon did.
When the half-time whistle went everyone went off after a thrilling 1st half 38-0. In the second half Aaron Farnell and Raife Norman swapped with Sam Bauckham and Richard Harman. The 2nd half kicked off and after a few plays Colfeins managed to get back into the game. A few good plays got Colfeins into Gees half but rock steady defense prevented Colfeins from scoring. Colfeins won a few penalties for indiscipline that centre and new Colfeins player Aaron Farnell took. After a few quick penalties Colfeins managed to win another penalty in which Aaron Farnell took quickly and managed to score against his own club. As the game neared the end there was still time for Joe Cockel to score his 1st try for the club. His brother Jon wasn’t able to convert this try. There was still time for Colfeins to score when Centre Aaron put in the fullback to score in the corner and missing the conversion. There was time for Jon Cockel to score againt then convert it to make the score 50-12.
Big thanks must go to everyone that played and to everyone that helped out by playing for the opposition, even if one of them did score against them. A big congratulations must go to Joe Cockel and Ryan Lockyer who both scored there 1st tries for G’s in this convincing victory. The game was played in great spirit and Colfeins were unlucky.