On a beautiful warm, sunny autumn Saturday afternoon Tunbridge Wells RFC welcomed Brighton Blues to St. Mark’s for their 1st XV fixture with a 3pm k.o. 

The 2nd XV had an early 2pm k.o. against Medway coming out with a solid 33-17 win. The home support moved across to the 1st XV pitch at full time making for a packed sideline.

Brighton started well, playing towards the clubhouse, scoring after just 2 minutes.  It didn’t take Tunbridge Wells too long to get onto the scoreboard though.  From the first scrum of the match it was clear that Wells would be dominant in this area of the field with a 10m shove.  Number 8, Nick Doherty took the ball off the back and made a run.  As it looked like he was running into traffic he dinked a grubber kick through into space, chased by Charlie Rigby and Finlay White.  Charlie was first there, but with no time to pick it up, kicked it through into the in-goal area and Finlay White was right behind it ready to claim the first Wells try of the afternoon.  Five minutes later Brighton were on the score sheet once again 5-14.  On the 24 minute mark Brighton were on the attack again and well into our half, but they spilled the ball in the tackle and fullback Toby Wallace was right there.  He made significant ground showing exceptional pace, offloading to Finlay White who took it the rest of the way for his second try of the afternoon. Brighton had one more first half try in them with a 5m lineout, maul and over as well as one penalty kick, before winger Jack Smith went over for Wells just before half time taking the score to 19-24.  

We started the second half brightly with a well-crafted try initiated by Luke Giles who made a break, feeding to Josh Brockman, and on to Charlie Rigby who made no mistake 24-24.  The second half was fairly evenly matched, but with no further score for Wells.  Final points of the match were in the 60th minute from Brighton, with Wells pressuring a number of times as the final quarter progressed but play breaking down without managing to cross the try line.

Chaz Spence, former Captain of Tunbridge Wells RFC, now Interim DoR of the 1st XV remains incredibly positive and excited, despite a couple of losses to start the season. 

“We are a brand new side this year, in terms of coaches and players. It’s going to take time for these combinations to gel and for the coaches to really stamp their style onto the team. Thankfully we have world class coaches and an incredibly enthusiastic young squad that are willing to learn and work hard, so we remain in a good place.

On Saturday we were guilty of playing too much in our own half, we got a bit excited with a few line breaks early on and then wanted to play from everywhere. As coaches we want to play a quick expansive style of rugby, but there needs to be an aspect of control along with it and playing in the right areas of the pitch. Despite this, we had several chances to win the game at the weekend and it was the final pass that let us down, so although it goes down as a loss there were more positives than negatives to take from the game.

Next week its battle of the international coaches, with Benjamin Kayser and David Strettle’s Tunbridge Wells going up against Will Greenwood’s Maidenhead. The game is away with a 2.30pm kick off.”

Bruce Elliott

TRING RFC 1ST XV 24 TUNBRIDGE WELLS RFC 1ST XV 31

Following the disappointment of last weeks failure to take the points vs Sidcup Wells travelled to Tring in Hertfordshire for this London and SE Premier game with 12 members of the squad not available or injured. Here was another crop of new players to assess as Finlay White replaced Luke Giles at fullback, Rich Webster replaced injured skipper Mike Doherty in the centre, Ben Day took over from Jack Anderson at fly half, Toby Talbot came in at 6 and Stuart Nicholls started as hooker.

Whether the journey took its toll or Wells are going to be slow starters the side found themselves 12-0 down after 19 minutes having conceded two tries to a lively Tring back division who scored tries through Ben Hogan at Fly half – which he converted and through left wing Rory Hardman.

From this point on though Wells grew in confidence with a solid scrum platform and Nicholls finding his range at the lineout and his jumpers. This gave the visitors field position and debutant Finlay White kicked a simple penalty on 26 minutes to start the process of reducing the gap 12-3.
With Josh Brockman and Ben Harrison gaining yards in the loose and the Wells getting ball to their backs and with the defence tightened and widened nicely a forward passing movement saw Brockman go over for a try halfway out on the right with Fin White converting on 31 minutes 12-10.
Tring then put in a ten minute assault on the Wells line before halftime but the Wells defence stood solid to leave the score at 12-10 to Tring at halftime.

As the teams came out for the second half it was clear that the momentum of the game had shifted to the Wells although an early attack in midfield saw Angus Horne lose the ball in the tackle and Tring picking up a succession of fine cover tackles as the Wells got back to defend saving the day.
As the half developed though the visitors enjoyed more of the ball and more play in the home half with Fin White hitting a further penalty on 52 minutes to take the visitors into the lead for the first time 12-13. This was immediately responded to though by the home team as Wells missed a tackle in midfield to allow right wing Jake Olley to pick up an unconverted try halfway out 17-13. White responding a minute later with another penalty for offside this time from 30 meters 17-16.

At this stage and from the kick off ill discipline saw a Tring centre sent to the bin with a yellow card with White adding his fourth penalty of the afternoon and gaining the lead for the Wells at 17-19 with the last quarter to play.

With the game opening up Brockman, Horne, Harrison and Nick Doherty started to punch holes in the Tring defence and on 65 minutes after a telling break from Brockman wing Jake Smith finished off with a brilliant dive under the cover into the right corner for an unconverted try 17-24 on 65 minutes.
Wells continued to enjoy the majority of possession with the front row solid in the scrum as Gabriel O’Brien, Jason Lord and Jack Anderson were rolled on as subs. Despite having to demonstrate a tighter defence as the final whistle approached Wells were on the attack through the middle again with Angus Horne showing incisive play to put right wing Toby Wallace in for a converted try to take the score out to 17-31 on 70 mins.

All looked good for Wells until they lost a player to a yellow card for a tip tackle and the last 8 minutes of the game saw them thrown into defence as Tring scrum half Richard Beeney went in for a converted try to pull the score back to 24-31. Despite this score and being a man down the Wells team showed spirit and organisation to see the game out and secure the first win of the season.

There is no doubt that coaches Ben Kayser and Dave Strettle will have their jobs cut out in selection once all the Wells squad are available as a number of players put their names forward for the team sheet next week with Fin White, Josh Brockman and Ben Harrison all putting their credentials forward for Man of the Match with Tring going for Brockman in a close run thing with Harrison.

Next Saturday sees Wells with 3 sides at home at St Marks with the Firsts hoping for a big crowd as they take on Brighton KO 3 00pm.

The winners from the most recent draw are:-

1st prize (£250) no 20 Colin Jarman

2nd prize (£100) no 101 Richard Draper

3rd prize (£50) no 9 Roger Clarke

Please contact Alan Skinner at skinners205@btinternet.com to join this important club fundraiser.