Old Dunstonian 19 East Grinstead 21
An East Grinstead supporter mentioned casually in the bar that the Sussex teams intention was to complete the season unbeaten. With ten minutes to go and trailing by 8 points that bold statement looked like coming back to bite him.
EG are made of stern stuff however and a late try and two brilliant kicks carried them over the line, but only just. D’s are made of pretty strong stuff themselves, and having run the league leaders so close should not fear any encounter SE2 throws at them.
A scrappy physical encounter saw the lead ebb and flow and whilst each side enjoyed periods in the ascendancy, neither established the upper hand for long. Dunstonians lost nothing in the physical confrontation despite the stature of physically bigger EG team and we wish the EG scrum half a speedy recovery after he was the recipient of a massive hit from Cody Mackie. The tackle was ill timed and earned the Kiwi ten minutes rest but contained no malicious intent. Bryant Hall returned at 10 and added poise and direction to the old boys. In partnership with Mackie they gave the old boys attack shape, direction and menace.
Early penalty exchanges saw EG lead 6 – 3. The one score of the half was an unconverted effort by the EG winger, answered by two Connolly penalties to see the visitors lead 9- 11 at the changeround.
The blood and thunder nature of the contest continued after the restart and the old boys edged ahead after a smart interception was pinched on halfway. From the resultant ruck Lee Smith bundled over. Another Connolly penalty extended the lead to 8 points – 2 scores – with less than 10 minutes remaining. Ex OD Hampson scored for the visitors in the corner, with Mckenna landing an excellent conversion from wide out to take the game to 19-18. McKenna was given a final chance to land the decisive blow which he duly did from almost 50 metres uphill. Connolly had his own opportunity to steal the headlines, but couldn’t quite nail the three pointer that would probably have edged it for the old boys.
So just a bonus point for the old boys after a run of four straight wins comes to a close. Having pinched results in several recent fixtures this was a case of the biter bit as EG came back when all looked lost.
Next week the old boys host Bromley in the Kent Cup, a side who, despite residing in the league below have beaten the old boys on probably the last 4 occasions they’ve met. The following weekend sees the old boys visiting high flying Warlingham buoyed by the realisation that it’s not beyond this team to beat anyone in this division on their day
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