Lordswood III 3  East Peckham 48

The Villagers put in an amazing display to canter away with this league result against a traditionally strong side in the forwards.  This was partly due to the return of hooker and skipper for the day Chris Reeves and prop Dean Scott.  Also to veteran Ade Delahunty in his second match of the season regaining his fitness.  This provided the necessary platform in the strong wind which made the lineout tricky for both sides.

Peckham elected to try to keep it away from the forwards but a series of close drives proved unfruitful when Andy Bodle playing his 450^th at lock was held up and flanker Andy Masters was unlucky in not quite being able to snatch a loose ball, it fell to centre Anthony Chalk to weave his way through the entire home side pack to go over for the first try converted by scrum half Lee Walker.  Lordswood came back immediately and narrowed the gap with a drop goal from their scrum half but the Villagers rallied and scored two fine long running tries via centre Matt Rix finishing off fly half Jeth Castles’ break and left wing Simon Coop who bludgeoned over from some way out.  Walker converted one of these and this allowed East Peckham to turn round 3-19 up.  Simon Tremain made a brief blood appearance before Scott was replaced by Simon Cathcart but not before East Peckham scored one of their most remarkable tries ever.  Setting up a rolling maul from a lineout on the half way line, with Walker acting as cox and flankers Stuart Dedman and Chris Masters and lock Sloan Annand spearheading the charge, this maul rolled right up to and over the tryline for Masters to claim the touchdown.

Annand then scored another fantastic try as he intercepted Lordswood’s lineout inside Peckham’s 22 and made a break, No 8 Brian Robinson carried on for Walker , castles and Chalk to make inroads feeding Rix who in turn gave the scoring pass to Annand, thoroughly enjoying his long awaited maiden try for the club.  Rix scored his second with a classic midfield cut back from secure scrum ball and Walker charged out from a kick ahead to add a try to his four conversions for a superb display in the conditions notching 13 points.

The final score came with a flourish as full back Harry Carden who had been busy running ball back all day, dummied on the right wing, accelerated and swerved and then popped the ball to replacement wing Matt Wollen for another superb score.

Next week East Peckham have a friendly away to Tunbridge Wells.

Hastings & Bexhill III  20  East Peckham 19 

The Villagers just lost out in this absorbing encounter although they will rue the indiscipline that cost them the match in this difficult away fixture.  Just about able to muster a team, it was a very different side that took the field against Gillingham the previous week, but nonetheless the visitors opened brightly as the mist gradually cleared to afford a vague view of the sea.

An early attack saw great possession won by the rampaging heavyweight forwards with Liam Jones restored on the tighthead and as skipper with veteran Kev Turner on the loose, hooker Chris Reeves and lock Simon Cathcart to the fore.  A break by fly half Anthony Chalk after quick ball allowed centre Pete Hale to put left wing Ben Viney clear.  He had a long way to run but an outstanding swerve cleared the defence for his fifth try for the club.  Scrum half Lee Walker extended the lead with the conversion.

Although well against the run of play, a terribly wild pass out of contact in attack resulted in an easy intercept for Hastings' centre as he galloped in unopposed under the posts.  This in turn allowed an easier conversion in the squally wind which brought the teams back to level pegging.

Again Peckham rallied and surged upfield.  This time Turner supplied the finishing bludgeon as he crashed over for Walker again to convert.  Almost incredibly, a fairly innocuous defensive lineout then saw a sharp pass and dropped ball snatched by the opposition for another unopposed canter in and the Villagers were to pay for this laxity.

In the second half the home team had the elements and took the lead for the first time via a penalty for offside.  East Peckham had to work hard but gained territorial advantage for No 8 Brian Robinson to pick up and pop to Walker who made ground and put Chalk away, but he could not convert and narrowly missed with a subsequent penalty.  Sadly, the visitors allowed their inability to comply with the referee's interpretation (a must at any level) to spill over into internal dispute and Hastings nicked the game by a point with a well taken penalty in the dying minutes.

Next week East Peckham travel to Edenbridge to resume their league campaign and compete for the Jubilee Cup in honour of both clubs' founding in 1977.

The Villagers returned an emphatic win at home to Gillingham to keep them in the top four of the league after recent wobbles.  Electing to play uphill in fine, crisp conditions, although still very soft underfoot they eventually ran out victors by two goals, two tries and three penalty goals to a single goal in reply.

East Peckham scored first when debutant wing Anthony Chalk in only his second match for the club was put clear by centres Matt Rix and Pete Hale following some good forward support play.  Chalk still had some way to go, but he stepped inside and beat the cover defence for scrum half Steve Guthrie to convert.  Gillingham , replied immediately as they attacked down the slope and a chip over Peckham’s rush defence was gathered by their full back to allow a conversion under the posts.  Stung by this the Villagers attacked again with their make shift front row of Chris Reeves who was captain for the day and Brian Robinson at prop with Stuart Dedman at hooker.  Lineout jumpers Simon Tremain and Sloan Annand won sufficient ball and another debutant, full back Harry Carden was safe under the high ball and joined the line intelligently.  Rix was put away for a fine try on one of his typically mazy runs following a double hit by himself and fly half Jeth Castles cleared out by flanker Andy Masters.

Here Reeves showed that captaincy from the coalface pays dividends as twice his forwards surged uphill to win territory, possession and penalties and twice he went for the points with Guthrie obliging.  These were critical scores as it allowed Peckham the cushion they needed to cut loose.  At half time the big guns came on in the forwards in the form of Simon Cathcart and Lee McCarthy to provide extra ballast with Tim Shave to provide strength and speed and this resulted in one fearsome heave backwards for Gillingham in the scrum.

The try of the match followed as the forwards won good ball and it was fed left, although to Gillingham ’s credit the home side had to work hard for the score as fly half Jeth Castles made the first break and fed inside to flanker Stuart Johnston.  He passed back outside to Rix who made a third break, popped to Hale who fed to left wing Ben Viney who went over still with two tacklers in tow.  Another Guthrie penalty killed the match before Johnston again joined the line to finish and in so doing became joint third top try scorer of all time alongside the great Mike Haffenden and overtaking no less a man than record points scorer Dave Hughes.  Johnston also overtook Phil Caldicott to become 8^th most points scorer.  Unfortunately he departed the field shortly afterwards when lock Andy Bodle nicked an opposition throw and put him away only to sustain a twisted knee.

Hale ended the try scoring to leave each three quarter with a try apiece as he notched his 200^th point with his 40^th try.  Guthrie ended the day with a 13-point haul with his final conversion.

Next week East Peckham travel to Hastings & Bexhill for a friendly.