Weybridge Vandals 33 Medway Vets 12
On Sunday 15 April 2007 Medway Vets ventured far west along the M25 only to go out at the semi-final stage of the 3 Counties Evergreen Plate Competition.
Coconut scented suncream permeated the changing room (along with the other more regular smells of potions to keep old limbs moving) as Medway Old Boys prepared for the clash on the Thames floodplain. It wasn`t long before bootstuds were sending up clay dust clouds to only stick to the sweat on players and supporters alike. With very little possession Medway pinned down the home side into their own half for the first 20 minutes. Penetrating runs from centres Andy Green and Dave Francis found Medway just short of the line on a number of occasions. Valiant support play from forwards Nigel Legitt, Paul Medhurst and Gary Friel produced a missed penalty opportunity just before the Vandals hit the Medway team with a sucker punch. With only their second trip into the Medway half the home side took a quick lineout to score in the corner. Medway continued the pressure with wingers John Gilbert and Phil Brabazon closing down the opposition attacks deep into homeside territory. A lucky kick and chase from the Vandals saw them go in under the posts just before the interval.
Medway struck back early in the second half following some good linking play between Andy Watts,Jo Thorpe and Peter Gunning. Skipper Gary Davies was able to scoop up the ball and beat the last line of defence for a deserved try. The Vandals were then able to lift the tempo of their game to produce a purple patch of 3 tries in 15 minutes , which put them in a strong position and almost out of reach. Excellent close tackling from Justin Hollindge, John Robson and Chesney kept the tries tally down but Weybridge were winning scrum and lineout ball comfortably by this stage and disrupting most of Medway`s possible possession. Forwards Nick Thomas and Tony Evenden battled hard in the rucks and mawls but the homeside by the last quarter were making significant ground with every passage of play. However, Medway never gave up and late substitutes Geoff Kempt and Graham McManus were able to set up some counter attacks. This allowed Medway to have the final say with army veteran John Duggan bursting over the line from a set play penalty move in the last minute of the game
