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National 2 East Prospects |
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Ancient Oak
First XV regular Joined: 03 Sep 2019 Location: Sevenoaks Status: Offline Points: 133 |
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Hi Halliford. Interesting to read your comments on last Saturday's encounter at yours. We had seven enforced changes, casualties from the previous week's bruising Battle of the A21 v TJs - three scrum halves in the starting XV! Quite frankly we were expecting a drubbing so were pleased with our showing against the league leaders scoring 5 tries to Esher's 6. Got quite excited at 26-26 after 47 minutes but your guys always seemed able to step up a gear when called for. Very impressed by your fly half and the overall skill level of your backs in attack. Good luck hereon. Cant honestly see anyone stopping you.
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"Heaven prosper our sport"
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Halliford
World Cup Winner Joined: 17 Feb 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4157 |
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Jackal, we continue to tighten the nuts at Esher! We were poor last week against a dogged 7oaks. We will need to find more cohesion in March with the Away matches at TJs and North Walsham.
In some ways having the Guernsey match rearranged to the spare week between Dorking and Barnes could help us. We will know what we need to achieve each week in April. Most of our injuries have cleared and we have depth in every position, shown by our 2nd XV now winning consistently. Having said all of that, every match now becomes a Cup Final with every opponent wanting to trip us up! That's rugby for you!! Sorry to see BSE slipping away, you’re such a great Club and deserve better.
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Golden Jackal
British and Irish Lion Joined: 18 Apr 2020 Location: E Anglia Status: Offline Points: 153 |
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Hi Darth...yes i was at the game....had been royally entertained by the Worthing Boys on the Friday and all was well until 2.30!
That is 5 defeats in a row now since the euphoria of beating Henley....We let slip a similar lead v TJs and the wheels seem to have come well and truly off! Such a shame having got into the promo scrap to now face a dispointing end to the season. Esher seem nailed on for the title...i cant see them slipping up twice. Down the bottom...if you had asked me at 2.30 on Saturday I would have said Worthing were the poorest team we have played recently (having played all the other contenders recently) but now who knows! |
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WEvans
World Cup Winner Joined: 08 Dec 2016 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 1381 |
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Esher now have the re-arranged home fixture against Guernsey between the Dorking and Barnes games.
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Darth Raider
World Cup Winner Joined: 12 Mar 2010 Location: Sussex Status: Offline Points: 1775 |
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Hi Jackal.....were you at the game ? I can imagine it must be gutting from an BSE standpoint to surrender the match situation like that ?
As regards the remaining six fixtures.....I have not looked at all of them I confess, but my lot have both the in form Sevenoaks and NW at home, and the Wombles away. So strictly speaking, it would not be unreasonable I think, to say that we DO hold our survival in our own hands ? I suspect that two more wins might be enough ? But you never know. As regards which team might be considered the over-achievers in this season, my vote would go to WP. They are not holding an exactly heady position in the league, but have amassed a very good points total for a recently promoted side. In addition, if you were to look at prospects for next year, then although they have lost 12 games, 8 of those were by 7pts or less. So it would not take a great deal more for them to be top 6 next year ? Sevenoaks also merit a mention....a fine season for them too and perhaps, still improving ? As regards the under-achievers. I think given recent seasons form, it should be Worthing Raiders. Guernsey too, may have been hoping for a much better outcome this year. I for one keep expecting them to mount a title challenge sometime soon ? I suppose Esher would like to wrap up the title early if they can ? They remain in a strong position but with both Dorking and Barnes in their last two fixtures, nothing can be taken for granted yet. Four very winnable games precede that though, and maximum points there could do the job ?
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PM009
First XV regular Joined: 07 Jan 2019 Location: Kent Status: Offline Points: 70 |
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The league is shaping up nicely as we head towards the last block of games. Great win for Worthing, Dons u able to back up last week sees them in a dangerous position. Sevenoaks ran Esher hard, they’re on a good run of form, but Esher look odds on surely? WP picking up another bonus point in their win over Cantebury, whose form seems to have fallen off a cliff! Barnes and Dorking keeping Esher honest too, shaking up for a good finish!
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Golden Jackal
British and Irish Lion Joined: 18 Apr 2020 Location: E Anglia Status: Offline Points: 153 |
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Recovery would be one word.... |
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Raider999
World Cup Winner Joined: 18 Jan 2013 Location: Crawley Status: Offline Points: 4434 |
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And the converted try was actually a penalty try! A great recovery from the Raiders who looked down and out at 0-24 |
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RAID ON
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sweatysock
British and Irish Lion Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Location: Sussex Status: Offline Points: 298 |
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yes Darth - quite a turnaround, especially considering how poor we had played to get to the 24-0 deficit. Vital points though
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Darth Raider
World Cup Winner Joined: 12 Mar 2010 Location: Sussex Status: Offline Points: 1775 |
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Fluctuating fortunes at the Rugby Park today. BSE cruised into an 0-24 lead in the first half hour. Raiders grabbed a couple of unconverted tries just prior to HT to peg it back a bit. They then went on to score 4 more in the second half......only one conversion but a narrow lead of 32-24 established, before BSE scored at the end to grab two BP's from their defeat. Very useful points for my lot....38pts in total now....safER
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Darth Raider
World Cup Winner Joined: 12 Mar 2010 Location: Sussex Status: Offline Points: 1775 |
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Great to see NW continue to rack up the try count......shame they could not have begun this run a couple of months back ?
As regards the relegation battle, things might be getting very slightly simpler. Newport in the West still have only 22pts with 7 games left, so we MIGHT assume that 2 teams will go down from that league. Which means by extrapolation, that three out of four will go down from the East and North combined. Both Wimbledon and Worthing are on 33pts from 19 games.....fantastic away win for the Wombles as mentioned above. And Billingham and Ionians both are on 27pts from 19. Still nip and tuck then ! I have n't yet looked at all of the remaining fixtures....but in the East....our two contenders have some tough fixtures remaining and indeed, playing each other near the end ! Could be a huge game that. Both Barnes and the Dorks managed good wins in tough fixtures to try and maintain pressure on the leaders, but I suspect Esher will need quite a stumble if they are to be caught ?
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sweatysock
British and Irish Lion Joined: 12 Nov 2012 Location: Sussex Status: Offline Points: 298 |
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Remains very precarious at the bottom, especially with Wimbledon's excellent win on the road. At moment the "best loser" spot looks to be in the east division, but that can change. At top Esher remain favourites
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Happy
British and Irish Lion Joined: 06 Sep 2019 Location: Sevenoaks Status: Offline Points: 175 |
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Walsham were excellent today the adventurous rugby really is difficult to counter
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@boatyjames
British and Irish Lion Joined: 30 Aug 2016 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 178 |
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Yay!
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Halliford
World Cup Winner Joined: 17 Feb 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4157 |
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We had a lot more injuries last season. Two players had head injuries pre-Christmas but only one was a poor tackle. We have 3 or 4 out with long-term injuries but only one would have been a regular starter. With players recovering our second team has started 2024 with wins where we lost earlier in the season. Our coaches worked very hard on adjusting tackle techniques and it seems to have paid off
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honestinjun
World Cup Winner Joined: 05 Aug 2014 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 374 |
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One thing that has been on my mind since my recent post above, are you all seeing more injuries this season than last? further to the point I made earlier this week, we have lost three first choice fly halves since the end of December, all to dislocated shoulders, all tackling opponents, I am sure some might say this is down to poor tackle technique, but these were all experienced players, seems an unlikely coincidence don’t you think? Our DOR is convinced it is directly attributable to the new tackle height laws… just curious about what is going on elsewhere…and what people think.
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HonestInjun
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Darth Raider
World Cup Winner Joined: 12 Mar 2010 Location: Sussex Status: Offline Points: 1775 |
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Hi Injun.....my lot have played both the high scoring City Side and the battling Islanders of late. If the Goose Poo Green title challenge is to be maintained, your lads will need to be on their mettle to get anything out of either game. Just two more very decent sides in this year's very competitive league.
Very good win at the Big Field though.....that helps a lot.
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honestinjun
World Cup Winner Joined: 05 Aug 2014 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 374 |
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Hi Darth, Barnes are continuing to win ugly, it was a pretty poor performance yesterday against a Westcombe Park side who hassled HRD, and successfully prevented Barnes from settling, we are also ravaged by long term injuries, no excuses really from me as all clubs have them, however, last season we hardly had any long term injuries, this time around we have a whole team of players who are unlikely to return to the pitch this season…this leads to a lack of continuity and experience when players step up from the 2’s, thank god we have a 2nd XV competing in that tough Halbro Raging Bull league, it is an incredibly important part of our strategy to try players out, and boy have we needed them to be tested early. I predict more ugly scraps against Canterbury and Guernsey over the next couple of weeks…both nasty looking banana skins if you ask me!
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HonestInjun
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Darth Raider
World Cup Winner Joined: 12 Mar 2010 Location: Sussex Status: Offline Points: 1775 |
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I was at the Rugby Park yesterday too......and agree with Sweaty. For me, Guernsey were much the better side and it was a mystery how they went into oranges so far behind We only got into their 22 three times I believe, but managed to score on each occasion. That coupled with lengthy periods of excellent defence on our own tryline gave an 21-7 interval lead. We hardly got out of our own half after HT as the islanders slowly moved into the lead. I don't think we managed to put the ball through hands until the last minute, when an excellent move down our right flank brought about the last gasp try and two bonus points....most welcome. Any possession we did win we seemed to kick straight back to them.
As far as the situation at the bottom of the three leagues is now concerned, with 8 games to go: Wimbledon 28pts Worthing 32pts Billingham 26pts Ionians 27pts Newport 22pts Nervy times for all teams involved. Elsewhere.....although Barnes don't seem to be quite the force they were earlier in the season, the top three remain in a good competition. Esher still clear favourites for me.
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Golden Jackal
British and Irish Lion Joined: 18 Apr 2020 Location: E Anglia Status: Offline Points: 153 |
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Often happens and good to see refs picking up on players putting a cheap shot on someone as they are in the act of scoring... Not sure if it warrants a pen at the re start....Example when a Pen Try is awarded a player can often recieve a yellow but the game re starts as normal....
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