Cinque Ports 7 - 22 Rye XV (HT 0-17)
When original opposition South Godstone pulled out it was a relief for Cinque Ports that local rivals Rye offered to make the short journey to St Leonards. The relief was short lived though when it was explained that the Rye team would be a mixture of 1st and 2nd team players and would certainly be a strong challenge for the home team. Rye arrived with 13 players and borrowed Dan Mahoney and Chris Young in the backs but it quickly became apparent that the strength was in the forwards. From the kick off the Rye back row was quickly on top, driving over rucks with power. Carl Malthouse and Dean Dedman had to put in some tough tackles to hold out the surge. Rye dominated early possession, and looked likely to score on a few occasions. A quickly taken penalty was well stopped by Rob Pantry-Meyer and Malthouse tidied up well. A drive from a scrum was held up well on line, with Paul Smart disrupting effectively. Possession was hard to come by, Chris Eastwood was a sniping presence and Murray Whittington and Rob Fink were more direct presences but Rye had a strangle hold on the game. They used possession well and scored through a few weak tackles before scoring a second from a push over at the scrum. CPR continued to struggle against the elements and Smart avoided kicking into the wind instead using willing runners like Malthouse, Whittington and Mike Dunne. A smart kicking game by Rye and control of the set piece meant that the visitors scored another before the turnaround.
With the wind now behind Cinque Ports Smart used his boot a bit more willingly, and possession seemed to come a little easier. A fourth Rye try seemed to take the game away from CPR, but this only seemed to increase the effort for the hosts. The arrival of sub Ross Kearney seemed to give a little impetus and yardage was being gained with a little more ease. Whittington looked to exploit the flank and was unlucky not to break through cleanly, and on the opposite wing Martyn Chambers showed good pace. A strong break by Pantry-Meyer also came close, the second rower unlucky that his off-load to Eastwood didn’t result in a try. Luke Price also looked to break through the defence and was unlucky not to escape the defence on a number of occasions. The set-piece seemed to be working more too, Line out ball was easier to come by and a strong rumble by Craig Barningham also ate up the yards. With the game ticking away, ball was quickly cleared away from a ruck on the edge of the 22. Kearney galloped up the field outstripping the defence before selflessly making a slip pass to Whittington for the winger to pick up his seventh of the season. Smart converted to bring the game to a close.
Despite the defeat team manager Gavin Thomas could identify positives “Rye had about 75% of possession so to limit them to 4 tries shows good defensive quality, it was also good to see Murray and Ross working together well their pace is a real dangerous weapon. That said we all know that we gave them the first 20 minutes without much opposition so we need to ensure that we start our next game with greater purpose”. Head Coach Bill Langley named Smart man of the match, for “his massive work ethic and excellent game management”. Malthouse, Whittington and Pantry-Meyer also showed great willing throughout.
Team: Wan, Wright, Dedman, Thomas (Bigg), Pantry-Meyer, Malthouse, Dunne, Barningham, Eastwood, Smart, Fink (Chambers), Hanny (Kearney), Price, Whittington, Waughma
