St Francis travelled to Ditchling looking to continue their recent purple patch of results.
From the kick-off Ditchling demonstrated that their superior knowledge of the pitch was a big advantage, using the slope and the cross wind to continually pin St Francis back in their own half. Some resolute defending held the Ditchling attack back for the first 20 minutes, however a chip over the St Francis blindside was pounced on by the pacy Ditchling 14 to finally break the deadlock. St Francis drew the next blood managing to finish off a 7 phase move for Ben Searle to go over in the corner.
However this was to be St Francis' only points of the first half with Ditchling controlling territory and so the score board to pin St Francis in the their own 22 through the boot of their flyhalf. This pressure eventually won through with an uncharacteristic mix up from the front of the St Francis lineout, allowing the opposition hooker steal the loose ball and dive over the line, just evading a last ditch tackle from scrum half AJ Leonard. The half ended with Ditchling adding 3 more points from a penalty.
With St Francis flyhalf Shane Kenny withdrawing due to injury at the interval, St Francis were unable to replicate the kicking tactics that had proved successful for Ditchling in the first half. The mercurial Jude Harrison stepped in at flyhalf and used the quick hands of his back line to give wingers Matt Kelly and substitute Gorm Young an opportunity against their opposition numbers. Both men managed to score fantastic running tries to bring St Francis back into the game.
However it was the Ditchling number 10 who had the final word, chipping and chasing to score the winning try, to leave St Francis with only a bonus point for comfort.
Team: Riley, Perry, I Singh, Porter, Kersharvaz, S.Singh, Nabney, Norrie, Leonard, Kenny, Harrison, Guy Young, Searle, Kelly, McShane, Gorm Young, Sparks. |
