After a cagey first half Whitstable found another gear to secure a sensational win over top of the table rivals Brockleians in front of a packed out VP lunch crowd.

The home side struck first through Captain Ben Cliff, much to the delight of the crowd.

After persistent attack and prolonged ball retention the Blues’ powerful carries pulled in the Brockleians defenders and opened up a gap out wide for Scrum Half Andrew Huey to find Cliff who cantered in to open the scoring. Huey converted from out wide.

After a series of penalties Brockleians earned themselves good field position from which they levelled the scoring.

Off a scrum Brockleian’s moved the ball through their backs with their inside centre running a hard line off his flyhalf. A mistimed pass ricocheted off the centre’s chest but he was able to regather and touch down for a fortuitous score. Converted.

With Brockleians back on the offensive Whitstable were reduced to 14 men as Cliff found himself on the wrong side of the ruck once too many times. With their man advantage, Brockleians kicked to the corner but were unable to capitalise from the lineout, instead settling for a scrum.

Number 8 Graves moved to the front row whilst winger Will Reid temporarily made way for Matt Hall to bolster the pack. After a series of reset scrums going against Whitstable, Brockleians were penalised and Whitstable cleared their lines.

It was in fact Whitstable who would win the sin-bin period as Huey slotted a simple penalty to give the home side the advantage going into the break.

Whitstable returned to their full complement. Brockleians were however the fastest out of the blocks as they led the game for the first time
following a try out wide.

Whitstable were penalised for going off their feet at the ruck and from there Brockleians began their attack. Brockleians hammered away with their big ball carriers but were met with a resolute blue defensive wall, despite having a large overlap out wide. They did eventually go wide and made their numerical advantage count as their fullback crashed over for 10-12 to the visitors.

The Blues would soon retake the lead for the last time when winger Josh Booty finished nicely after superb work from the Whitstable forwards.

Great scrummaging from Whitstable won a scrum against the head and with the Brockleians backs sat deep Booty ran a hard line to crash through his opposite man and carry himself over the line. Particular plaudits must go to makeshift prop Rob Hudson. Huey converts, 17-12.

Whitstable’s third came just 3 minutes later. Booty again found a gap in the Brockleians defence but was stopped 5 metres out. Booty popped the ball off the floor to Till who held off the interest of a Brockleians defender long enough to reach out and dot down, however, the referee was too far back to see a grounding to award the try, despite the protests of the crowd.

Whitstable would not be denied though as from the resulting scrum the Whitstable backs moved the ball through the hands before finding the onrushing Veteran Full Back Steve Mullins who crashed to finish what he started and seal the game.

With two minutes to go Whitstable pushed for a fourth try but pressure from Brockleians forced a knock on and the end of the game.

Whitstable taking four points and sending the visitors home empty handed means the south east outfit retain their place at the top of the table, and Brockleians drop out of the top two for the first time this season.

Whitstable are away to Lordswood on the 3rd March.

Match Report credit to Andy Till