Whitstable met Dover in the final of the East Kent Clubs plate at u15 age level and brought off a convincing win. Dover had achieved some notable results this season and we were aware this was going to be a contest. The Whitstable side had prepared well and started strongly winning good ball and letting the backs have some early runs at the Dover defence. After 10 minutes James Garland broke down the left and strong running took him to the line. 12 minutes later he repeated the run and scored again in the same corner. The Whitstable team were playing some good flowing rugby in bitterly cold conditions thanks to the hefty forwards that commanded the set piece and worked well at close quarters. Five minutes before half time the score was raised to 15-0 following a trade mark gallop from Tom Grey. However Dover fought back in the later part of the first half and showed they could threaten to get back in to the game. The crucial first score in the second half came late as Dover continued to hold the Whitstable forwards and defend strongly before making inroads to the Whitstable red zone. Despite some good efforts by Dover and poor exit strategy and control by the Whistable defenders they were kept out and Whitstable did not look like conceeding their line. And so the final points eventually came from a second try by Tom Gray straightening after an arcing run and bursting through the defence. This closed the game out for Whitstable with the convertion executed wide out by Josh Howland.
There was no man of the match award as everyone played well in their positions. At times Whitstable played some very good running rugby by their capable backs to complement the muscular performance of their combative forwards who drove hard throughout. This team certainly deserved a victory after so many narrow defeats and little luck this season. Well done!