Lack of variation in Gss game plan

This was a game featuring two teams fighting for survival in National 3 London and South East, and it was clear both had difficulty in keeping their game flowing to any good effect.
A game that was dominated by the referee’s whistle, with more than twenty-five penalties and two yellow cards shown, both to the visitors, throughout the stop start game.
This was interspersed with some entertaining rugby where we saw Gravesend’s pack dominant and play with an enthusiasm that included some good close quarter passing as they carried the game forward, but alas gained no reward from these good phases.
The majority of the early exchanges were in the visitors half of the park, and it was on one of the rare occasions that Chi were in the Gravesend twenty-two, that a drive from five metres found the momentum for Chris Johnson to get the ball down across the line, 0-5.
It wasn’t long before Gs were back on the front foot with the hard working forwards recycling some good ball but when a kick from the base of the ruck was charged down near the ten metre line, a kind bounce and a clear run in under the posts for Roger Thompson try, this time converted by Henry Anscombe to increase the advantage to 0-12 at the end of the first quarter.
Good play involving Bird and Brady, great runs from Forsyth and Shields with Stevens in the fray, Line-out possession won by Foulet and Irvine but such was the resolute defence of the Chichester XV that despite many incursions into their territory, Gss had found no way through, that was until Dave Irvine lept high to charge down a clearance kick before gathering the ball and three defenders before support came along. After some strong driving by the support forwards, the ball was in safe hands as Ziggy Stevens went down over the line.
With Chi’s penalty count rising it was no surprise that when scrum-half Anscombe deliberately played the ball in an offside position, to prevent a possible score, he was sent to the sin bin.
The resulting penalty was badly struck and Chi were let off yet again.
The extra man advantage did not show for Gravesend until the last seconds of the half, when a combination of passes resulted in Temi Okenla outsmarting the defence to run in a try.
Jason Thomasen-Hicks put the conversion through for the teams to go in level at the break 12-12.
The standard of rugby that we had watched in the first forty minutes seemed to have been left in the changing rooms at half time, although there were some flashes of the earlier display, but the play now seemed to degenerate it an unforced error strewn performance from both XVs.
Chichester’s speedy Jack Maslen ran home two more scores one of which was controversially converted by Anscombe, while Gs only managed to score one more try when a brilliant cross field kick went into the waiting arms of Tom Goss to side-step the defence and touch-down, again when Chi were down to fourteen players to pull back to 17-27.
There was still time to get another score, but when Chi gained a turn-over they rolled the ball until the clock went into the red before kicking to touch.
This failure to gain any bonus points may cost Gs dearly come the end of the season, but Chi left Rectory Field with a little more hope of staying in the league with a fourteen point cushion for Gs to overcome.