A tragedy of errors

Both packs of forwards stood their ground in the early exchanges, and the visiting well drilled Sidcup backs were given no quarter as they attempted to break through a resolute G'ss defence.
Gravesend played what has now become a standard feature of their play as they passed the ball out in the backs to keep their game going forward.
Good angles from Tom Goss and Ashley Frampton, and strong defence from Chris Brady on the wing, complimented the efforts of the back row as they secured an even flow of possession.
Ten minutes on the clock and the quickly won ball went through the hands as the threes combined before sending Chris Brady through the gap to chase over the line. The conversion from Dave Dorton curled past the left hand upright, but Gss were 5-0 to the good and this was no more than they deserved.
There had been a couple of handling errors early on as the ball failed to reach from the base of the breakdown as Brad Smith came under pressure from the visiting scrum half, Ben Ibrahim, but the one that mattered came as Gss had secured their line, repelled the onslaught of the Sidcup pack to win the put in at a five metre scrum.
The tight five secured the ball but the pass out to the backs went to ground and knocked forward. At the resulting visitors scrum, number eight Jon West picked up and drove over to touch down. Josh Twyford added the extras to give Sidcup a 5-7 advantage after seventeen minutes.
The second quarter saw much of the same, as both XVs played a disciplined game with each only conceding two penalties through the first forty.
After the interval, it looked like a case of two different teams taking to the field. From the first error in front of the posts after just five minutes, duly despatched by Twyford, that put Sidcup ahead at 5-10, there then came a series of errors and poor tackling from Gss.
Although still in the game for most of the third period, Gss just couldn't string enough moves together to get them past the visitors ten metre line.
It was a vastly superior second half performance from Sidcup as they took their chances to capitalise on Gss errors and climbing penalty count, which at the end of the game had added eight more to their first half two.
Pressure from good driving mauls and close attention to the ball receiver from the middle of the Sidcup attack, kept Gss pinned in their own territory, and the last quarter was only interrupted by the five minute intervals between the four tries that the mature Sidcup XV added to the one from the first forty.
Three well struck conversions from the boot of Twyford brought the final tally to 5-36, and the recognition that the spectators had been watching a team that will be playing in National 3 next season.
The Christmas break now comes in for the league with the first fixture in the new year away to Brighton on 7 January.