Gannets got the skills to beat the Wills.

When the Willies arrived and saw all 18 Gannets suited up and playing touch outside the clubhouse what must they have been thinking?
'Wow this lot are organised/keen/up for it'? Well the reality was that there was some confusion over the kick off time and they were there a good half hour early.Plus they avoided Strood this time.So what transpired was perhaps the Gannets most organised pregame warm up of the season.A bit of touch,a bit of stretching,running 'moves' ,it was all there!

The Wills received the opening kickoff and almost immediately a wayward pass was seized upon by the Gees,the ball soon finding its way to Steve Wootton who cut through the defence far too easily to score.Bens normally reliable boot was off target however and the score remained 0-5.

A combination of determined play from the Wills and cheap penalties given away by the Gees meant the home side were soon knocking on the door but the Gees tackling was resolute,keeping out several attacks.An easy penalty in front of the posts was offered and was easily slotted by Doyle from the The Professionals who was playing fly half.

The Gannets were having their way in the scrums,winning both their own and the Wills put ins,with Martin Taylor also constantly putting his opposite number under pressure and it was these that proved the platform for the next try.With the backs given an excellent platform to attack,a miss move to Matt Clarke found him inside the 5 and certain to score before an excellent last gasp tap tackle brought him down.However,Sarge was there for the offload and he scooted in for another unconverted score.

It was pretty much one way traffic by now with only knock ons, a couple of driving maul penalties and booming kicks from the Wills 10 keeping the Gees from adding to their tally.Steve Wootton eventually made the breakthrough following another great team move.Ben made no mistake this time and it was 3-17 going into halftime.

With the Gannets looking to press home their advantage playing into the low sun,Craig Duvana and Martin Archer were brought into the second row to beef up an already dominant pack.The result,of course was the first scrum of the half being won against the head.From the following attack,a kick downfield from Vid was fielded by the Wills fullback who was immediately under pressure from the onrushing Gees pack,A turned over ball saw the ball worked back to Vid who was stopped just short of the line where this time it was Matt Clarke who received the ball and powered between two defenders to ground the ball.Again,Ben hitting the tricky conversion.

Maybe the Gees thought they had this in the bag and their hosts had given up but their play in the next ten or so minutes was uncharacteristically sloppy resulting in them being drove back to their own 5 where the Wills had a lineout.The Gannets,once again,won it against the head but with the ball bouncing around near the goal line,no Gees players made an attempt to seize it as a Wills player stole in to ground it in the corner.Or did he? After a quick chat with the touch judge the try was given.While it may have been controversial,it was no more than the Gannets deserved for their lackadaisical play and in fact proved the catalyst for what was to come in the last 20 minutes of the match.

The Gannets attacked with renewed vigour,determined not to let their hosts back into the game any further and Ollie Karabardak was next to cross the line after outpacing the home defence along the touchline to score under the posts.

The Gees next moment of note was the loss of Matt Abbott after a blow to the head resulted in a nasty gash to his eyebrow.The Gannets have seen some nasty gashes in their time,perhaps no one more than Matt himself and it was deemed too severe to continue with Sam replacing him.

Sargeys second try was a bit special with him taking the ball just outside his own 22 and outpacing the entire Wills defence to score under the sticks.Not bad for a prop slash hooker.

Final score 8-38.

This Gannets team finally seems to have found its best 15 and is improving week on week.It's just a same there's only a couple of games left as they could be contesting Old Gees (who today won the league) for that top spot.The link up play today was superb with rucking,mauling and especially the linkup and offload play being outstanding.I guess the player of the match could only be decided by scores on a day like this so with a toss up between Steve and Sarge,Sarge just edges it with his 80 metre solo run..

It's another week off for the housewives favourites next week before they head down to Sevenoaks on their quest to end the season on a high...will Mayhew be there or will he be taking the day off to eat lunch again? Find out in the next exciting installment.

Until next time...