By Simon Petts

Folkestone took to a fairly windy Whitstable pitch with an aim to start playing their own game from the outset. Of late this side has waited until the last third of the match to start controlling play and taking the fight to the opposition. Unfortunately we did the same again this week. This was disappointing for the Stones side that really fought for this game & played some superb attacking rugby, they just left it too late.

The home sides pack proved difficult to deal with all through the first half, pitch condition didn’t help, a much churned up pitch meant that as soon as Folkestone moved back there was little hope of stopping the drive, same conditions for both sides, however Whitstable’s much heavier front eight used their advantage well.

The game as a whole was fairly well balanced, Ian Spicer had an exceptional game at 9, orchestrating his attacking options well & controlling players off the ball with a good tactical awareness. The home side scored twice in the first half , both against the run of play and one of which involved a Folkestone player being tackled off the ball which unfortunately was missed by the referee, I take nothing from the Whitstable side, they did well to score the tries but difficult to take for the visitors.

Following half time the Folkestone side were on the ascendancy, the first half had caught them spectating at times but now they looked fully focused and ready to correct the score line. Alas it was not to be, Two more tries were scored with Whitstable capitalizing on small errors made by the Folkestone team, and small errors were not surprising either following the wave after wave of attack that was thrown at the home side, two or three phases of small pod work from the forwards were followed by Spicer setting the backs underway, this went on for a good ten minutes with Steve Woolford and a mass of support players finally going over and believing they’d scored only to be denied, adjudged to have been held up.

The game finished 20-0, A frustrating game as far as score lines go, however an enjoyable one to play in.

Some points to note, Good to see Ricky Wincote on the park & considering work commitments have kept him away most of this season he had a really good game, The back line as a whole performed well, some lively interlinking had all players involved including Gareth Webber who smashed though from Full Back time and time again & took some determined tackling to stop him.
Congratulations go to Dean Stewart whose son Tom came on in the last ten minutes to replace Ben Stringer, A very proud moment for Dean.

FRFC 4th XV’s man of the match was picked by Rich Johnson who watched from the sideline, he stated that this player had single-handedly stopped two try scoring opportunities from Whitstable!!!

Man of the Match – Paul Windross.
Webber, Blackman, Mcleod, Wincote, Windross, Harrison, Spicer, Petts, White, Stewart, Woolford S, Stringer, Wilson, Donovan-Bayley, Clark, Patters, Stewart.