CAPTAIN Evan Whitson cut a relieved and exhausted figure as the final whistle blew on Jersey RFC’s most gruelling match this season as they produced an outstanding comeback to edge Tunbridge Wells 45-43.
Having already sealed the Regional 1 South Central title and promotion earlier this month, the St. Peter’s based side had to dig deep and scored seven tries as they target going unbeaten this season.
Tunbridge Wells 43
Tries: Goodger 3’, Dickson 13’, Rutherford 18’, 47’, 65’, Williams 32’, Groocock 76’
Conversions: Tomanek 14’, 19’, 48’, 77’
Jersey RFC 45
Tries: Macfarlane 26’, Munns 29’, Whitson 43’, Rhodes 53’, 72’, Stocks 59’, Keys 62’
Conversions: Penberthy 27’, 30’, 54’, 63’, 73’
HT Score: 24-14
Referee: Josh Bamber (RFU)
Attendance: 562
Player of the Match: Evan Whitson
More than 500 people watched arguably the two best sides in the division go toe-to-toe in a blink-and-you’ll-miss it 14-try duel, with Whitson, hooker Jack Macfarlane, winger Joe Munns, scrum-half Liam Rhodes, fullback Dylan Stocks and lock Cameron Keys all getting on the scoresheet while fly-half Aaron Penberthy added five conversions.
After putting in a man of the match performance, RFC’s skipper Whitson told the JEP: “It was a real end-to-end battle and fair play to Tunbridge Wells, they put us 19-0 down after 18 minutes and we hadn’t fired any shots so it was a real wake-up call that we needed.
“We said to each other when we were under the posts after their third try that ‘we either get back playing properly or we can go and get on the bus right now’, and we all turned it around so I’m very proud of the boys for digging in and fighting back.
“We knew it would be tough, all of our games against Tunbridge last season and this season have been real tests; they’ve got a big forward pack who run and carry hard, and had plenty to play for, which meant we had to step up and be on our game.”
With the sun shining over St. Mark’s Recreation Ground for an earlier than usual 1:30pm kick-off, Penberthy got the game underway amid a rowdy atmosphere and immediately the navy blue and white quartered shirts of the home-side won two penalties to earn a line-out on the right just outside of Jersey’s 22-metre area and from there they produced some slick cross-field passes to set up wing Rory Goodger who rounded winger Bevan Biggs and Stocks to dive over in the left corner.
Myles Landick’s men were under the cosh and gave away four penalties in the opening 10 minutes as well as losing a line-out, and just as the sun disappeared for a spate of rain and hailstones, the Kent hosts attacked from deep with some silky running rugby before going from left to right with outside-centre Hunter Dickson skirting round the right to double their lead.
Putting aside their patchy recent form, the home-side played the strangely slanted pitch perfectly and a mis-tackle by Biggs allowed 21-year-old scrum-half Jake Rutherford to nip around a line-out and dash over the whitewash down the left.
As the sun reappeared Jersey forced a couple of infringements out of Wells and a training ground line-out move saw stalwart Macfarlane dot down at the back of a driving maul to chalk their first points on the board.
Three minutes later Jersey played several quick passes crossfield from a line-out through Penberthy and inside-centre Scott van Breda to set up Munns (pictured left) with the 22-year-old flyer handing off the final defender to sprint over right of the posts.
The comeback looked on, but as the game went over the half-hour mark, Wells fought back up the slope and the blonde afro and pink boots of fullback Sam Williams was able to charge over in the right corner for the hosts bonus-point try.
With a 10-point half-time deficit and Wells as fired up to end Jersey’s unbeaten season and target a play-off place as their chairman Mike Rigby stated in the programme, the first try of the second-half was crucial.
Fortunately, whatever Landick said at half-time worked as within three minutes Jersey forced a penalty and from a five-metre line-out second-row Max Ayling set up Whitson to bundle over for his fifth try of the campaign.
Now playing down the slope, Wells forced a couple of missed passes, notably from outside-centre George Willmott, and from a quick tap-and-go ex-Worthing playmaker Rutherford sniped past prop Tom Wilson to score by the left post.
The next five minutes saw a lot of change. Ayling was replaced by Toby Osborne after suffering a neck injury, and with Jersey already having scrum-dominance as Wells couldn’t keep up after the opening engages, a van Breda chip went dead and led to another solid scrum before Rhodes duck and dived over in front of the clubhouse corner.
It got worse for Wells; on the 55th minute vice-captain Nick Doherty was sin-binned for tackling in the air and three minutes later Ben Isbell saw yellow as referee Josh Bamber ran out of patience.
Jersey capitalised and crucially scored two tries in three minutes over the hour-mark against the 13-men; firstly, from a scrum eight-metres away from Wells uprights Penberthy and van Breda teed up Stocks to slide over down the left.
Then the all-black kitted visitors produced some Joi de Vivre rugby from deep before a nicely delayed Willmott pass to Keys took out the last defender and allowed the lock to canter over between the sticks. It put Jersey ahead for the first time in the clash and clearly delighted Landick and co who aired their feelings loudly from the dugout.
Rutherford scored his hat-trick try on the right flank as the hosts played fast and loose downhill but fly-half Dan Tomanek’s missed conversion kept Jersey 38-36 in front.
The ever-aware Rhodes intercepted a long Wells pass to jog over the try-line between the sticks for his second-try on the 72 minute which led to a feisty row between the two teams.
With Wells desperate to at least gain a losing bonus-point they battled back and lock Josh Groocock muscled over by the right post to make it a two-point game once more in the final minutes.
Jersey’s forwards were wrestling Wells’ once more as the clock went red and a Wells ruck-infringement in their own half allowed Bamber to whistle and receive a handshake from Whitson for bringing an end to a tumultuous and breathless clash.
The victory means Jersey RFC go over a century of league points and are one game away from an invincible season while third-placed Tunbridge Wells two bonus points effectively secure them the league’s second play-off place.
On the manner of the comeback, a jubilant Whitson added: “We got the basics right between our tackles and set-piece, found our shape, got some time on the ball which led to rewards from the referee and then we found our normal style.
“We really wanted to go unbeaten away this season, and that was a real battle to do it. There were some sore bodies in the dressing room but we’re all delighted.”
Meanwhile Tunbridge Wells hat-trick hero Jake Rutherford said: “It was such a tough but brilliant game. We started really strong but when we went down to 13 men that was a real test for us, the penalty count wasn’t going our way and we tried to hold on but ultimately Jersey were too strong.
“We knew it would be hugely physical, we fronted us, took Jersey a little by surprise. We wanted the five points as we look to the play-offs and its harsh to say we wanted more but we did, it was a tight scoreline, its hugely important to get two league points and just what a game of rugby.”
Squads
Tunbridge Wells: [15-9] Sam Williams, Rory Goodger, Hunter Dickson, Lawrence Thresher, Max Hobbs, Daniel Tomanek, Jake Rutherford; [1-8] George Bench, Brady Robertson, Thomas Waghorne, Josh Groocock, Ben Isbell, Ben Whale (c), Jarrod Binstead, David Thornton. Replacements: Sam Hawkins, Alex Purnell, Nicholas Doherty
Jersey RFC: [15-9] Dylan Stocks, Bevan Biggs, George Willmott, Scott Van Breda, Joe Munns, Aaron Penberthy, Liam Rhodes; [1-8] Morgan Brady, Jack Macfarlane, Tom Wilson, Cameron Keys, Max Ayling, Evan Whitson (c), Tom Tilstone, Euan Spencer. Replacements: Joe Ridgway, Toby Osborne, Fergus Ludlam
Regional 1 South Central
