Match Report
Kent 38-36 Southampton
It did not look good for the Ravens twenty minutes into the match against fifth placed Southampton Spitfires. They were down by two
tries already and had not been anywhere near the opposition try line. Worse was to come when the visitors found scoring at ease
second nature to rake up a tally of twenty points with five minutes until half time. On the sound of the referees whistle the Ravens
were able to bag a consolation try for their efforts in the first half when Manbir Mann went over for his first try of the season,
but heads were down as the teams headed for the changing rooms.
The home side emerged from a grilling by head coach Kenny Bell
for the second half looking like a different side, tactics were
changed and the Ravens kept the ball. An opportunity to use the wide spaces became available and this produced fantastic rugby.
The crowd of 131 were making themselves heard and they sensed something special on the cards. Kent Ravens got the momentum with
three quick tries from winger Chris Bolton, Stand off Tom White and centre Nick McPherson giving them the lead for the first time
at 22–20.
Southampton never looked out of the match as they replied with
a powerful burst down the middle to add another four points to their
tally, unlike the first half this actually spurred the Ravens on and with only ten minutes left of the match the Ravens edged the
match with tries by Joe Oxford and another from Nick McPherson. Captain Oakley, in fine kicking form, added both conversions to put
the Ravens up 34-24.
The Spitfires came back at the Ravens pack who seemed to think they had the points in the bag. The Spitfires came back with two more
points giving them a 34 -32 advantage. Tactics came into play again as the men in gold attacked down the left side drawing in the
opposition and giving debutant winger Lee Woollard the room to score in the right hand corner, but the conversion was missed to
leave a nail biting finish with the Ravens up 38-32. With only seconds left on the clock Southampton shrugged off tackles to crash
over under the posts for another try, but a missed kick consigned the visitors to a 38-36 defeat.