On Saturday the Bandits were on the road again, this time to play Bromley 3s who sat second in the league at the time. In a testament to both teams bucking the trend of declining numbers across grassroots rugby, they both agreed to have a seven man bench, as opposed to the league standard of three.
Given the strong winds, horizontal rain and the match ball having as much grip as a bar of soap a low scoring game seemed on the cards and, indeed the scrum count would indicate that to be the case, but Club got on the scoreline early on with a try by player-coach Andy Lock.
The error count weas high from both teams but it was Club who were able to adapt to the conditions best and the hard work in training paid off as we were able use the shape we practice to put together string passages of play that made ground and led to numerous scores.
Whilst the backs did feature on the score sheet a lot it was a day for the forwards as the Bandits were strong in the Set Piece and at the breakdown. The scrum had parity, verging on dominance at times and the lineout functioned as smoothly as it has done all season, despite the high winds. Conor Mitchells throwing was on point and main jumpers Hayden Riley & Lewis Gibbs were not only safe with our own ball, they disrupted & stole many of Bromleys throw ins. Attacks round the fringes were repelled and linespeed meant Bromley backs were usually hit a long way behind the gain line. Bromley had a hard time breaking down the Bandits defence – at one point they opted to kick (unsuccessfully) for points from a penalty, which is rare at this level. Such was the aggression of the Bandits defence that Bromley goton the score sheet but once and many short rangeattacks by the hosts were repelled literally on the line.
Bromley were a strong side, as their position in the league proves but the structured game plan of the Bandits created openings that we were able to exploit as it moved into broken play.
Man of the match went to our French student Jules who scored 4 and had a good day off the tee with his siege gun boot (and who sadly returns home in a few weeks) but a special shout out goes to James Bonser who only ever seems to score absolute world class tries out of nowhere.
The next game is away at Swanley on 7th December who have moved into pole position for the league having won 5 from 7 games, Bromley are now second (5 from 7) and the Bandits & OEs 2s are third & fourth respectively (both 5 from 5).
The Bandits next home game is Wednesday 8th January, under lights, hosting London Fire Brigade once again.
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