Another important win for Darts

Darts entertained Cobham in what was another really important match against a team only 2 points ahead of us in the league. Conditions were good and Darts started strongly using their forwards well taking the ball up close and then using Dan Nukajam with his pace and power in the cntre to try and open up space out wide. The visitors were finding it hard to contain Darts and were conceding penalties and after a missed attempt Jonny Regnier gave the team the lead with a penalty. 3-0. Straight from the kick off Cobham conceded another pen and Darts kicked for position and continued to apply pressure. The home teams link play was excellent and it was only good defence stopping another score but strong runs from Dan and Louis Chapman opened up the gap and a great offload gave Smiler the space to score under the posts. Jonny converted. 10-0. Darts scrum and lineout were both really strong and Cobham were struggling to get into the game and they needed a break This came after a 25 metre lineout drive by Darts pushed play deep into opposition 22 but a loose ball allowed Cobham to counterattack and they did this well pushing play back into the home half. Moving the ball well in the backs eventually caught Darts offside and the penalty reduced the gap to 10-3. A great lineout steal from Smilr stopped further gains for the visitors but it was obvious now that Darts had to be patient and disciplined. Further pressure resulted in another penalty for Cobham and the gap was closed again. 10-6. Darts got back to work with Kenny Lee and Si Briggs running strongly at the opposition, a great run by Liam Brencher pushed play back in the Cobham half and the strength of Darts pack forced a penalty which allowed Jonny to increse the lead to 13-6. It was an entertaining match with both sides throwing the ball about but Darts were definitely looking the stronger team and far more threatening but the visitors were defending strongly not allowing any space. Another peanlty by Jonny at the end of the half saw the score at 16-6 at the break and the home supporters feeling confident.
Immediately from the restart Darts got into their rythmn and forced yet another penalty and Jonny increased the lead again 19-6. Darts were looking really strong in all areas and even when Cobham had the ball the tackling was excellent not allowing the visitors to get close to scoring. Alex Vousden along with Joe Wheeler turned the ball over and this allowed the team to create a couple of good chances but the next score wasn't coming as execution was just slightly off however the team were playing really well. The scrum was still working exceptionally and when Cobham were pushed back Smiler picked up No 8 and drove forward strongly and from the recycled ball Jonny spotted the gap as the defence was disorganised and score a really good team try. Jonny converted 26-6. Everyone was putting in a good shift with good counterattacking from Kieran Ryan at full back and with space Mike Briggs was getting behind the defence as the team tried to get the extra tries that would have given a bonus point. Paddy Briggs came on and went on a number of barnstorming runs but despite being on the backfoot for large parts of the match Cobham were not dispirited and certainly didn't think they were out of the match. If anything the situation Darts found themselves in was a disadvantage as they were going hammer and tong to score tries and this opened up some space for the visitors. Only 10 minutes to go and Cobham found the strategy to get behind our defence and they scored a good try in the corner. 26-11. With a little better game management the game would have been over and done with but Darts always want to score and this along with some renewed confidence from the visitors put Darts under some unneeded pressure. Sam Cooksley was sin binned and this gave Cobham the opportunity to go all out to try and salvage something out of the match and they managed this with two more late tries which gave them a losing bonus point. Although the score was close that didn't reflect the fact that for c lose to 70 minutes Darts were the better team and played some great rugby. Slightly better execution and closing out the match would have kept the supporters a little less nervous but despite that a good performance from the team.
Next week we travel to face our old rivals Sevenoaks in what will be another test of character for our boys.