On a gloriously sunny September day Bourne Rd became the stage for the Demons to take on Sheppey and it all went to plan with a turnaround in the second half to see Darts sitting smugly at the top of the table with two bonus point wins out of two.
The start was brighter than Mo's smile on MOTM duty. Brent's feet moved faster than a man dodging the bar tab leaving defenders grabbing thin air and setting the tone with an early try. We the politelyaccepted Sheppey's gift of an error and doubled up . 2 tries up and we were flyinghigher than a rugby ball booted into the Bourne Rd gardens. However rugb y isnt meant to be esy, right? Cue Sheppey remembering they had forwards . Thei5 scrum turned into a bulldozer and we helpfully forgot how to tackle below the ribcage. Penalties piled up snd the ref's whistle was working overtime and with the vistors camped in our 22 it looked like a weekend festival. Their finishing on point saw them score two tries of their own both converted. This became a carbon copy of last years matchand it seemed the visitors were feeling very confident. Lineouts ? these were a work of art, 90% of the timewe ran a "chilli" ( still waiting on the hot salsa variety) and we secured good clean ball like we had practised. We even stole a couple for good measure- two won, two turnovers forced leaving the visitors scrstching their heads like theyd lost the TV remote. Shoutouts galore, Clement was a rock in midfield and our wingers put in defensive shifts that would make security guards proud and Riley came on in the backrow with the energy of a man who thought he was only here to spectate . Could he be one to keep bringing in especially if he keeps rackling like his kit depended on it.
Of course not everything was sunshine and tries, The scrum needed a bit of TLC, lets just say cohesion and tightness werent quite in the vocabulary this week. Front five bring your duct tape and teamwork hats to training .
Finally Mo. What a shift, dominant tackles ,carries that made the ground shake and a MOTM performance that has officially broken the tackle bags spirit. so for this week less of the "watching people run at us" defence and more of the " actually tackling them" defence. Shout earlier fold quicker and remember two man tackles are a thing.
All in all thougfh a great result against a tough well organised Sheppey team who controlled long periods of the match but the slope and wing in the second half saw the young Demons side get back to moving the ball wide and stretching the bigger visiting players to regain the lead and get the win. We will look forward to the retrun fixture knowing it will be another tough but enjoyable game of rugby.