Old Blues vs Gillingham Anchorians

The Old Blues headed down the A2 on Saturday to take on Kent 1 side Gillingham Anchorians in the latest instalment of the EDF Junior Vase. In horrendous conditions - a fact acknowledged even by the boys from the west of Ireland! – it was clear the Blues meant business as we all turned up nice and early and got some good pre-match prep in. Not that we necessarily needed it, as the Anchorians were playing with the wind in the first half, which meant the Old Blues line took a 30 minute pounding which helped keep everybody nice and warm… The Anchorians went in 5-0 up at half time after a well worked try straight from the training ground, but the Blues felt reasonably happy, given the conditions. With the strong wind behind us in the second half it was the Blues’ turn to attack. I’m sure it didn’t look pretty from the sideline and it might even have seemed that our cup run might be over when the score remained 5-0 going into the final quarter. However, the Blues remained patient and continued to work the percentages, with Weeksie having a cracking game keeping the Anchorians pinned back. The breakthrough came with about 20mins left on the clock when Simon Bourke drove over to bring the sides level. The Blues had some wind in their sails now (literally…) and kept the pressure on. A couple of phases of scrappy play with both sides turning over led to the ball being hacked through over the Anchorians’ line and Ralph Wopshott managing to get his hands there first with about 10mins remaining. The Blues now clearly had momentum and kept up the good work by making sure we stayed in the Anchorians’ half. Some excellent recycling finally paid off when Weeksie was able to exploit a gap in the Anchorians’ defence to jink through and touch down in the corner, securing the result for the Blues. The final whistle went a few minutes later with the final score reading 17-5. It was a very satisfying performance from the Blues with a monstrous defensive effort from everyone against a quality side. On a day that was definitely one for the forwards, who managed to shade it in the lineout and the scrum, the HdM was, once again, Graeme Humphries who played a blinder in the tight and was simply ferocious in the loose. So the Blues’ cup dream stays alive for another round at least. Next week sees league duties resume with an away game at Merton RFC.