Cranbrook hit stride in decisive second-half display

A strong second-half display helped Cranbrook to a 29-10 Kent 1 home win against Dover on Saturday.

Cranbrook opened the scoring early as Elliot Barbour offloaded to supporting scrumhalf Hugo Orpin, who dotted down.

Fabian Rimmer added a longrange penalty shortly after, but a bigger away pack ensured they got more ball in the second quarter.

Two tries were scored as Dover’s backs were released after forward drives had sucked in the defence to leave the scores level at half-time. The hosts scored early in the second half when Rimmer broke through the defensive line and good handling by his fellow backs produced a converted try by the posts.

Even though Cranbrook lost Alex Cornwallis to a yellow card, they remained on the attack and, when Cornwallis returned, the introduction of debutant flanker Daniel Betts from the bench paid dividends.

An Orpin kick through was miscontrolled by the defender, allowing Orpin to offload to the supporting Betts for another converted try.

Having built a good lead, the home side still needed to attack to get a fourth try for the bonus point and they achieved in the 75th minute. Good ball retention by the forwards set free substitute back Phil Catt. He scored in the corner.

Cranbrook visit fellow strugglers Charlton Park this Saturday,

kick-off 3pm.

Aylesford Bulls were comprehensively outplayed in a 40 minutes to forget, but rallied during their 45-24 Kent 2 defeat against second-place Park House.

Coming out of a confidenceboosting victory on the road against promotion-chasing Westcombe Park, Bulls were primed for a similar display. However the visitors raced into an early lead and by halftime a Chester Clough penalty was all the hosts had to show for their efforts.

Park House led 31-3 going into the break but tries from Ben Ashdown, Harry Sievewright and Josh Olugbodi salvaged some pride for Bulls.

Aylesford, still fifth in the table, will hope to get back to winning ways when they make the short trip to local rivals Maidstone on Saturday in the penultimate game of the season.

Maidstone were beaten 55-19 at Gillingham Anchorians last weekend.