The large crowd that turned out to watch the seconds in Saturday’s Spring sunshine may well have differing opinions as to what they witnessed. Some thought it was a prolonged scrummage practice whereas others suggested it was an unstructured performance that wouldn’t be good enough against a better team. For the less discerning observer this was simply an enjoyable nine-try demolition which included a hat-trick for Alfie Reeves and a try of the season contender from James Whowell.
In reality, Thanet were never really threatened, and Folkestone barely registered a visit to the opposition 22. This may sound like they were a team with no attacking threat, but they did have dangerous runners in both the forwards and backs. However, as has been a feature all season, they were met by a rugged defensive wall, personified by back rowers Harrison Elks and Dan Turner while out wide Charlie Stainton shackled his opposite man all day.
The tone of the game was set from the opening kick-off which was fumbled for a scrum. Despite the weather being dry and still, there were an inexplicable number of handling errors, hence the perception of scrum training. On one hand, Luke Browning and Josh McCulley were immediately asserting dominance in the front row, but on the other, Thanet’s three-quarters were frustrated as they were not getting the ball to exploit the gaps they could clearly see. Noting that multi-phase play was not functioning, Jake Whittlesea took matters into his own hands to open the scoring, running a beautiful arcing line off quick scrum ball to break the deadlock.
Playing down the slope, the remainder of the first half was arguably the most structured period for Thanet. Marshalled by Leon Doody, Thanet were starting to put a few phases together, though momentum was frequently stalled by forward passes and dogged Folkestone defence. Before half-time Thanet did showcase the young talent at the club with three further tries from youngsters. Sam Elliot and Ewen Maclean demonstrated their speed and elusiveness and then Alfie Reeves showed his power, breaking several tackles to put the result beyond doubt before the interval.
After the teams had turned around, Thanet continued to boss the game. Ben Turner had a typically effective game with ball in hand and with Andy Bourton and James Whowell available to bolster the front row, the supremacy in the scrummages continued all afternoon. Thanet scored 5 tries in this period with Alfie Reeves showing both pace and a repeat of his power to complete a well-deserved hat-trick. James Whowell showed his rugby brain by exploiting the fact that Folkestone were slow to set their guards around the breakdown. First, he picked and dived over from a yard, but it was his second that was a thing of wonder. As he charged through the vacant area on the edge of the ruck, James found himself clear with nothing between himself and the try line except 20 yards of grass. What it felt like to him we will never know, but to everyone watching – both team-mates and supporters – it felt like time slowed down until he dived over next to the posts for a quite remarkable effort.
