Dartfordians RFC 11 - Gravesend RFC 15

Gravesend secured back to back wins after a scrappy affair just up the road at Dartfordians. 

After starting off brightly and having a try disallowed it was something against the run of play when the home side opened the scoring on 15 minutes.  Quick ball from a line out allowed Darts to pass the ball down the line until a precision kick allowed the winger to collect the ball and scamper home. 

Gravesend responded quickly and on 20mins disrupted the Darts line with Les Falefatu collecting the ball and allowing Stan Dadson to take it on and crash over the line.

With both conversions missed it was down to a couple of traded penalties, one from the reliable boot of Josh Barnes, which saw the score locked at 8-8 going in at half-time. 

The second half became a scrappy affair and for the vast majority of it Gravesend struggled to get out of their own half.  All too often guilty of failing  to break the gain line or giving away infringements the game became a little bogged down.  Darts themselves were wasteful with too many passes not going to hand. 

Following one of the infringements Darts took the three points to given them a narrow lead at 11-8.  With 5 mins left on the clock when Gravesend had got some decent field position Zac Filmer collected the ball in midfield and stepped what felt like the entire Darts cover defence to dive over and score what seemed to be the winner. 

Barnes’ conversion from under the posts gave the Gravesend a 15-11 lead and unlike in previous weeks managed to survive a nervy finish to the game. 

Next week Gravesend are at home to Battersea Ironsides.