For the second time in as many weeks, Sevenoaks Academy 1st XV faced an old National Cup foe in a friendly fixture. London Irish have long been age group powerhouses and had been Oaks' regional final opponents in their run to the quarter final back in 2020.
Sadly, much like Oaks' opposition last weekend, London Irish appear to have been victims of their own success. A team of varying ability levels took the field against a Sevenoaks side missing it's hefty Judd School contingent - Judd play Trinity School, Croydon in the NatWest Cup on Wednesday.
Oaks kicked off and stood up well to some strong London Irish carries to force a turnover and go close to scoring in the corner. From the exiting kick, Oaks successfully worked the ball left and then back to the middle before fly half Ben Pearl called the ball back to himself down the shortside. Fast feet and a burst of pace later, Pearl was scoring Oaks' first try of the game. This was quickly followed by Pearl and Oaks' 2nd try as he sniped intelligently down a small but undefended short side around half way. This try was converted by winger Juan Barnard and Oaks led 0-12 early on.
The remainder of the half was somewhat scrappy as both teams struggled to hold onto the ball in attack. Sevenoaks did still manage to score two more tries just before half time as their defence forced penalties out of the host side. Prop Peter LaTrobe was the beneficiary of a trademark lineout drive before captain James Kerton powered over from some nice phase ball at close range. Barnard converted Kerton's try, but not LaTrobe's and Sevenoaks led 0-24 at halftime.
There was a sense as the 2nd half began that the floodgates were on the verge of opening if Sevenoaks could just maintain possession through enough phases. This is exactly what happened as Sevenoaks scored at consistent intervals throughout the half.
Winger Max Avery went over first before scrum half Mac Leason darted right from a close-range scrum to score Oaks' 6th. The visitors' best attacking set of the game led to another try for Avery as he stepped off his right foot out wide to beat the scrambling home defence before two powerful breaks on the counter led to tries for both the starting fullback Ollie May and his replacement, Luka Crowcroft. Of all the 2nd half tries, Barnard converted one and young centre Freddie Rudd converted another to give a final score of 0-53.
This was another solid performance from Sevenoaks, as they build towards a big double header vs Canterbury away on Dec 18th. Having lost to Tonbridge Juddians 34-17 in the 3rd round of the National Cup, Canterbury should pose a significant challenge for an Oaks side that continues to display excellent cohesion, in spite of the regular changes to the squad enforced by a gruelling school schedule.
The prospect of the Kent League post- Xmas with a full squad to pick from, against the likes of Canterbury and indeed TJs, is becoming a more and more exciting.
Squad list : Peter LaTrobe, Elliot Wright, Oli Langley, James Kerton (C), Zach Johnson, Rui Beaufoy, Ryan Dixon, Raphi Simmonds-Dance, Mac Leason, Ben Pearl, Juan Barnard, Freddie Rudd, Ruben Le Roux, Max Avery, Ollie May
Subs : Harry Corsini, Gregor Pauling, Tom Hewitt, Luka Crowcroft