TJs came absolutely flying out of the blocks and clearly had no intention of easing themselves into this one.
Just a couple of minutes in and Luke Cerely decided the quickest route to the try line was straight through whoever happened to be standing in front of him. Bosh. Robbie Simmonds added the extras and we were 7–0 up.
Before Thanet had much chance to work out what was going on, Josh Hacker was over for another. Simmonds converted again. 14–0.
Then Caleb Raubenheimer joined the party to make it 19–0, and at that point TJs were playing some seriously good rugby.
Unfortunately, we then remembered we’re TJs and decided to make life slightly more difficult for ourselves.
Poor discipline gave Thanet a way back into the game and, by the half-hour mark, the lead had been cut to 19–12.
Alex Harmes restored a bit of order by crashing over, Simmonds adding the conversion to make it 26–12.
But Thanet weren’t going anywhere and dotted down on the stroke of half-time.
HT: TJs 26–19 Thanet.
The second half started with TJs having to produce a huge defensive effort on our own try line. Thanet threw everything at it, but the boys dug in, fronted up and simply refused to let them through. That proved to be a massive moment.
From there, the handbrake came off.
Harvey Furneaux went over, Simmonds converted. 33–19.
Then came Riley Young, who had spent most of the afternoon running some frankly naughty lines. He finally got the try his performance deserved to stretch it to 38–19.
And then came the moment of the afternoon…
Freddie Skinner.
Our Man of the Match collected the ball around 40 metres out and apparently decided running in a straight line was far too boring. A step here, a goose step there, defenders sent in several different directions and Freddie was over.
It was the sort of run that makes you wonder whether the defenders need tackling practice or directions home. Simmonds converted. 45–19.
By now, tries were coming for fun.
Barely a minute later Jared van Zijl was over. Robbie converted. 52–19.
Three minutes after that, Hacker decided one try wasn’t enough and helped himself to a second. Another conversion from Simmonds and suddenly it was 59–19.
Thanet did grab one at the death to secure themselves a try bonus point which was mildly irritating, to put it politely, however, it did little to take the shine off an excellent afternoon at The Slade.
FT: TJs 59–26 Thanet.
We knew beforehand that Thanet would give us a serious battle up front. Their scrum and maul are a real weapon and, early doors, we had to weather it. But as the game developed, our pack grew into the contest and more than held their own.
We’d also done our homework on their big ball carrier.
Last season he caused problems.
This time? Swallowed whole. Again and again and again!
But the biggest positive was how well the game plan was executed. We knew where our opportunities would come and once we got the ball into the hands of our backs, the difference was there for everyone to see. At times they were playing on a different level.
Nine tries. 59 points. A big performance at home.
There are still things to tidy up, particularly discipline and that late bonus-point try, but the standard has been set.
The scary bit? We still think there’s plenty more to come.
We’re already buzzing for next week. We know exactly how we want to play, exactly what standards we expect and exactly how we intend to carry this on week in, week out
Next week Park House at home