Ashford II 0 vs TWRUFC 1st XV 52

28th Feb 2026, KO 14:30

Ashford II - Away

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Match Report

Back to Top of the League !!!

What a weekend out is was yet again for the boys, with a trip up to Ashford on the cards for the Green and Whites. Events of the weekend started on the Friday this week; as it was revealed that 2 members of our squad had made the venture to Canterbury. They filled up a very quiet pub showing great pre match practice, the pressure surely was on them to not make a fool of themselves, as they would without a doubt be in the running for DOTD already. Also on Friday it seems that another player, who goes by the name Gunter, had been absolutely defeated by a Lamb Madras, Pilau Rice and Keema Naan. Unlike the Duaneo boys however, Sam didn’t have much to give to the day other than a whimpering phone call from his toilet seat that Saturday morning. He did have a flu illness during the week, but regardless... poor performance !!!

We were down a man but still a squad of 22 !!! Hoppy senior took over the number 2 spot, in the absence of our very own bottle job. Steve Crump and Ben Brabham lined the rest of the front row. Jimmy O was available this week bolstering the numbers, and re lighting that "oh, so-warming! sight of the Radbourne-Osborn pairing in the second row. Kieran’s reign in the backs I can now confirm, is officially over, whilst he squeezed his way back into the 6 shirt. With no available Dec, he was joined in the back row by Guy at 7 and Fin at 8 again. The number 9 jersey changed from what most expected with the return of sociable shift schedules for Simon Race, and paired with our very own Turk Brad Blaxland at 10. If anyone needs a haircut or a kebab, his phone is always free. Bok stays in the centres this time paired with some oh, so valuable experience in the form of Tommy Whittaker, and our back-three stayed unchanged with Conor, Brad Nash and Alex. Unfortunately disputes over player numbers meant that we had to drop one from the squad, with Jorge Russell having to sit it out. That allowed us to keep all of our forward replacements on the bench and ready to go.

With the team showing up and getting prepped, the introduction of Jimmy’s Jungle juice replaced one of the water carriers. It was an interesting one, not liked as much by the more senior members of the club ,but welcomed still all the same. Warm up under way and villainous eyes watching meant that the forwards switched the lineout practice 90 degrees to not give away them so important tactics. The pitch was to put it lightly a bog between the 22’s, with ankle breaking territory very much in reach for the backs trying to practice their moves. That’s when the decision was quickly taken that the backs lines needed to be wide today for them to actually be allowed to open the running legs.

Kick off soon rolled around, with both sides being properly geared up for the contest. Some very big hits, hard running lines and moments of desperate intent from both sides lined the first half. The scrum was a mighty battle which Ash quickly rose to, and ended up dominating all day long, not losing one and stealing a couple of Ashford put ins. Lineout was decent as usual, but there is without a doubt more space for refinement in the area, and the backs lines were solid all day long putting into practice all of the recent training and playing well to the conditions.

A couple of early opportunities for Ashford were very quickly shut down by the boys and turned immediately into fast flowing attacking rugby. One breakdown was very memorable of course, Ben Brabham hits the deck and lets out an awful scream. All of us on the pitch and the sidelines assumed the worst, from a scream like that expecting a broken knee or something. But after about 5 minutes of rolling around on the ground, the guy gets up and turns out he just had a rolled ankle. If I’ve ever had to give an award for the biggest drama queen, I think that just about beats out the competition. Dylan Richards took to the field in replacement. Before the half was blown, 2 well worked plays gave Brad Nash the chance to run in a couple of well deserved tries, but there was an overwhelming sense across all players that we had without a doubt left points out there for the taking. And with the game getting progressively more and more physical, on and off the ball both legally and illegally, there was definitely just reason for a shout about by the coaches at half time.

Second half though, the boys re-entered the contest with a fresh mindset with the feeling of edging the game in the slightest bit put far away from the mind. Sensible, contained rugby was the overarching message, playing our game plan to its fullest and attacking the space that was being left for us to clean up. Through this style we managed to get 2 quick turn around tries away again in the hands of Brad Nash both times. I must admit its starting to get boring typing that name out now, with one converted our 10. At this point, you could sense that Ashford were becoming increasingly frustrated and lets just say the ringer Baa Baa players became more and more apparent through the rouge placed fists studs and confrontation the boys. Some changes entered the field during this time, Lewis Hopkins out on the wing for Conor, making an impact immediately after scoring on his first touch of the ball through a little dodge and weave around the forthcoming defenders, and dotting down under the posts, whilst also converting his own. Bok then was changed for the other Hopkins, who moved to 9 kicking Simon to full-back, and Alex into the centres. More handbags and more hits ensued, following a try from Guy Williamson running for the line “like Phoebe from Friends”. He finished his masterpiece off in the only appropriate way, with a mega swan dive, which in itself flared more aggression from the opposition who began to feel like clowns.

Some more changes followed with Riley Evans making the field for Hoppy Senior, K to 2 and Riley to the flank. Some silky hands and perfectly sympathetic offloads made yet again that champagne rugby, and Simon made his way onto the scoreboard yet again, a dark horse some might say in the score board rankings this year. Joey Heathcote then took the field for number 8 Fin Parfitt and within 0.2 seconds almost got red carded with a swinging arm to the neck, in piss poor attempt for a tackle, yet another runner for DOTD. Jimmy O found space blind to run in an 8th and final try of the game off the back of a few phases of aggressive rugby.

The 10 minutes at the end of the game were maybe some of the most impressive from the whole game, where Ash yet again showed great defensive grit and determination. They were pinned in their own half and on their own line for the last 5. Big front up tackles kept the red, black and gold hoops out and the team ethos was at an all time high, when one of our players found themselves on the end of an unwanted closed fist and the whole two teams erupted. Captain Matt Radbourne put his body on the line during this effort and had to be subbed off during this defensive slog, but the boys did him proud and kept the home team out defending that all important whitewash scoreboard. This brough the final score to Ashford 0 – 52 Ash.

A game full of grit, determination, handbags and quality rugby all on a boggy, sticky pitch. But yet again, the Green and Whites come away with the win away from home and shift back up to top of the league. Next week we are greeted with a top of the table clash where we hot Dover at home, this promises to be a BIG game that you don’t want to miss so make yourself available to cheer on the boys.

Many thanks again to our travelling supporters you guys really made the difference this week against a tough and well numbered home crowd but on and off the pitch the Green & Whites are undefeated.

MOTM: Brad-Lee Nash (4 tries), substituted for the drink by the other Brad

DOTD: Ben Brabham (screaming like a little girl)

Tries: Brad-Lee Nash (4), Lewis Hopkins, Guy Williamson, Simon Race, Jimmy Osborn

Conversions: Brad Blaxland (5), Lewis Hopkins