Chichester march on with bonus-point win at Thanet

London one south

The Blues got back into league action with the long trip to face Thanet Wanderers – and came home having carved out a six-point lead at the top of London one south after a 32-8 win.

Thanet have proved difficult to beat on their own soil and Chichester knew a good performance was needed.

A late injury meant Billy Toone was unable to start, so new father Chris Wagstaff came straight in at No9.

In a strong cross-wind, the Blues chose to play up the slight incline.

They started well with excellent kicks from Pearham and Knowles giving good field position. However a few errors crept in with the lineout faltering and TWs spoiling well.

After 15 minutes of pressure a forced offload gave the blue and yellows a chance to clear and only excellent tackles out wide from Toby Golds and Jamie Knowles stopped a score against the run of play.

The Blues worked their way back upfield. Chichester’s scrum was rock-solid with Veltom and Shopland giving their opposite numbers a tough time.

Polhill, as always, was everywhere in defence and attack and from one scrum the Blues powered forward. The Blues moved the ball at pace with Deed searing outside his man and timing his pass perfectly for Knowles to ghost into the gap and outpace the cover for the first score.

Chichester were getting on top but a lack of patience saw a poor pass give TWs a counter attack. The Blues had to scramble in defence and conceded a penalty which cut the lead to 5-3.

A quick response was needed and big Fijian Manoa Satala provided it as he put in a delicate chip and followed up with in a thumping tackle spilling the ball from the defender’s grasp to pounce on the loose ball for the second score. The conversion made it 12-3.

Satala was carrying well and the backs were looking threatening, Knowles and Adams adding real pace out wide.

The forwards got into the act with a series of powerful drives and Lawrence touched down for a well-worked score.