20/10/2026
Another win under the belt for the boys
A strong performance against a valiant Medway side
That's 3 for 3 wins can the boys keep the motion going though ???
Match Report:
Saturday 17th October 2026
League Game Week 2
Ash 66 – 0 Medway 3rd XV
Another sunny Saturday morning in Ash this week and for good reason too as we looked to host our THIRD !!!!!! home game of the season in a row. Conditions didn’t disappoint and the freshly painted lines made a beautifully crisp border to the bright green quite populated with grass pitch. The only worry possibly being the alarming wind which Brad did an apt job of getting used to through the warm up.
Late changes to the side saw skipper Kieran Munn-Hollands accompany the front row , home sweet home, alongside Sam Gunter and Ben Brabham. Always reliable Jimmy O with his quite brave boots selection, alongside Matt Rooney-Radbourne in the second row. Mr Hinge Hales bumped his way to 6 accompanied by VC Guy Williamson on the open and Daniel Norman capping off the scrum at number 8. Lewis Hopkins retains 9 and Brad Statham Blaxland takes over at 10 again. The ceters stay the same, Alex Manning avoiding the fighting ban from the week prior and Conor Meyer adds to the south African and good looks tally again. And a back 3 of our third and final springbok Conor McGrath, Jorge russell down the other side, and Simon Race holding the back field yet again at full-back.
The game got off to a strong start Ash opted to go up the hill for the first half, with the wind not really playing a side going against the hill with energy made one hell of a difference.
The first points came in the form of a penalty just outside the 22 which Brad easily slotted, 3-0. Closely followed by some early breakthrough tries from the likes of Guy, Dan and Sam made headway in the first 20 minutes, looking up, realising, and hitting the holes hard to break the line and make it into the try zone. Acouple more scores closed out the first half at an impressive 31 – 0, a solid performance from the boys that needed to be followed up closely for this second half if we were to secure this result nice and early.
The second half saw a lot of changes, substitutes entering the field such as Mark Black Eye Noble, Jack Kremer lasting longer and longer with every performance, Frank Johnson putting in another great showing growing each week and Pip Hopkins. This allowed us to rest injuries and trial new things a luxury in todays competitive game, this season is a marathon not a sprint and we harbour every intention of putting out a winning performance every time we take to that field, that is only achieved through rotation. Some more tries and stellar performances across the pitch capped some great play. Some calls of greed caught the wind with some doubles from the likes of Sam Gunter and Guy Williamson who really should’ve been looking up for the offload, come on now boys….. basics surely.
Medway won’t mind us saying the confusion and I’d quote straight up comedy gold that was the end of the match, a whistle for a knock on catching the ears of medway prop who decided he was gonna seal the game (thinking it was the final whistle) by kicking to touch. Only to not make it over the line from a mere 7 meters out, and only for Scrum-Half Lewis Hopkins to sprint onto it, flay hacking it twice leaping for glory and is name on that score board, and a quite anti climactic knock on over the line to end the game !!!!!!!!
A big mention goes to our very own killer assassin Brad Blaxland for converting all 10 goal kicks across the 80 minutes a true trademark on that score tally.
And as for kicking he unfortunately wasn’t getting away without it being mentioned. Matt Rooney-Radbourne might need to stick about for a while with his kicking skills, a perfectly executed cross-field kick, a look up, an identification of space, a brilliant vision, and a perfectly executed through ball to the Horse in the next field over.
A Well done has to go out to the boys again, another big win and Ash remains a true fortress, unbeaten in the league and only 3 points against us so far the boys are putting in the work on the playing and training field.
A huge Thankyou to Medway for coming down, you’re always, without fail a absolutely class bunch of lads to share the pitch with and welcome into our club. We’ll see you for the return fixture later on in the year.
A huge thankyou to the sidelines again, for being out motivation on the pitch and filling those sidelines so well for the last couple of weeks.
Now onto an Away fixture vs Tunbridge Wells 3rd XV before our first Friday night lights game of the year the following week.
Rain or Shine the Green and White Machine keeps on rolling !!!!!
FT: Ash 66 – 0 Medway
MOTM: Kieran Munn-Hollands (Solid performance all over the pitch)
DOTD: Matt Radbourne (90th minute screamer)
Try Scorers: Guy Williamson (2), Daniel Norman, Sam Gunter (2), Alex Manning, Joey Hales, Connor Meyer (2)
Conversions: Brad Blaxland (9)
Penalties: Brad Blaxland
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