After the unexpected but well deserved win against Medway the previous week it was perhaps not surprising that Cobham could not maintain the same momentum against Gravesend who are already consigned to to be relegated.
Whilst Cobham did not play anyway near their best that should take nothing away from the determination and skill shown by Gravesend who certainly deserved the draw that eluded them. Based on this performance there should be no reason why they should not bounce straight back to London South 1
Following an excellent Vice Presidents lunch, where three stalwart Gravesend players were awarded Vice Presidency, Joe Goddard's 100th game kicked off to strong home support but Cobham started as they had finished the previous week, creating pressure with prop Josh Brown establishing the territory for Christian Disley-May to launch the back line and Miles Fletcher going over 0-5.
Gravesend immediately responded by securing lineout ball and fly half crashed through scrum half Bruce converting 7-5.
Unfazed Cobham took the game back into the home sides territory and full back Bonnar unleashed winger James Clements on a weaving run which avoided the Gravesend defence and put him over for the first of his three tries 7-10 Uncharacteristically Farrely missed the extras again.
Perhaps buoyed by the support from past Gravesend players in the crowd and adopting a everything to be gained approach winger Liam Bryne-Stevens recovered the ball in his own half and responded in similar style to Clements and having made ground set up centre Chris Brady to score under the posts converted to retain the lead 14-10.
Clements game back with another elusive run down the touchline to score in the corner which Farrely converted making a difficult opportunity look easy 14-17. Although Cobham were dominating the scrums and putting together good phases of play with centre Harry Kean having a good game they could not shake off Gravesend all afternoon and when a penalty in Cobham's half gave them the opportunity to apply their own pressure the home side struck again, this time through substitute Matt Hewitt, Bruce converting for a well deserved half time lead of 21-17.
Bruce extended the lead to 24-17 shortly into the second half with a penalty that saw Captain Adrian Van de Ploeg yellow carded but even with a man down Cobham now responded and with Clemence scoring his hat trick and Farrely converting and securing a penalty soon after Cobham regained the lead .24-27
Although Gravesend forced them back into their 22 Farelly intercepted and converted his own try to take Cobham to what looked to be an unassailable lead 24-34.
At this stage no one would have been surprised if heads had gone down but with Bruce hitting a penalty 27-34 and Farelly hitting the posts Gravesend looked to finish their season with a home win.
Turning over a scum close to the Cobham line the ball was fed to winger Captain Temi Okenia and the fight back was complete. 32-34.
No one would have begrudged Bruce the conversion but it was not to be and Cobham scrapped home
After the match Director of rugby Steve Pope said " A very tough game ...very much end of the season rugby between to sides both working towards next season.
Cobham 2nd XV went on the road to Westcombe Park in Kent and ran in worthy winners Westcombe Park 21 Cobham 2ndxv 24
No15 Will Eves x 1 Try
No 11 Jordan Oldershaw x 1 Try
No 10 Jonny Holmes x 1 Try x 3 Conversions x 1 Penalty
1 Josh Brown
2 Andrew Murphy
3 Ben Joyce
4 Tom Prigmore
5 Joe Goddard
6 Ali Porter
7 Sam Cordery
8 Adrian Van Der Ploeg (C)
9 Christian Disley-May
10 Tom Farrelly
11 James Clements
12 Harry Kean
13 Miles Fletcher
14 Max MacDonald
15 Craig Bonnar
Subs
16 Mario Zakakiotis
17 Olly Fox
18 Nathan Spratt
No 14 James Clements x 3 Tries
No 13 Miles Fletcher x 1 Try
No 10 Tom Farrelly x 1 Try x 3 Conversions x 1 Penalty
