A pleasant, still winter day with a suspicion of sun trying to make its presence felt through wafer thin cloud welcomed the teams to the field under the control of Kent Society referee Katie Gent, who managed a sometimes-feisty game well.
Bromley kicked off and managed to retain the ball but soon Cranbrook were able to regain possession and advance as the visitors were twice penalised. Fabian Rimmer kicked the second penalty to touch in the 22 and when Bromley again went offside, Rimmer had an inviting chance to open the scoring which he took.
Play was even for the next few minutes when Cranbrook turned over a Bromley scrum, the advantage was lost after a knock on, and Bromley showed good offloading ability during several phases to score by the posts and convert.
From the kick off Bromley were again penalised after lock Rory McDowell made good ground, but Rimmer could not convert the penalty from about 30 metres. Again, play remained even until Cranbrook were penalised near halfway. The quickly taken penalty was released left with a pass that appeared well forward, the move continued almost to the tryline as Cranbrook scrambled back. The next 10 minutes featured committed Cranbrook defence as they tried to defend their line. Phase after phase of Bromley attack was repelled as frequent penalties eventually resulted in Rimmer taking a yellow card for the team, but Cranbrook eventually turned over the ball and cleared. Anthony Andrews had to retire injured to be replaced by Stefan Jovanovic on the wing, but a clever kick through enabled Bromley to recover possession and score, again converted. They were getting on top at this stage as a variety of plays put Cranbrook, still a man short, on the defensive, a missed tackle produced another score and a long pass put the visitors well clear at halftime with the score at 3 - 24.
Bromley started the second half in the same style and scored when another kick through bounced favourably for a chasing player. Injured Owen Chilvers had to be replaced by Sam Shillabeer as Cranbrook reorganised, but another score for the dominant visitors soon happened.
Many felt a heavy defeat was looming, but what happened was heart-warming. Morale was lifted as the pack again turned over a Bromley scrum and wing Wilf Sellick made a good run. Cranbrook were getting more ball and began to move it through the hands, culminating in Rimmer managing to slip a tackle on the 22 and score, converting with a drop kick.
Back came Cranbrook with wave after wave of attacks lasting about 15 minutes as Bromley were penalised several times. The Bromley tackling was as robust as that of Cranbrook in the first half, the hosts coming agonisingly close to scoring several times as the odd misplaced pass or wrong option occurred. After a prolonged period of attack 2nd row Josh Parkes just had enough momentum to score as Cranbrook again tapped from 5 metres.
From the kick off Bromley did manage to score next as they broke away, but soon Cranbrook were back near the tryline, but more penalties surprisingly did not draw a yellow card until the last couple of minutes. Another chance was lost as a pass which had to be lobbed over the referee was dropped, but without play reset in favour of Cranbrook due to the obstruction. A spectacular try then looked likely as Rimmer kicked across to the right wing under advantage but Sellick, under pressure, misjudged the kick which bounced into touch.
Bromley had the last word as another breakaway led to a Bromley penalty. A tired Cranbrook did not react quickly to another quick tap as a player scored by the posts, the conversion finishing the game.
This was a match where when Bromley got into their stride, they looked a very good team playing with pace, accuracy and variety. Cranbrook though had at least as much possession and territory generated from a strong pack effort but were less efficient in making as much of their opportunities, also ruing a couple of decisions which went against them, but their improved fitness and depth of running may indicate improving fortunes.
Biddenden Vineyard man of the match was Oliver Addis.
The team was 1 Miles Stockman 2 Josh Pankhurst 3 James Yeomans 4 Josh Parkes 5 Rory McDowell 6 Bear Pearce 7 Hamish Gillanders, captain 8 Lewis Stone 9 Oliver Addis 10 Owen Chilvers 11 Anthony Andrews 12 Fabian Rimmer 13 Josh Shing 14 Wilf Sellick 15 Alex Cornwallis subs Stefan Jovanovic for Andrews 25 mins Sam Shillabeer for Chilvers 50 minutes Darrell Horton-Judge for Stone 65 minutes.
Match report by Philip Rimmer