By Mark Bruce

In what was arguably their best performance of the season so far, Gravesend came agonisingly close to winning on the road at Regional 2 South East new boys Old Tiffinians, losing 38-37.

Fast out of the blocks, Gs looked dominant in all forms of the game and first the outstanding Will Stener and then Zac Filmer went over for a 14-0 lead.

As is their wont, though, Gravesend let their hosts back into the contest and two tries was the response, with a penalty from the excellent Rhys Betts leaving the match finely poised at 17-12.

The second half was expected to be a tight affair and after Old Tiffinians came out sharply to take the lead at 19-17 Gravesend had their best spell of the game. Firstly Tom Bird went over from close range, before Matt Bruce rounded off a fine move to score in the corner. Betts converted both tries to put Gravesend 34-19 up.

However Tiffinians never gave up and maximised from open play, scoring two tries to take the game to the wire. A George Bruce penalty seemingly won the spoils for Gs but, unable to see the game out, they saw Old Tiffinians take the ball out wide to score and with the extras creeping over the bar it was the hosts who were left to celebrate.

Despite losing, two bonus points were the reward for an otherwise very good performance and Gravesend, 10th in the table, can look forward with confidence to this Saturday’s home game against local rivals Dartfordians who are one place higher.