By Mark Bruce

While not mathematically relegated yet due to the vagaries of the RFU’s league restructure, Gravesend’s place in the bottom two in Regional 2 South East was confirmed after losing 31-17 to Old Colfeians.

With results elsewhere going against them, they are now more than a win away from safety with only one game remaining.

Saturday’s match started out at a frenetic pace and for the first 20 minutes there was only a Rhys Betts penalty separating the sides. Colfes then got on top, setting up the opening try which was converted.

Gravesend responded with Stan Dadson scoring from close range to give the home crowd some encouragement. The only other score in a half which was dominated by defence was when the much-larger Old Colfeians pack got on top at scrum time to set up a pushover try and give the visitors a 14-10 half-time lead.

The hosts started the second half feeling the game was for the taking as the heat and pace was hindering the bigger Colfes forwards. It was not to be, though, as with a change in the pack line the away side started to play wider and with much more fluidity. It was no surprise seven minutes into the second half when they scored again.

Top try scorer Dadson responded on 56 minutes with another close-range effort and a fine kick from Betts looked to have set up a tense finale.

Unfortunately for Gravesend the final 20 minutes never really got going and they simply ran out of steam, allowing the visitors to run in two unanswered tries.

Gravesend’s final game of the season is at Old Reigatian on April 5.