The Papa Johns semifinal disappointingly ended in defeat at the hands of a strong Dartfordians side who thoroughly deserve their place in the final in two weeks at the Stonex stadium.

Although the game was played at a neutral venue, owing to Darts pitches being refurbished for the summer, the ‘home’ side had a huge crowd and much to their delight got off the mark in the first minute with a determined strong move down the left channel saw their flyhalf crash over following a nice move off the back of a line out and 10 metre rolling maul before the ball came out wide in space, conversion missed.

Fullers hit back and gained a bit of composure went ahead some 6 minutes later when Dan Evans scored and converted his own try after some really good work in the opposition 22 with phase after phase of good possession eventually ends with Evans flinging a wide pass to Ryan Lewis who darts backside and sets up Evans to fly over.
The game settled as both sides traded early tackle blows sussing each other out before Darts took the lead again on 26 minutes with another nice move on the left with the ball coming out of a ruck and 5 passes later they score, this time the extras were added.

Fullers hit back again this time up the left hand channel saw Kieran Cavanagh cross the line and Evans convert his second of the afternoon.
Just as we thought the whistle was about to go the Darts winger attempted to clear the ball only to smash it into the gut of super quick Ryan Lewis who sprinted in from 40 meters out, Evans on hand again to give Fullers a fortunate yet deserved 12-21 lead at the break.

The second half was all about Dartfordians, 4 unanswered tries with only one converted.
The first two of these fours tries came when their were down to 14 men after the tight head has binned for discipline, despite this Fullers couldn’t do anything with the advantage of the extra man Darts just proved to strong and determined to reach the final. Two more unconverted tries put Fullers to the sword, had the flyhalf had his kicking boots on Dart would of been over 40 points.
Fullers ended the game with 14 men themselves having played the final 17 minutes with back to back yellow cards for George Harvey and Dan Evans on a frustrating afternoon in south east London.

Full time 34-21.

Gary Wall man of the match was Ryan Lewis.

A few positives to take away were Fullers introduction to 1st XV rugby for our colts Sam Phillips and Marcus Ashby who came of for the final 5 minutes and also Drew Richards Price also for his 1st XV debut. The future is much brighter with these young men coming through the club.

That’s sadly the end of the long season now, 2023-24 fixtures will be released in June with the season expected to commence in early September.