Medway made amends for September’s thrashing by Cobham with a late 22-15 victory in Regional 2 South East.

When the teams met three months ago, the hosts ran out 65-10 winners so Medway were not short of motivation and they took the lead after riding out an early storm.

Centre Sean Marriott carried the ball into Cobham’s half and captain Antony Clement kicked with guile to set up the attack. No.8 Todd Johnson combined with flanker Jonah Hyde to set up centre Max Bullock and he broke the line, feeding winger John Sipawa for a fine try. Bullock added the conversion for a 7-0 lead after 22 minutes.

Medway’s second try arrived five minutes later. Flanker Dan Jackson combined with winger Mac Perry and his pace was too fast for Cobham as he found the corner. Cobham hit back with an impressive move off the base of a scrum and the home team led by seven points at the break.

Persistent offsides resulted in yellow cards for the visitors but they were next on the scoreboard with a long-range penalty to trail by four. Another Cobham transgression was punished, though, Bullock scoring from the tee, for a 15-8 lead.

Neither side added to their tally until the last three minutes. Unfortunately for Medway it was Cobham who broke through, their paceman ghosting past his challengers for a try with the extras levelling matters.

But if Cobham thought they had rescued a draw Sipawa had other ideas. With the game in the final minute, Sipawa, 30 metres out on the left, shrugged off three Cobham defenders in quick succession for a fantastic solo try. Ben Dance added the extras to wrap up victory.

Fifth-placed Medway end 2023 with a match at 11th-spot Gravesend on Saturday.