Maidstone kick-off the season with a home, London 2 South, league game against newly promoted Surrey side, Chobham, at The Mote, on Saturday 8 September, 3pm.
In their last warm up game against Charlton Park, Maidstone won a tough encounter, 12-0 with two tries by winger, Houlihan, the first of these converted by Whitehead. Both tries came in the last five minutes, demonstrating the high level of fitness in the squad. The other positive feature of the game was the defensive tackling which was strong throughout, with the Charlton Park back line kept well under control.
A number of features still need work, however, particularly the scrum, where the front row options appear limited and the line-out was not as cohesive as has been the norm in recent seasons. The error count was also too high, with passes not going to hand and wrong options taken on a number of occasions, blunting the attacking edge and allowing a spirited, but limited, opposition to maintain parity for much of the game.
With next week’s game in mind and the lack of a settled set of half backs, Gary Whitehead took up the scrum half position for the last quarter with skipper, Arnold, at fly half. It was in this period that Maidstone showed their most impressive attacking form and both tries were scored.
In summary, the game provided a good reality check for the players who know that improvement will be required if they are to make a winning start in the league.
