Wimbledon RFC vs Maidstone
Away at Wimbledon, Saturday 29 September, 2007
League London 2 South
by Trevor Langley
Maidstone ran out convincing 26-13 winners in this London, League 2 South encounter as they recorded their first ever victory over the South London club. In doing so, they notched their third successive league win, showing increasing levels of teamwork and spirit to come from behind, yet again. Fitness and front-five power were the ultimate reasons that underpinned this result, although it took some time for these strengths to show through.
With a number of absentees from last week, a reshuffle of the pack saw Simon Hollister returning to the front row after a long-term ankle injury, Ian Lee stepping up from the Mustangs, into the back row, with Andy Bacon starting in the second row with Steve Matthews moving to No 8. Craig Whitehead returned at scrum half to partner his brother, Gary, at half back with Dane Smith starting in the centre.
For the first 20 minutes, it appeared these changes had seriously disrupted the cohesion that had been building over the last few weeks, as Wimbledon quickly showed some slick three-quarter moves and penetrated the Maidstone half at will. Indeed, their first real incursion saw them on the scoreboard as scrum half, Pye, finished off a flowing move to dart over in the left corner after Maidstone’s defence had stopped the Wimbledon wing just short of the line. A second score on twenty minutes in the same spot, this time the winger getting the touchdown, doubled the arrears after Maidstone had missed two kickable penalties. A third score, this time a penalty awarded after Arnold deliberately impeded a Wimbledon player after a chip through, took the score to 13-0 and the spectre of a heavy defeat began to emerge.
A turning point in the match came on the half hour, when the Wimbledon No. 8 was yellow carded for persistent infringement. With the reduced numbers in the opposition pack, Maidstone began to dominate the forward exchanges and immediately took play to the Wimbledon line and just before half time, drove over from a 5-metre scrum to cut the deficit to 13-5.
With restored numbers at the beginning of the second half, Wimbledon once again showed how well they could penetrate through their three quarters but now the Maidstone eight were dominating the tight and this restricted the supply of good ball to the home side. After ten minutes, quick ball on the half way line, saw Maidstone sweep left and Whitehead’s sweetly timed pass to Arnold, bursting through from full back, released Smith whose final pass allowed Deisner under the posts to cut the deficit to one point.
It took another fifteen minutes of concerted Maidstone pressure to put the visitors in the lead. In this period a number of chances went begging as the final pass went astray, but there was an inevitability about Ryan’s touch down under the posts after a five metre scrum, to take the score to 13-19, as Gary Whitehead probed first left then right to conjure the decisive opening.
Wimbledon mounted their final effort and took the play down to the Maidstone 22 for almost the first time in the half but this was successfully repulsed by the now dominant Maidstone pack and the last score went to the visitors, courtesy of a penalty try after another 5-metre scrum, to take the final victory score to a comfortable 26-13.
Maidstone came away from this encounter with their first league win against Wimbledon but against a fitter and more cohesive side, the slow start that allowed the opposition to post a comfortable first half lead, could have led to a resounding defeat. Against this, the integration of a number of new faces has proved successful and the considerable effort that has been expended making the Mustangs into a dynamic team, in their own right, is beginning to reap dividends as their players are asked to fill roles in the 1st XV.
Team
Rob Jeffrey : Fin Davis; Simon Hollister (Plowman 60 mins): Andy Bacon; Sam Johnson: John O’Brien; Ian Lee (Pankhurst 65 mins); Steve Matthews: Craig Whitehead;Gary Whitehead; Ian Howson; Dane Smith (Bailey 74 mins); Mark Ryan; Nick Deisner: Martin Arnold (capt):
