Maidstone v Jersey

Saturday, 2 December 2006 at Jersey RFC

Maidstone arrived in Jersey with every expectation of breaking their duck against the island team and delivering a victory for their departing Kiwi prop, Scott McIlroy. It was not to be, with the home team running out convincing winners 33-22. Maidstone delivered all the classy rugby but made too many errors and allowed a big, but average, team to score five tries, three of them from positions deep in the Jersey half.

Jersey, with professional players from South Africa, New Zealand and Tonga in their side, are always difficult to beat on their home ground but the early pressure came from Maidstone who looked motivated and slick in the initial exchanges. The conditions for a fast open game were ideal with only a slight breeze over a damp, giving surface and a bright sun to warm the large number of spectators on both sides of the ground.

The Stones were first on the scoreboard, after five minutes, when Tom Rogers got the touchdown in the left hand corner following a cross field move and drive from the forwards. A second score to Maidstone looked on the cards when Ryan chased up a kick through by Rogers after a mistake by Jersey in mid-field but his dive only managed to knock the ball forward over the line.

Jersey forwards then began to exert pressure on Maidstone and, after a line-out developed into a rolling maul, Alex Smith was yellow carded for pulling down the scrum. Jersey took full advantage of their superior numbers at the next opportunity and scored a good try off the back of the scrum, the conversion putting them in front, 7-5. From the drop out, Jersey knocked-on and after consistent pressure from the depleted Maidstone pack, Whitehead kicked a penalty following an offside against the Jersey blind side flanker to put Maidstone back in front.

With Alex Smith restored to the field and Jamie Smith prominent in the centre, Maidstone conjured a number of opportunities to open up a bigger lead but the final pass refused to go to hand or wrong options were taken, leaving the Stones with the slimmest of leads at half time.

Jersey started the second half with great determination and a willingness to move the ball through both the backs and forwards. Maidstone tackled solidly, forcing a lot of sideways movement from the Jersey team. The first decisive move of the half came when Dave Heads broke down the blind side of a Maidstone scrum into the Jersey 22 and, with Houlihan free outside him, delayed his pass and the chance was gone.

At the next Maidstone attack on the Jersey line, a handling error was picked up by the Jersey full back and he ran the length of the pitch to score. A further handling error when Maidstone attacked again was this time kicked ahead by the Jersey openside flanker, which the defence failed to clear, resulting in the Jersey left-winger picking up the ball to score under the posts to give the home side a commanding 19-8 lead.

Maidstone refused to buckle and Heads once again worked the blind-side, this time finding Houlihan with a well timed pass for the winger to cut inside and score under the posts to reduce the deficit to four points.

But back came Jersey almost immediately, this time latching on to a loose ball on the half way line to score a cleverly worked try after neat inter-passing to restore a comfortable lead at 26-15. Next it was Maidstone’s turn, this time scoring the best try of the match. After movements both ways across the pitch, Scott Mitchell set up Arnold to crash over by the posts to reduce the deficit to 26-22 and, with ten minutes on the clock, expectations of a last gasp victory fleetingly emerged. But it was not to be, the last score going to Jersey against a tiring Maidstone defence.

This was ultimately a disappointing team performance by Maidstone where the front five gave their all and the centre pairing of Jamie Smith and Scott Mitchell showed constant threat, allowing the wings to offer potent running. However, until the team cuts out the silly errors that undo all their good approach work, they will continue to find themselves mid-table and their true potential unfulfilled. 

Team
Scott McIlroy; Tom Rogers (Martin Farbrace 79 mins); Simon Hollister (Rob Jeffrey 60 mins): Steve Matthews; Andy Bacon: Alex Smith; Nick Sargent (Fin Davis 70 mins); Ben Court: Dave Heads; Craig Whitehead: Harry Stockford; Scott Mitchell; Jamie Smith; Mark Ryan (Damien Houlihan 25 mins): Martin Arnold