Gravesend Vs Mustangs – 20th January 2007

The Mustangs made a long awaited return to league action last weekend with a trip to Gravesend, who earlier in the season had tested the Mustangs at The Mote.

The game kicked off with a strong wind at the Mustangs back. A scrappy start ensued as both knocked on, but Maidstone’s pack, including the heavy weight props Maytum and Thurgood as well as a return to Maidstone colours for John O’Brien following his “sabbatical”, showed their intent from the outset and dominated the opening scrums. This would be a theme of the afternoon.

Maidstone began to dominate the play and were rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts following a Gravesend player coming round the side of a ruck (another theme for the afternoon). Fly half Glen Aukett duly converted, Maidstone 3-0 up. Moments later, another penalty was given away which Maidstone kicked to the corner. Following a good catch and recycling, the forwards rumbled 10 metres uphill and Luke Day was rewarded with a try. Aukett added the conversation to make the score 10-0.

Despite having the wind behind them, kicking to touch was hard to judge and on a couple of occasions Maidstone kicked from just outside their 22 only to see the ball go straight out, which immediately brought pressure upon themselves. However, due to the dominance in the scrums, Maidstone were always able to turn over the opposition and clear their lines, often putting pressure right back on Gravesend. Another scrum inside the Gravesend 22 resulted in a superbly well worked backs manoeuvre being finished off by the French maestro Alex Malejac, who touched down to the right of the posts, which went unconverted. 15-0 Maidstone.

Finally Maidstone gave away a penalty in their own 22, which Gravesend converted. The half ended 15-3.

A couple of changes were made at half time, with Steve Matthews coming on for Luke Day and Jamie Smith for Gavin Dyke. It was now Maidstone’s turn to play into the wind, which made it very difficult to kick to touch with any distance. Ian Lee was able to steal Gravesend’s lineout ball on a number of occasions, and combined with the dominance in the scrum, it was made very difficult for Gravesend to attack as they had no platform from which to do so.

Gravesend’s determination to come in at the side of rucks made it difficult to get quick ball, and the frustration got the better of Mustangs debutant lock Nick Coles, who was shown a yellow card following some misguided use of the boot. Gravesend were unable to make use of the advantage, as Maidstone continued to hold the ascendancy in the scrums.

The majority of the second half was frustrating for the visitors as they created many opportunities but ultimately failed to capitalise on them due to poor execution of the final pass. Maidstone’s defence was too strong for the Gravesend side and they were rarely able to find a way through the defensive line.

Finally it was left to the forwards to settle things. An attacking scrum was awarded following a good kick and chase which forced Gravesend to touch down behind their own line. Maidstone drove the opposition up the hill and back over the try line and captain James Ferris burrowed his way between Steve Matthews legs to claim the score. Aukett added the conversion to make the score 22-3 to the Mustangs. The referee blew his whistle 5 minutes later to end the game, which gave the Mustangs a four point away win.

In testing conditions and against a side which were often more intent on the “physical” side of the game rather than playing rugby, this was a good result for the Mustangs, who were missing several members of the pack which had performed well pre-Christmas. Those who came into the side didn’t let anyone down. Aside from dominating their opposite numbers in the scrum, Maytum and Thurgood put in a lot of hard work around the field. 17 year old Nick Coles showed that he is more than capable of doing well at this level, showing good aggression around the pitch and was athletic in the line out.

Man of the Match this week was awarded to Ian Lee, who worked tirelessly all afternoon and was totally dominant in the line out, not only winning Maidstone ball, but stole possession from the Gravesend lineout at will.

Although the finishing can improve, the defence of the Mustangs is a really encouraging sign, as once again another side failed to score a try. In fact the Mustangs have only conceded four tries in the last eight league games.

This result keeps the Mustangs 2nd in the table, just behind Beckenham. Next week the Mustangs play at home against Sevenoaks, who will be seeking revenge following the 33-0 defeat they suffered at the hands of Maidstone before Christmas.

Finally, the recipient of the inaugural (and possibly one time only) “Div of the Day” award goes to Nick East, who had to drive back to Gravesend after the game to find his “lost” wallet. An extensive Search and Rescue operation at Gravesend RFC proved to be in vain, however every story has a happy ending and 1minute after the rescue mission was abandoned due to apathy and a loss of the will to live from the search party, the missing wallet was found..........in his car. Good work SC.

Team: Martin Maytum, Nick East, Mark Thurgood, Nick Coles, Ian Lee, John O’Brien, Luke Day, Josh Pankhurst, James Ferris, Glen Aukett, Gavin Dyke, Alex Malejac, Nick Deissner, Chris Leggatt, Sam Mann. Subs: Simon Wright, Steve Matthews, Jamie Smith

Coach: Andy Golding
Physio: Wendy Edwards
Manager: Laurence Waters

Points scorers:

Tries: Day, Malejac, Ferris
Conversions; Aukett x 2
Penalties: Aukett x 1