Hastings & Bexhill 0-40 Maidstone III
Tries: Massey 3, Hogarth, Tugwell 2
Conversions: Hogarth 5

Maidstone bounced back from the disappointment of losing to Lordswood with a dominant performance in difficult conditions to put forty points on Hastings & Bexhill.

In order to win the mental battle and play to the team’s strength of short high impact preparation, arrival at the ground was a full fifteen minutes before kick off.

With a soggy pitch and slippery ball, this game was always going to be won in the forwards and the Maidstone pack wasted no time in asserting their authority.
The first 10 minutes of the game were spent in the Hastings & Bexhill half with strong running from the Maidstone pack only stopped by some good tackling and the odd handling error.

Some good driving around the fringes took Maidstone to the opposition five metre line and when hooker Simon Wright lunged for the line he was adjudged to have been held up. The result was a five metre scrum, which the Maidstone pack drove over the line for No. 8 Paul Massey to touch down for the first of his three tries.

This was the start of one of the Maidstone pack’s best performances for some time. Lurch put in another solid performance, Fish realised it was legal to push at second row and Adam Williams remembered that flankers are supposed to get involved at the breakdown.

The home side were struggling to get their hands on the ball and, on the few occasions they did, they were either knocked back in the tackle or forced into handling errors.

Maidstone continued to pile on the pressure and, soon after Hogarth had missed a penalty attempt, the dream team doubled their lead. Scrambling defence from the home side led to a knock-on five metres from the line and once again the Maidstone pack powered over the line for Massey to score his second.

The home side responded well, putting in their best spell of the game and almost getting a score of their own. Good running from the Hastings & Bexhill fullback took the home side into the Maidstone half and two phases and a missed tackle later, Maidstone found themselves defending a tap penalty on their own line. Although Maidstone repelled the attack with some strong tackling, they were now struggling to get out of their own half.

Hastings & Bexhill then crossed the Maidstone try line for the only time in the match. A strong drive from the back of a five metre scrum took the home side over the line but the Maidstone back row did well to hold the ball up.

With the first half coming to an end, Maidstone then rubbed salt into the wounds with their third push-over try of the match. When Hastings & Bexhill gave away a penalty on half way, Hogarth punished them with a great kick to touch, which the pack followed up with a powerful catch and drive. This took Maidstone deep into the 22 and, although the home side thwarted the driving maul, the dream team  drove over from the resulting scrum to complete Massey’s hat trick. Hogarth converted to give the dream team a 21-0 lead at half time.

Hastings & Bexhill began the second half determined to get back into the game but they were frustrated by Hogarth’s left boot, which kept them pinned in their own half.
 
The home side knew they had to keep the ball away from the Maidstone forwards and moved the ball wide, but with the wet conditions, this strategy soon cost them another score. When the ball was spilled by the Hastings & Bexhill centre, Hogarth was the quickest to react, showing great footballing skills to dribble the ball the thirty yards to the line and touch down. After consulting the touch judge, the referee awarded the try and Hogarth added the extras.

With Hogarth’s booming boot and good chasing by the Maidstone backs keeping the home side trapped in their own territory, it was only a matter of time before the next score. Maidstone added their fifth try of the afternoon with yet another pushover from a scrum. This time however, the scrum lacked the control of the previous efforts and, for once, the pack was grateful for Tuggy’s eye for the line as the wily scrum half touched down. While Hogarth was missing the conversion, Laing called for his troops to push on to forty points.  

The final try of the game came with five minutes left to play. From a scrum just inside the Hastings half the ball came out from the flankers feet and Tugwell quickly swept it up to the narrow side winger, who was coming on at pace. He beat his man and then as a cover tackle came in, Tugwell came on an inside line, rolling back the years to step inside two players before showing surprising pace to beat the fullback to the line. Hogarth landed the conversion to complete the scoring.

Final score 0-40.

Laing (Capt), Wright, Maytum, Fish, Maddaford, Cummings, Williams (Turnill 40), Massey, Tugwell, Hogarth, Dyke, Major, Morand (Woodger), Mckellar, Bates