Maidstone III 25 -11 Sevenoaks III

The dream team came through its toughest test of the season so far with an excellent win against a strong and mobile Sevenoaks.

It was clear from the opening moments that this Sevenoaks side was a cut above everything else Maidstone had faced in their previous games as the visitors looked sharp, moving the ball wide to their pacey backs.

Sevenoaks opened the scoring after just three minutes when their openside crossed the line from close range after the visitors had beaten Maidstone to the breakdown. The conversion was missed to leave the visitors with an early 5-0 lead.

Maidstone responded well, winning the ball from the restart and mounting some good attacks of their own, which took them into Sevenoaks territory for the first time in the match.

The dream team soon drew level with a great individual score from Rob Wood. Following a good driving maul from a lineout, Maidstone span the ball wide and Wood showed good strength to brush off two tacklers before stepping inside the fullback to cross for a well taken try. The post then denied the home side the lead as Hogarth’s conversion narrowly missed.

The game was developing into a real tussle with both sides determined not to give an inch at the breakdown, although Maidstone certainly had the edge at the set piece. However, with fifteen minutes remaining in the first half, the game was almost abandoned when the referee pulled up with a calf strain. Fortunately a qualified ref was found. Dave Hughes, who had been running touch for the 1st team, came to the rescue and the match resumed after a ten minute break.

The break clearly did the dream team good as they went on to dominate until half time, playing some scintillating rugby in the process. The move of the match came when Maidstone broke down the left touchline with backs and forwards exchanging passes in the five metre channel to break into the Sevenoaks 22. The ball was then switched quickly to the right where Sevenoaks were short of numbers but the chance was squandered when Mattison – who had a clear run to the line - was unable to take Baxter’s pass.

Maidstone had Sevenoaks pinned in their own half and it wasn’t long before the home side took the lead. Some powerful running from the Maidstone backs and good clearing out by the forwards gave the home side an overlap ten metres out and this time there was no mistake as Tom Challis powered over. Hogarth added the extras to give Maidstone a 12-5 lead.
Maidstone started the second half well and soon extended their lead with a Hogarth penalty after the Sevenoaks backs were caught offside in front of their own posts. Sevenoaks responded with a penalty of their own to get back to within a score then, with half an hour still to play, Maidstone were forced into a change when Wood went off with a serious gash to the cheek. Wood was replaced by Phil Davis, who slotted in at scrum half while Mattison moved into the centre and Tugwell went to the wing.

The change didn’t cause too much disruption and, thanks to some good kicking backed up with excellent defence and a strong set piece, Maidstone kept the game in the Sevenoaks half. This approach didn’t take long to pay off and, when the Sevenoaks backs were caught offside for a second time, Hogarth again punished them with three points to restore Maidstone’s ten point lead.  

With twenty minutes to go, Sevenoaks got back to within seven points when Maidstone were caught offside at a ruck on the ten-metre line. However, this was as close as the visitors were to get.

Five minutes later, Maidstone were back in the Sevenoaks 22 putting severe pressure on the visitors’ scrum to win the ball. The resulting move saw Baxter tackled just a yard from the line and a knock on at the ensuing ruck gave Maidstone a five metre scrum. With the Maidstone pack firing on all cylinders - and Tugwell safely on the wing – it looked like the forwards would be rewarded for their hard work with a try as they marched to within a yard of line. However, as Maidstone inched towards the whitewash, the Sevenoaks scrum disintegrated and rather than penalising the visitors, the referee penalised Paul Massey for accidentally driving into his own man.  

Maidstone eventually put the game beyond doubt with fifteen minutes to with their third try of the match. Paul Massey did brilliantly to steal the ball from a ruck on the half way line and popped the ball to Stu Bates who sprinted down the line and scored under the posts. Hogarth made no mistake with the conversion and the dream team had a fourteen point lead.

Sevenoaks threw everything they had at Maidstone for the last ten minutes but the home side’s defence held firm to close out a great win.

Laing (Capt), Wright, Thurgood, Fish, Maddaford, Challis (Try), Nash, Tugwell, Hogarth, Mattison, Baxter, Wood (Try), Bates (Try), Moore
50 mins - P Davis for Wood
60 mins – Williams for Nash