16/09/06 - Maidstone III 34 Folkestone II 8

Maidstone put in a strong performance to put away Folkestone on a humid afternoon at the Mote.

The home side started well and soon had the upper hand, putting together some quick phases to set up an overlap on the right. Good hands from the back line freed full-back Stuart Bates who outpaced the defence to score. Fly-half Sam Mann narrowly missed the conversion to give Maidstone a five nil lead after five minutes.

Folkestone’s only try of the match followed soon after. A lineout deep in the Maidstone 22 was cleanly gathered by Paul Massey, but a lack of communication from the home forwards led to the ball popping out the back of the maul. First to react was the Folkestone inside centre, who crashed over the line to level the scores.

This proved Folkestone’s best moment of the afternoon and Maidstone soon regained control. Folkestone’s set piece was under pressure from the outset and when Maidstone were awarded a penalty on the 22, captain Ross Laing had no hesitation in opting for a scrum. The resulting drive had Folkestone going backwards at a rate of knots. Unlike last week, the Maidstone back row was able to keep up with the tight five and, as the ball got to within inches of their line, Folkestone were forced to infringe, conceding a penalty try in the process. Mann converted to leave the score 12-5.

Folkestone’s next attack showed how Maidstone were dominating the physical battle. The visitors took a tap penalty, only for their charging prop to go to ground to set up a ruck three metres shy of the baffled Maidstone defence.  The resulting second phase saw Folkestone’s backs fumble the ball which ended up with their full back on the ten metre line, who proceeded to strike a superb drop goal to make it 12-8.

Maidstone finished the half strongly, soon fashioning a similar try to their opening score. Some good clearing out gave the backs quick ball and Mann’s pace took him outside the Folkestone defence for an excellent score to leave it 17-8 at half time.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with Maidstone dominating in the set piece and contact areas. Maidstone’s backline required a re-shuffle when outside centre Fairbrace pulled up with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Simon Cripps. The change didn’t cause too much disruption and Maidstone were soon crossing the Folkestone line for a fourth time. Good hands between backs and forwards created a gap in the visitors’ midfield and inside-centre Dom Baxter cleverly arced his run with the slope to outpace the defence and score by the posts. Mann converted for 24-8.

Maidstone continued to look for tries but the sapping conditions meant that the accuracy was sometimes missing from their passing. With ten minutes to go, Maidstone added their fifth. More good work from the pack created an overlap on the right and – rather than take the simple option of the pass - flanker Andy Taylor added some antipodean flair by sliding an inch perfect grubber kick into the corner for Cripps to touch down.  

Folkestone, to their credit, kept plugging away only to have their attacks repelled by solid Maidstone defence. The last play of the game saw the Folkestone backs fumble the ball in the Maidstone 22. The loose ball was pounced on and some quick hands from the Maidstone backs put Stu Bates away, who stood up his opposite number and sprinted seventy metres to bring an end to the scoring and the match.