23/09/06 - Cranbrook II 0 – 40 Maidstone III

Maidstone kicked off their league campaign with a comfortable – if not convincing – win at Cranbrook.

The dream team was given a boost before the match had even started when it emerged that Cranbrook would be a man short from the start. With conditions more suited to cricket than rugby, it would prove a stop-start afternoon as the referee insisted on water breaks every two minutes.

Maidstone started confidently, moving the ball wide at every opportunity to take advantage of the extra man. This approach soon paid off with the backs converting a regulation overlap to put Jez Major over in the left corner for the opening score, which John Hogarth did well to convert.

The second try wasn’t long in coming as Maidstone continued to move the ball around with confidence. A succession of quick tap penalties took Maidstone deep into Cranbrook territory with a three man overlap on the left. Hogarth put in a miss pass to Scanlon who – rather than falling over the line himself – went for the more difficult option of passing to Wood who strolled over the whitewash. Hogarth added the extras to make it 14-0 after ten minutes.

The game continued in the same vein with Maidstone a constant threat with ball in hand from both set piece and broken play. The third try saw backs and forwards combining well with second row Tom Challis appearing on the right wing. He sucked in two defenders before passing inside to blindside flanker Adam Williams who offloaded in the tackle for openside Andy Taylor to finish under the posts. Hogarth slotted the conversion for 21-0.

Maidstone had dominated the scrum from the start but an injury to Cranbrook’s loosehead after thirty minutes meant that scrums had to be uncontested, removing an important weapon from the dream team’s armoury.

Try number four went to vocal scrum half David Tugwell. Maidstone shipped the ball out to the left wing only for full-back Stu Bates to be tackled on the ten-metre line. The loose forwards arrived quickly to clear out the Cranbrook defenders and the ball was moved into the centre. Wood’s angled run sucked the defence across the field and, with the defence scrambling across to cover the overlap, his clever inside pass gave Tugwell a clear run under the posts and left Hogarth with an easy conversion.

With just seconds left before the break, the dream team struck again. With Maidstone offloading brilliantly in the tackle, the tiring Cranbrook defence was left chasing shadows and fly-half John Hogarth was able to waltz down the left wing and over the line. He converted his own try to leave the score 35-0 at half time.

The second half was a scrappy affair to say the least and at times Maidstone tried to play touch rugby rather than going through the phases to suck in defenders. Poor handling along with the home side’s brave tackling and constant efforts to slow the ball down at the breakdown made it tough going as the dream team had a second half mare.

It took nearly twenty minutes for the visitors to add to the scoring with the only try of the second half. A chip through was gathered by the Cranbrook twelve on his own ten metre line only for him to be hammered by Taylor. The Maidstone 7 was quickly on his feet to do some first class pilfering as his pack arrived to pile through. Tugwell took advantage of the resulting quick ball, making a half break down the blindside and sucking in two defenders before putting Major away down the left. His pace took him to the line but Hogarth was unable to add the extras.

The spirited home defence continued to frustrate Maidstone and tempers frayed when prop Martin Maytum and his opposite number decided to compare handbags. The referee was so unimpressed with their efforts that both received yellow cards. Maytum clearly felt short changed and did his best to get his card upgraded to red but his captain’s diplomatic intervention was enough to appease the referee.

The match ended 40-0 but Maidstone will want to forget a disorganised second half performance which saw them squander the chance to post a cricket score against a depleted opposition.

Laing (Cap), Wright, Maytum, Maddaford, Challis, Williams, Taylor (Try), Massey, Tugwell (Try), Hogarth (Try), Scanlon, Wood (Try), Major (2 Tries), Phil, Bates