Maidstone V Barbarians 19 Sevenoaks IV 15
(Tries:Brown,Gillies 2
Cons: Ellesmere 2)
Mike Gillies second try of the game, with only a couple of minutes to spare, ensured that the Stones' league campaign started in the best possible way against local rivals Sevenoaks.
In a game where the pendulum swung one way and then the other in what was a typically close contest between these two well matched teams it was the Barbarians who had the final and decisive say.
The home team got off to the stronger start and full-back Paul Hodges could (and did!) consider himself unlucky not to have put the hosts one try up when he, it seemed, finished off a sweeping move in the corner. The referee, however, deemed a knock on in the act of touching the ball down. The visitors exploited this good fortune by promptly going back the other end to open the scoring with a converted try. Centre Andy Brown soon made amends
by crashing through the 'Oaks defence, via fly-half Maff Newman's pass,to open Maidstone's scoring for the season. Matt Ellesmere added the well struck conversion to level the scores and complete the first half scoring.
After the break Maidstone carried on where they left off by putting the Sevenoaks' line under pressure before scrum-half Gillies eventually found a gap in the defence to touch down under the posts for a converted try. A gashed head to a Sevenoaks player then resulted in a delay in proceedings and thereafter for a while put a delay on the Stones playing any rugby of note
in the Sevenoaks half as the visitors pressurised the Barbarians line. This finally resulted in a secondunconverted try that pegged the score back to a two point deficit. Sevenoaks then soon took advantage of a soft penalty in front of the sticks (one of too many from the Stones perspective) to sneak into the lead.
Back came the Barbarians however for one final effort. With the pack now getting the better of their counterparts in the scrum and withheavyweight subsitutes Burrill and Oakley in particular punching holes in the visitors' defence it was left to Gillies to smash through and over the line to win the game. All that was left was for prop Trevor Bradley to thwart an 'Oaks overlap and hack theball dead to ensure the spoils of victory.
