Sevenoaks II vs Mustangs – 6th October 2007

Whilst England embarked on Part One of “Send the Antipodeans Home”, the Mustangs took the field against a Sevenoaks side that had already beaten Thanet away, which is a rarity – so the team knew that they would be in for a fierce contest.

The Mustangs once again showed from the start that their scrum and mauling power would stand them in good stead for the afternoon. So it was no surprise that on 12 minutes, a catch a drive from a Mustangs lineout led to skipper Nick East (who has had the audacity to set up his own appreciation society on Facebook) being driven over the line by his pack from 10 metres out to open the scoring for the afternoon. Laurenson narrowly failed to convert, but it was a good start nonetheless.

The pack continued to cause problems for the Sevenoaks forwards and the scrum was showing signs of dominance. A kick to the corner from Maidstone following a penalty conceded by the home side enable the Mustangs to set up another catch and drive. With the lineout secured, the forwards rumbled towards the line, East once again with ball in hand, but this time he was held up by the scrambling Sevenoaks defence. From the resulting Maidstone put-in at the scrum, the forwards pressed forward allowing Josh Pankhurst to pick up from the number 8 position and muscle his way over the line to score. Laurenson converted to make the score 12 – 0 to the Mustangs after 25 minutes and Sevenaoks hadn’t been allowed to attack.

This should have been the catalyst for the Mustangs to press home their advantage and really turn the screw on the home side – however, as was to be the theme of the day – things didn’t pan out as they should have done. For the remaining hour of the match, the Mustangs conspired to put themselves under as much pressure as possible.

The second half began with Maidstone playing into the wind, which did make it harder to clear their lines, but the main reasons for the Mustangs struggles were of their own making. Having shown how well the maul was working, they failed to put any decent phases of play together for the half, constantly turned over ball or took the wrong option. To their credit, Sevenoaks played some good rugby in the 2nd half, but it seemed they could not break the Mustangs defence. However, after half an hour, Sevenoaks used their backs to get effect with the fly half drawing the defence and offloading to a runner who burst into the line and went through a gap from 5 meters out to score. The conversion went wide, but Maidstone knew they would be in for a very tough final period of the game. The re-start was taken and kicked out on the full – once again their own errors being the Mustangs worse enemy.

With possession once again handed back to the home side, they set about the task of trying to level the scores. Maidstone’s defence once again proved hard to breakdown, with many last ditched tackles made, but eventually Maidstone ran out of numbers as fast hands sent Sevenoaks over the Maidstone line wide on the right hand side. The conversion was missed, but with the score now 12-10 and a couple of minutes left on the clock, Sevenoaks scented a last gasp win. Thankfully the Maidstone re-start was better this time and they managed to force an error from the home team which led to a penalty being conceded, allowing the Mustangs to make their way into the Sevenoaks 22 for only the third time in the half. However yet another error coughed up possession, but with Sevenoaks having to take the ball 70 metres to score, it seemed unlikely they would.

Thankfully not long after the referee blew the final whistle – and everyone involved with the Mustangs breathed a huge sigh of relief that they had escaped with an away win.

For 20 minutes the Mustangs dominated the game, and should really have closed the game out in the first half. However, much like the All Blacks on Saturday night, the early lead seemed to make the Mustangs switch off and almost assumed they had won – thankfully their extremely committed defence saved them. To defend like they did for nearly and hour showed that the team has a lot of guts and spirit, however the structure and game plan needs to be worked on going forward in order to avoid a repeat performance – it certainly didn’t make fun watching from the touchline.

All the team defended superbly, but some are worth a mention. Once again, Jack Lamb had a good game, haring round the pitch being a nuisance, which is exactly what is required of an open side flanker. In the backs, Gavin Dyke did a lot of good ball carrying in the first half and made some very important tackles in the second. On his return to rugby following an 8 month sabbatical, Jamie Smith showed why he was a regular first team centre last season with some very solid midfield defence – it was just a shame he hardly got any attacking ball, as on the few occasions he did he looked a threat.

Man of the Match this week goes to someone who epitomised the Mustangs spirit. On his first couple of ball carries he was knocked back and turned over, but he learnt very quickly and it didn’t happen again and was one of the few people who actively looked to carry the ball forward. He was sent flying as he attempted to tackle the rather weighty replacement hooker – but got up immediately to make the next tackle – he never gave up all afternoon. This man is Sam Bailey – who is already proving to be a real asset to the Mustangs this season.

Team:-

Sam Bailey, Nick East, Mark Thurgood, Nigel Maddaford, Darren Yates, Ian Lee, Jack Lamb, Josh Pankhurst, Chris Leggat, Mike Laurenson, Gavin Dyke, Richard Glover, Jamie Smith, Ben McKellar, Phil Catt, James Sullivan, Andy Vickers.

Scorers:-

Tries – Nick East, Josh Pankhurst

Conversions – Mike Laurenson

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