Mustangs Vs Thanet – 20th October 2007

The Mustangs headed into this very tough encounter with last year’s champions and fierce rivals Thanet with several changes to the side once again, but nonetheless a very competitive side took to the field.

Thanet began in their usual fashion, looking to maul with their big pack, send their big outside centre on crashing runs through the mid-field and then try to spin the ball wide.

Maidstone on the other hand looked to use their quick backline and move the ball around and through such adventure they opened the scoring for the day. Decisive running and passing led to the ball being delivered to centre Richard Glover wide on the left and he sprinted in fro the 22 to dive over in the left hand corner. The conversion attempt went wide, but it was a good start nonetheless. An indiscretion from Maidstone, who in an attempt to run the ball from their own 22, were penalised at the rock, gave an easy kicking opportunity to Thanet, which they gratefully accepted to make the score 5-3 to the Mustangs.

The next score came from Kiwi Matt Butterworth, who joined the line from full back and ghosted through a gap in the Thanet defence and cantered through to cross the line, and with Mike Laurenson adding the conversion, a score line of 12-5 to Maidstone gave a fairer reflection of proceedings. However, Maidstone’s adventure was their own undoing, as Butterworth was caught in possession on half way, the home side failed to secure the ball and the loose ball was picked up by a Thanet player who proceeded to out-sprint the defence and run in under the posts. The simple conversion was kicked and at half time the Mustangs trailed 12-13, with Thanet not having created much in the way of attacking opportunities themselves, but made Maidstone pay dearly for their own mistakes.

After a few words of advice from coach Shaun Neaves, the second half began with Maidstone playing more sensibly and looking to play in the Thanet half. Some ill-discipline from the away side led to a penalty being conceded right in front of the posts, and Laurenson kicked the points to give Maidstone the lead once again.

Moments later and the highlight of the game took place. From inside their own half, Maidstone attacked form their own line out throw, the ball was spun wide, Maidstone broke the defensive line, and with good runs from Jamie Smith and Richard Glover, the ball kept alive really well thanks to good support play and the final pass reached the supporting prop Martin Farbrace who raced in from the 22 to score under the posts, once again giving Laurenson an easy kick at goal. This made the score 22-13 to the home side and gave them some breathing space.

As expected Thanet attacked Maidstone hard for the remainder of the game. Maidstone at times did themselves no favours, with some poor decision making – especially from one flanker (Nick Sargent) who decided to take a quick 22 drop out which resulted in a scrum to Thanet for men being in front of the ball at the restart. However, the Mustangs defended valiantly and as often as Maidstone causing their own problems through errors, Thanet were their own worst enemy, conceding needless penalties for various offences and on one occasion they told the ref what they thought and were marched back 30 meters in quick succession – which helped the Mustangs to get away from their own 22.

The game ended 22-13 to the home side, which was a fantastic result as Thanet are very tough, physical side to play against, who know what their strengths are and execute them well. This should give the Mustangs terrific confidence heading into next weeks even tougher encounter away to Beckenham, who beat Maidstone twice last year.

There were numerous good performances from the Mustangs this week. Matt Butterworth is a good find for Maidstone. He is deceptively quick and strong and added a good attacking threat from full back (you wouldn’t know he had hardly played there before). The centre pairing of Jamie Smith and Richard Glover was promising, especially as neither have played a lot of rugby this year. Glover had his best game to date, and is looking sharper and fitter each game. Of the forwards, Tom Moon was solid all afternoon, and coming off the bench for the last half an hour, John O’Brien looked in good form and definitely gave the Mustangs a boost with his strong ball carrying. Week on week Mark Thurgood is proving to be solid performer for the Mustangs, enabling them to assert real control at the scrum. Martin Farbrace had an excellent game all round. He brings a different dimension to the Mustangs with his work in the loose (resulting in him finishing off an excellent team try), and combining with East and Thurgood in the front row, makes a very strong unit. So this week there will be Men of the Match – Mark Thurgood and Martin Farbrace.

Onto “Div of the Day” – only one contender really – Phil Catt, with possibly the worst attempt at a chip over the top to be seen this side of Christmas – which is quite some achievement considering the captain attempted something similar the previous week, although the executed it better than Phil.

Team:-

Farbrace, East, Thurgood, Lee, Maddaford, Moon, Day, Sargent, Laurenson, Catt, Ash, Glover, J Smith, McKellar, Butterworth, O’Brien, Roddie Sims

Coach – Shaun Neaves

Manager – Laurence Waters

Physio – Katherine Grundy

Scorers:-

Tries – Glover, Butterworth, Farbrace

Conversions – Laurenson x 2

Penalties – Laurenson

Final Score – 22-13 to the Mustangs