Aylesford II vs Maidstone II – Saturday 13th September 2008

On a bright and sunny afternoon, The Mustangs travelled to local rivals Aylesford Bulls for their first competitive fixture of the season. With several new faces combining with some of the usual suspects, the team performed magnificently to come away with a well deserved win.

Following Laurenson’s early penalty goal, The Mustangs opened the try scoring following a powerful run from Nick Coles. “Donk” was finally brought to ground 5 metres short of the line, but possession was retained and finally the ball was moved to the hands of 2nd row Darren Yates, who powered over to score. The conversion went wide however. Maidstone were then the masters of their own downfall as they insisted on giving away penalties for not remaining behind the back foot. These indiscretions allowed Aylesford to open their account with a converted penalty attempt.

Maidstone’s biggest plus point of the day was the dominance of the scrum. With Mark Thurgood ousted from his customary tight head berth to loose head, due to the arrival of Andy Megarry, and Ben Walker playing at hooker, Maidstone had no difficulty driving Aylesford off their own ball. Maidstone scored their second try of the afternoon following a powerfull driving maul, apparently Luke Day got the try. Laurenson converted to make the score 15-3. However Maidstone once again gave away a silly penalty in front of the posts shortly after, which Aylesford converted. However Maidstone promptly scored their 3rd try of the afternoon on the stroke of half time, once again through forward dominance. This time however it was scrum half Sam McPherson who got the try (eventually once the ref had realised he’d been lying over the try line with the ball for about 30 seconds). Laurenson converted to make the half time score 22-6.

Unfortunately during the first half, Phil Catt had to leave the pitch with a fairly serious shoulder injury – hopefully he’ll recover quickly.

Despite the disruptions caused by the injury to Catt (which saw flanker James Hughes having to play in the backs) the Mustangs continued to dominate proceedings. Swift movement of the ball to the right saw Darren Yates collect a pass 45 metres from the try line with no defenders in sight. Yatesy set off on a mesmerising run, and was probably hoping that someone would save him from having to run more than 10 metres, however it wasn’t to be and he handed off the full back and ran in to score a great try and promptly declared he only had 10 minutes left before he collapsed, having used up 20 minutes worth of energy in 15 seconds.

An equally good try was to follow, which saw the ball moved through approximately 10 pairs of hands until James Hughes showed good strength to finish off the move under the posts. Laurenson converted to make the score 34-6 to the Mustangs.

A couple more Maidstone injuries meant that they lost their cohesion, as people were forced to play well out of position. Aylesford had a 2nd wind and scored a try of their own late in the day. The final score was 34-11 to Maidstone, and they thoroughly deserved their victory.

Every member of the side contributed well, especially those making their Mustangs league debuts (Ben Walker, Andy Megarry,Andy Bull, Andy Cairns and Sam McPherson). Following the disappointing news he’d received earlier on in the afternoon, Mike Laurenson had a great game for the Mustangs, kicking well for goal and from hand.

Man of the Match this week can only go to one person – the running dynamo that is Darren Yates.

Team:-

Mark Thurgood, Ben Walker, Andy Megarry, Nick Coles, Darren Yates, Ian Lee, Luke Day, Nick Sargent, Sam McPherson, Mike Laurenson, Andy Bull, Richard Glover, Phil Catt, Andy Cairns, Ian Howson, Steve “CHIPS” Coates, James Hughes, Cranbrook Paul (sorry Paul, but no one knows your surname yet).

Scorers:-

Tries – Yates x 2, Day, McPherson, Hughes

Conversions – Laurenson x 3

Penalties – Laurenson

Coaches – Gary Whitehead & Shaun Neaves

Physio – Catherine Grundy

Manager – Laurence Waters