Westcombe Park III vs Mustangs – 18th October 2008

The Mustangs travelled to Westcombe Park on Saturday to take on one of the new teams in the Invicta League this season. Despite not having played this side before, the Mustangs knew they would be in for a tough encounter, as Westcombe Park have had some good results in the league thus far.

The Mustangs got off to a perfect start, when after 10 minutes Sam Rogers turned over possession in the tackle, the ball was flicked out to Richard Coles who off loaded superbly out of the tackle to Ben McKellar, who from just about half way, went on a mesmerising run, beating one man down the touchline, before heading back infield and finally went back on the outside to round the full back and score a superb try. The conversion narrowly missed.

Not long after and another Mustangs attack was halted just before the line, though Andy Cairns was on hand to pick the ball up from the base of the ruck and dive over in the left corner to score a try which went unconverted.

The Mustangs did have some defending of their own to do during the half, but with the back row of Court, Moon and Rogers combined with the combative Tommy King at fly half, the away side were able to repel anything thrown at them.

20 minutes into the half and the Mustangs scored their 3rd try of the afternoon. Hooker Ben Walker kicked through from just on half way and an excellent chase from the Mustangs meant they were able to turn over possession, and with quick hands moved the ball left. However it was excellent off loading from Hipkins and King that made the try, eventually Mark Graves feeding the ball out to newcomer Joe Wood who ran in unopposed to score on the left. The conversion narrowly missed, Gareth Hill’s attempt hitting the post.

On the half hour mark the Mustangs capped a terrific first half performance with another try. A quick tap penalty saw the ball fed to Ben Walker just on half way and he went through a gap in the unorganised Combe defence, drew the full back and passed inside to Sam Rogers who had the easy job of running in to score from 35 metres and set up a simple conversion for Gareth Hill. This meant that the Mustangs went into half time with a 22-0 lead.

The second half never quite matched the high standards of the first half. One reason was the amount of penalties that the side gave away, which gifted possession and territory to the home team. Some of this was down to Mustang ill-discipline though some can be attributed to the referee’s interpretations of events.

Coombe worked their way upfield and eventually scored wide on the right. The Mustangs however fought back strongly and got back to showing the slick handling and passing that was a feature of the first half. Unfortunately Tommy King had to leave the field for a short while following a cut to his head, however whilst Tommy was getting treatment, Gareth Hill was successful with a penalty kick from in front of the posts, which extended the away teams lead to 25 – 5.

Another impressive run from Ben McKellar was the catalyst for the final try of the afternoon. Ben was finally brought to ground 5 metres short of the line, however Combe were penalised at the breakdown and Ian Lee took a quick tap and muscled his way over the line to score. Gareth Hill converted a difficult kick which made the score 32-5 to Maidstone, which is how the game ended.

So an impressive win for the Mustangs against a more than competent opponent.

Once again the Mustangs performed as a team, with everyone contributing. The pack once again did a lot of hard work. Ross Laing, who was brought in last minute, continues to amaze at the age of 60 something and combined with Mark Thurgood and Ben Walker in the front row, did a great job in the tight. One feature of the Mustangs has been the tackling and work rate of Ian Lee from 2nd row, who covers an amazing amount of ground. The back row of Moon, Rogers and Court were an extremely effective and well balanced unit, making numerous tackles, ball carries and provided the link needed between forwards and backs. The other 2nd row, Richard Coles didn’t last long due to injury, however his replacement and another Mustang debutant Charlie Simpson had an impressive debut. Charlie Flynn came on later in the game and showed that he is a vastly improved player from a couple of seasons ago.

The half backs of Graves and King ran the game. Both tackle like back row forwards and Tommy manages to jink and wriggle his way past defenders, seemingly not knowing where he is going, but nonetheless makes a considerable amount of metres during the game (shame about the hair though).

The centre partnership of Hipkins and Wood was solid in defence and great in attack, Hipkins for a second week running showing some deft handling skills.

Maidstone probably have the baldest wing pairing in Kent rugby, however both are extremely strong runners with ball in hand and deserved their tries. Ben especially is worthy of a mention, seeing as this was only his 2nd game this season. Gareth Hill made the transition to full back this week and acquitted himself well, making tackles when necessary and not being afraid to run the ball back at the opposition.

Man of the Match was a tough choice, however the award goes to Tom Moon for his all round defensive and attacking display from blind side flanker, though Sam Rogers and Ian Lee weren’t too far behind.

Div of the Day was an equally hard choice. It could so easily have gone to Mark Thurgood for wearing some crack-vented shorts all game. Sam Rogers was a definite candidate on two counts, firstly for being the first Mustangs to receive a yellow card, but more for the shameful pair of cowboy boots worn post match.

However the award goes to Richard Coles. “The Sack” as he is more affectionately known, claimed his severe ankle injury happened due to the opposition tripping him up. Unfortunately for “The Sack”, the game was filmed this week on “Donk Cam” and the footage has revealed that Richard tripped himself and fell with all the grace of an elephant, much to the delight of his brother.

Next week the Mustangs are away to Tunbridge Wells to continue their charge up the Invicta league table.

Team:-

Laing, Walker, Thurgood, Lee, Coles, Moon, Rogers, Court, Graves, King, Cairns, Hipkins, Wood, McKellar, Hill, Simpson, Flynn

Coaches – G Whitehead, S Neaves

Physio – Catherine Grundy

Manager – Laurence Waters

Official Videographer – Nick “Donk” Coles