Match Report

Maidstone 25 vs. Dorking 25  

by Trevor Langley

League London 2 South

Home at The Mote, Saturday 10 November, 2007, Kick Off – 2.30pm

Maidstone will look on this 25-25 draw, with newly promoted Dorking, as a point lost and will rue the two soft tries they gave away in the first quarter-hour of the game. The home side showed, once again, that the missing ingredient in their play is the ability to concentrate for 80 minutes but they still provided glimpses of sparkling back play that should have killed off the opposition in the first half.

The Maidstone team had only one change from the selection that won last week at Sevenoaks, with Deissner coming in on the wing for Ryan, whose damaged knee had not recovered. A mid-week coaching session from former Springbok and currently Blue Bulls coach, Ricardo Laubscher, added further confidence within the side that they could build on the performance at Sevenoaks. Unfortunately, familiar failings prevented this.

Dorking kicked off with the wind and slope to their advantage but it was Maidstone who quickly established territorial position and, after only three minutes, Mitchell scored a try, half way out, after a good run-back by Arnold of a relieving Dorking kick, to establish a 5-0 lead.

From the restart, Dorking won the loose ball from the ensuing scrum and quickly moved to the Maidstone 22 where, from a further ruck, No 8 Geldenhuys eluded his tackler and touched down under the posts. Lucas added the conversion to put Dorking in front.

Maidstone’s three quarters now began to show their paces and after Deissner was stopped just short of the line on the left, Maidstone won the subsequent Dorking lineout, and Howson, on the right wing, lobbed the ball back inside for Arnold to gather and score. Once again, the conversion failed and these misses ultimately proved costly.

But instead of building on their three-quarter domination, Maidstone allowed Dorking to establish field position by powerful running from their back row, with blindside flanker, Roux, in the van. Within five minutes, a carbon copy of their first try, with centre Failes this time taking the pass from Geldenhuys to touch down near the posts, Dorking re-established their lead.

This was consolidated on the half hour when Maidstone, one man light after Murphy was yellow carded, infringed again in a ruck and Lucas added a penalty to the Dorking total to give them a 17-10 advantage which they held to the half-time whistle. While it was clear that Maidstone enjoyed superiority outside the scrum, Dorking prevented the Maidstone eight from establishing a platform from which to launch consistent attacks and this was compounded by a number of sloppy mistakes at half back.

With the elements and the slope in their favour for the second half, Maidstone began with renewed purpose, kicking to establish good field position as a primary objective. From the first scrum, on the Maidstone 10 metre line, a long miss pass from stand-off Gary Whitehead to Arnold, bursting into the line, saw veteran winger Howson released to score in the corner. 

A further score by Howson seven minutes later, after an outside break by Mitchell, put Maidstone back in the lead. This time Craig Whitehead’s conversion, from the touchline, was good and established a 22-17 lead. But with plenty of time remaining and the Dorking forwards dominating the Maidstone pack, particularly in the lineout, the killer blow eluded the home side.

A penalty to Dorking on the Maidstone 22 in front of the posts, for hands in the ruck, reduced the Maidstone lead with ten minutes on the clock but this was countered by a Maidstone penalty with only added time left.

The final eight minutes of injury time produced its own set of mini dramas. Firstly, replacement Maidstone prop, Farbrace, received his marching orders for a punch, with Dorking then gaining a push-over try from the subsequent penalty to level the scores. Kicker Lucas, with a 100% record to this point, saw his conversion fall just short, to keep the scores level.

But the story was not yet complete as Maidstone launched a final attack and with Dorking’s back line exposed and the prospect of another twist to the game, replacement centre Jamie Smith failed to get his pass away to Howson for the denouement.

Team

Simon Hollister (Martin Farbrace 65 mins); Justin Murphy; Matt Plowman: Andy Bacon (Sam Johnston 71 mins); Steve Matthews: Fin Davies, Hugh Ridgen: Ben Court: Craig Whitehead; Gary Whitehead: Nick Deissner (Jamie Smith 65 mins); Aiden Bayley; Scott Mitchell; Ian Howson: Martin Arnold (capt)

Scorers:

Maidstone 25

Tries: Mitchell, Arnold, Howson (2)

Conversions: Craig Whitehead (1)

Penalty: Craig Whitehead (1)

Dorking 25

Tries: Geldenhuys, Failes, Cummins

Conversions: Lucas (2)

Penalties: Lucas (2)