Tunbridge Wells 2’s vs Mustangs

25th October 2008

The Mustangs continued their recent run of good form and secured their 3rd consecutive victory against a spirited Tunbridge Wells 2nd team.

From the start, the away side looked to move the ball around, Tommy King again being the catalyst from fly half. It was King himself who opened the scoring for the day with a jinking and powerful run from just inside the opposition 22 which saw him dive over to score just to the left of the posts and set up and easy conversion for Laurenson.

Soon after the Mustangs extended their lead. Maidstone were awarded a penalty which King kicked to within 10 metres of the T Wells line. A clean catch from the Mustangs enabled them to set up a driving maul and the pack powered their way to the try line, Sam Rogers emerging from the pile up clutching the ball. A difficult conversion was missed, but the Mustangs were more than worthy of their lead.

In what became an increasingly frustrating game to watch, with the referee continually blowing his whistle, it became hard to get any flow or pattern in the Mustangs play. Despite the stop start nature of the game, the 3rd Mustangs try came from more good moving of the ball, as it was fed down the line to the right, with Mike Laurenson being the recipient of the final pass and he had the easy job of scoring wide on the right.

This was the final score of the half, with Maidstone leading 17-0.

Tunbridge Wells seemed content to use the wind and kick the ball down field and put the Mustangs under pressure in their own 22. However the away team’s defence stood firm and it was the Mustangs who were again the next to score. Tommy King made the initial break before passing inside to Mark Graves who ran 30 metres to score his first try of the season. Laurenson converted to make the score 25 – 0. Tunbridge Wells then set about trying to salvage something from the game and after series of penalties in the Maidstone 22, eventually a lapse in concentration allowed the Wells fly-half to dart around the forward and spot a gap which he coasted through to score.

The Mustangs however weren’t done for the day and with some good aggressive defending producing a turn over, the ball was fed left to Andy Cairns, who raced in from near half way to score the 5th Mustangs try of the afternoon. Laurenson converted. The home side however showed good spirit and were rewarded with the final score of the afternoon, their scrum half darting off the back of a scrum to dive over for a converted try. The final whistle came shortly after, Maidstone winning 32 – 12.

Overall the Mustangs did what they needed to, but should really have put 40 points on the opposition. Some good moves were un-done with some sloppy passing and as mentioned previously the game didn’t flow. It is fair to say that at times the team go carried away with trying to keep the ball alive and try too much running rugby, which meant that at the break down the team sometimes lacked numbers in order to secure good, quick ruck ball, something which had been done to great effect the previous week against Westcombe Park. However it was still a good away win which sees the side move up the Invicta League table.

Man of the Match this week goes to Ian Lee, who was fantastic in the line out and as per usual covered nearly every blade of grass on the pitch.

Div of the Day (or perhaps more appropriately Duffer of the Day) can only really go to one man – Luke “Wacca” Day, who decided to try and tackle a team mates shoulder with his nose, and unsurprisingly came off second best.

Next week the Mustangs are at home for only the 3rd time this season, where they take on unbeaten Elthamians. This will undoubtedly be a very tough encounter, so all potential Mustangs please ensure that you are at training Thursday and ideally Tuesday as well this week so that preparation is good for the weekend.

On other matters, the 2nd best event of 2008 for Maidstone’s 2nd funniest man Sam Johnston takes place on 8th November. All Mustangs are expected to attend and bid farewell to Snakey.

Scorers:-

Tries – King, Rogers, Laurenson, Graves, Cairns

Conversions – Laurenson x 3

Team:-

O’Brien, Pritchard, Thurgood, Lee, Simpson, Rogers, Day, Court, McPherson, King, Cairns, Graves, Hipkins, Sullivan, Laurenson, Flynn, Powis

Coaches – Shaun Neaves, Gary Whitehead

Physio – Catherine Grundy

Manager/Mustangs videographer – Laurence Waters