News Roundup : for 25th/26 April 2009

Link to London 2 South

Link to Invicta League Table

Link to Mid Kent League Table

Considering that, to all intents and purposes, the rugby season finished a week ago, it turned out to be a pretty satisfactory week-end of rugby all things considered, although ultimately it was hugely disappointing that our brave boys were unable to wrest the Evergreen Cup from the formidable grasp of Sutton & Epsom, who have now won the trophy for 6 of the last 7 years, particularly as the score was agonisingly poised on 12-8 for around 23 of the last 25 minutes. As disappointments go though, I’m sure it could have been worse……..

More of that later. Congratulations first of all to 5th Team Skipper Steve Quinn and to former 5th Team skipper Trevor Bradley, on organising such a good day at the club on Saturday, which raised something in the region of £300 (Stop press: nearer £600 in the end :-) )for the local Age Concern Mini-Bus appeal. Two teams were raised, comprised mainly of current or former 5th team players and divided roughly along the lines of age, with 30 something being the dividing line between the two sides (although at least one of the younger-looking oldsters was included amongst the ranks of the youngsters – mainly because the oldsters didn’t want him). At first sight, it appeared that the massed ranks of the old brigade would have far too much fire-power for the rather light-weight younger team, particularly when coupled with the quick-silver qualities of players like Paul Murphy and Paul Edwards. However, the pace and adventure of youth, coupled with the uncompromising commitment and fire-power of Mike Gillies at scrum-half and Richard Nunn at centre, proved to be too much for the older contingent and they succumbed to a succession of tries in fairly short-order, George Coomber (Mustangs) and James Sullivan (1st Team) doing lots of the damage whilst 4th team player of the year Alan McCabe did most of the rest. Surely no one could have begrudged prop Ollie Coomber his 1st try of the season either. (Leaving it rather late there Ollie). Which isn’t to say that it felt very one-sided because some good tries were scored by the losing side as well, with Stuart Carroll getting a couple (I think) in his first rugby for 3 years and Mick Duggan scoring with the last play of the game (and only a split-second after the ball had been safely touched down by Kenton Oxley but unfortunately out of the view of unsighted referee Alan Hayward, who had an otherwise unblemished match).

What was particularly pleasing was to see some old Maidstonians back on the field of play. The aforementioned Stuart Carroll and Mick Duggan, not to mention iconic former 5th team skipper Simon McLeod, plus Karim and Hugo Craven to mention but a few, plus some others who’s names escape me. It was good of Mick Duggan to bring back a set of 4th team shirts that have been sitting in his garage for around 4 years, which he distributed for use as training shirts – complete with holes where the mice have been nesting in them.

On then to Sunday and the 2nd successive Evergreen Cup Final between Maidstone and Resident Finalists, Sutton & Epsom. The omens were not good when Steve Matthews was finally ruled out of the side after his superb line-out presence the week before, whilst losing players of the calibre of Dominic Baxter and Peter Mattinson from the previous week would be a blow to any team with aspirations to win a cup final – and oh, of course Tuggy (I suppose), who was up to his armpits in fish, somewhere in France.

The game began in ferocious fashion (anyone who thinks that Vets rugby is a softer version of the real thing should come and watch one of these encounters) with S&E virtually camped in the Maidstone 22 for the first 15 minutes, until overwhelming pressure finally resulted in a converted try for the cup-holders. During this period, Dominic’s neck injury from the previous week forced him off the field and surprisingly, Skipper Ross Laing had to come off the field for severe stomach pains in what was probably his last ever match at the quite respectable age of 62. Maidstone struck back fairly shortly afterwards with a try from none other than South African try-machine Jacques Vrey, (who’s surname drives my spell-checker into a frenzy every week) who galloped over in acres of space but in the excitement of crossing the line, grounded the ball too far from the posts for a comfortable kick. Sadly the try went unconverted, which left the pressure on Maidstone to catch up in what was never going to be a high scoring game. A further S&E onslaught ensued but a fantastic defensive scrum 10 metres out saw Maidstone shove the S&E pack back 5 metres to take the ball against the head, last year’s first-team props Matt Plowman and Rob Jeffrey proving their worth in the tight as well as the loose, alongside an inspired John Whitehead at Hooker.

Half-time brought the prospect that Maidstone would now have the more favourable conditions, with bright sunshine at their backs and a very slight breeze in their favour. But S&E came out of the blocks at speed and following a crucial fumbled defensive line-out from Maidstone, they were able to score an unconverted try in the corner. Soon after, the referee finally lost patience with repeated pulling-down at the line-out and sin-binned the S&E lock, but not before he had inflicted a heavy fall on Paul Massey at the back of the line. The resultant penalty, kicked from the howitzer boot of Darren Banfield, brought the prospect of victory firmly back into Maidstone’s sights but time and again the line-out failed to function in crucial field positions when another Maidstone score appeared to be a realistic prospect. As the minutes ticked away with S&E in the driving seat, one could still imagine a flash of brilliance from Hogy or Dave Charlton snatching victory. In fact Dave Charlton twice came within a fingertip of snatching loose passes to run on and score but on the second occasion, the ball fell to the opposition centre which resulted in a break away try to seal a well deserved Sutton and Epsom victory in the dying minutes, albeit with a perhaps flatteringly emphatic score-line. If this is to be the final again next year, I think it would be better if we could play just Sutton or Epsom, because playing both of them at once is clearly somewhat unfair on all the other teams in the competition. Well done to Maidstone’s Evergreen team once again though to reach the final out of 32 clubs, and to the supporters who were able to take advantage of Croydon’s excellent hospitality and pleasant surroundings to enjoy an exciting afternoon’s rugby in the sun.

Next Week

There shouldn’t really be a next week, as the season progresses into various 7s tournaments, but on Wednesday 29th, Sam Bailey is bringing the First Team up from Christ-Church college in Canterbury to play a fixture against a young Maidstone XV. KO is scheduled for 6pm with a BBQ to follow and a few beers. Supporters are very welcome.

Lastly

Keep an eye on the web-site for details of summer activities, including touch rugby and pre-season training, as well as the Club Ball in June plus also the various working parties that are planned to help improve our facilities. It might be the closed season but much of the hard work that is needed in order to run a successful club, continues unabated.

RE (aka Woogie – apparently) (thanks Neavesy)(Has anyone got a copy of "There's Something About Mary" they could lend me?)

PS It would be a great shame to finish without offering congratulations to Wimbledon on a fine victory in their crucial match at the weekend, which brought them a well deserved promotion and delighted neutrals everywhere, as they’re just the kind of club that deserve to make progress to the next level up. We all enjoyed the result enormously, whilst saluting the amateur ethos and we now look forward to seeing the Dons plying their trade in the Blue Square Premier League next season. (One just feels a bit sorry for the teams that so narrowly missed out on promotion again - but after a couple of pints the feeling soon goes away).

Thanks for that snippet, which was sent in by a Les Ford ?? (no, I haven't heard of him/her either) who admits to knowing very little about rugby but has signed up as our new soccer correspondent. Hope to hear more from Les next season in his/her rivetting new articles provisionally entitled "Jammy Gits:How to finish bottom of London Two and still get promoted to London One", and "Principle's of Hydrodynamics:Why our raft is faster than yours". Can't wait.

Jacques Vrey en-route to his umpteenth try of the season, (in case he forgets to mention it).

Photo courtesy of RN Hayton Action Pics – available for Weddings, Christenings and Bar Mitzvahs by special arrangement.

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Results for 18/19th April

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Dover	A	Lost 45-3	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Westcombe Pk III	H	Lost 6-44	Invicta League
3rd	Edenbridge	H	Won 69-19	Mid Kent A
4th	East Peckham	A	Lost 51-14	Mid Kent B
5th	Tour to Haddington - East Lothian	A	Who Knows?	Tour
Vets	Tour to Pembroke	A	Who cares?	Tour
Evergreen	Warlingham Vets	A	Won 0-41	Evergreen Cup Semi

Well, that's (nearly) all folks as the curtain comes down on another season and the thud of bone on flesh gives way to the thwack of willow on leather at the lovely Mote ground.

Whilst the record books will show that the 1st Team had one of their poorest seasons on record, the record books will not show how hard the players and coaches worked or how high their morale,commitment and enthusiasm remained in the most challenging circumstances. Head coach Tim McBennet says that in his 11 years at the club, he has never worked with a more dedicated bunch of guys and the coaching and management structure has never been better. Maybe one could say that in the quirk of fate that eliminated any relegation this season, the players got the stroke of luck that their efforts deserved. Next year, they will be older, wiser and ready to hit the ground running. Bring it on!!

A depleted Mustangs side faced a tough match against Westcombe Pk III (on a day when 'Park 2nds had no fixture), and were out-played quite comprehensively, although there were some encouraging performances, especially from some of the U17s called into the team.

Against all expectations and to their credit, Edenbridge sent a team to face our 3rds for what was only ever likely to be the rubber-stamping of the League Title. However, there were only 12 of them and they had no front-row, so a 12 a side beer-match followed, highlights of which were 2 more tries for the ever hungry Jacques Vrey and a try, conversion and dropped goal (conversion) from none other than the surprisingly versatile veteran 2nd-row,Simon Wright.

The 4ths hoped to end their year by beating the only side in the League that they hadnt yet beaten this season, but despite scoring the 1st try (Louis Casimir-Cohen) and the last try (Alan McCabe) they managed to let in 51 unanswered point in between, weak tackling being the main reason against some very quick and slick East Peckham runners. Congratulations to East Peckham on winning the Mid Kent B title whilst for the 4ths, they can look forward to an even better season next year under a young and dynamic (comparatively) new skipper Mark Staples.

I've heard that our Vets didnt win either of their tour matches in Wales or Bristol (not exactly soft places to find touring opposition) but with only 17 players and an average playing age of 51.5, to play and lose 2 games in 2 days was not bad going, especially as there would almost certainly have been a certain amount of drinking involved in the 3 day trip.

Talking of drinking, saturday night surpassed all expectations as the bar was drunk all but dry when it finally closed at 4:30 in the morning and the party moved on to Lashings. Huge thanks are owed to Gary Griffiths and his fabulously talented and versatile band Beats Workin' for donating their time and effort to the cause. They certainly got an eyeful for their trouble although unfortunately the only gorgeous naked pair on display from amongst some much more desirable contenders were the two Sams, Rogers and McPherson. Huge thanks also to Wendy, who donated the pork roast and above all to Trevor and Tracey and their fabulous bar-crew, who were back in the morning in time to open up for the youth section, as well as turning up at Warlingham to support the Evergreen Team later in the day. You really are a priceless assett to this club. (One conundrum arises out of the evenings events: when it comes to the the disabled wrestling paralympics, is it better to have your money on the one-legged contestant or on the one-armed combatant: only Tracey knows the answer and she's not telling)

Sunday brought an enthralling contest as the Evergreen Team, many of whom had played the previous day, took on Warlingham at their fabulous ground (5 beautiful pitches !! eat your heart out).It was touch and go whether skipper Ross Laing would even be able to take the field as his playing kit went missing the previous day in suspicious circumstances (which may have involved a disaffected drop-goal specialist). Th joke may have back-fired as, having hurriedly invested in a new pair of boots, the aforementioned Ross will wish to get a proper return on his investment and may have to reconsider his rumoured retirement at the end of the season. Talking of Ross, its a shame no-one had a vidoe camera running as You Tube could have had the benefit of seeing him make 10 metres (most of them lateral) with ball in hand, the exertion of which was so great, coupled with the resultant crunching tackle that he had to come off immediately afterwards - which might explain why he's never done it before. Still, not bad for a 60 something. Elsewhere on the pitch, Dave Charlton got 3 tries, Eugene Moore got 2 and avoided a third by running 50 metres whilst looking behind him - with the inevitable consequence that he got caught inches from the try-line, and John Hogarth got the sixth, whilst Tom Challis was probably man of the match for his ball-winning on the ground (some of it legal). Speculation is now rife as to whether Simon Wright can be prevailed upon to deploy his oft-rumoured helicopter to collect Tuggy from his fishing trip in France and Steve Matthews from his weekend in Cornwall for the final at Croydon RFC next week (3pm KO). Otherwise, the hunt for a plausible 2nd-row partner for Fishy has been so intense that the name of Lurch has even been mentioned, although he's useless at drop-kicking. Meanwhile, Sutton and Epsom are in another final to add to their amazing Evergreen acheivements. Miss this one at your peril.

5th Team Charity Game Sat 25th April

Thanks to the co-operation of the Mote Cricket Club, there will be a last match at the club next saturday, organised by the 5th team, which will be in aid of Age Concern and quite fittingly will probably divide between over 35s and Under 35s. Anyone who wants to play or attend the event is welcome, it is £5 to play or £2.50 for 19's and Under and £2.50 for full time students.

It would be good to see some U18's turning out and likewise with O35's who may be interested in returning to rugby or playing for the 1st time.

Due to the prospect of new players, hard ground and heat they'll be playing 4 quarters at 20 minutes each, every player who turns up will hopefully get half a game or a full quarter at least. There will be a BBQ and will also be a small raffle taking place. Contact Steve Quin for full details [email protected]

All Club Members and new players welcome.

Fixtures for 25th/26th April

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st		A
2nd (Mustangs)		H
3rd		H
4th		A
5th	o35s vs u35s	A	saturday	Charity game
Vets		A
Evergreen	Sutton & Epsom	A	sunday	Evergreen Cup Final

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Results for 11th April

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st				London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Aylesford II	H	Won 20-10	Invicta League
3rd				Mid Kent A
4th				Mid Kent B
5th
Vets

Although we don't normally play fixtures on Easter Saturday, this postponed fixture was rather welcome as it gave an appreciative crowd the chance to enjoy the local derby atmosphere and to see a couple of our students in action, namely Ben Williams who now plays back-row instead of prop, and Leo Fedorcio who guested at fly-half instead of his more normal position of full-back. As well as that, there was the chance to see a couple of our U17s, Josh McKenzie and John Broadley, playing senior rugby at this level. It was an absorbing game to watch and whilst there were early indications that Aylesford's three-quarters might have too much pace for us, the Maidstone pack proved too strong to allow them the sort of ball they needed to shine. It was nice to see a couple of familiar faces in Dan Cummings and Lee Woodger back at the club - even if it was in the rather garish orange change-strip of Aylesford which does very little to flatter the fuller figure (and I'm not talking about Lee Woodger here). After last week, when our 3rds finally lost a League match to Aylesford III, The Mustangs did well to redress the balance and restore the local bragging rights to Maidstone. Try scorers for Maidstone were Rob Jeffrey, who ploughed through a maul on the line to touch down, Duncan McClintock and Andy Cairns (chemo to his closest friends) whilst Leo Fedorcio kicked the rest of the points. This could well be the last Mustangs clash with Aylesford II for a while, as it appears that the Invicta League is likely to split into two and The Mustangs should be playing rugby in a higher division than the teams which lie at the bottom end of the current Invicta Table.

Club Dinner

It was great to see so many players at the dinner on thursday, and pleasing to hear that the event carried on until around 6am at Lashings for the foolhardy youngsters who stayed up that late (eg Bob Hayton). Thanks to Jon Sargent,Andy Golding,Bob Hayton and Martin Arnold for their contributions to the success of the evening. Winners of this year's awards were as follows:

The Player's Player of the Year awards for each XV:

1st XV - Steve Matthews,

Mustangs XV - Mike Laurenson,

3rd XV - Pete Mattinson,

4th XV - Alan McCabe,

5th XV - Paul Edwards,

Veterans XV - Steve Vincent

The key awards were as follows:

Bernard Hinks Award (1st XV) - Gareth Hill

Bernard Hinks Award - (Other XVs) - Martin Maytum

Bernard Hinks Award (Non Playing Contribution) - Bob Hayton

David Arnold Young Player Award - Sam Rogers

Millenium Trophy (Team of the Year) - 3rd XV

In addition to the awards for the playing aspects of the club, the award of four club Vice Presidencies were made to;

John Whitehead,

Trevor Marvin,

Dominic Baxter,

Martin Arnold.

U18s romp home in Belgium.

Maidstone U18s won the first game of their Belgian Tour 75-0 vs Black Star Charleroi. Tries for Dolan,Rackham,Finch,Rookledge,Francis,Mallett,Bidewell,Dance and 2 for Shiraby. They then beat RC Peruwelz 55-0 with tries for Rackham,Finch,Challis,Mallett,Shiraby,Bidewell and 2 for Andrews. Well done guys !!

Next Week

The club-house will be a little emptier than usual as the Vets XV and the 5ths will be away on their respective tours. On saturday, the 3rd Team will be hoping to see off bottom-placed Edenbridge in order to wrap up the Mid Kent A title. On saturday evening, there is an end of season party at the club prior to the hand-over to cricket, which takes place next week. The excellent band, Beats Workin', who are connected with our U12 section, will be kicking off around 8pm and there will also be one of Wendy's legendary pork-roasts, so come along and help us drink the bar dry before we hand it back to the cricket club. www.beatsworkin.co.uk The band have a vast repertoire, so bring your dancing shoes and someone to dance with.

If the third team are in the happy position of celebrating the winning of their League, I hope that their celebrations will be muted as most of them will be in action on sunday at Warlingham to contest the semi-final of this year's Evergreen Cup. Good luck to the old fellas: it should be a cracking cup-tie so try and get along to Warlingham for a 2:30 KO to cheer the team to the final, which would be on sunday 26th at Croydon RFC.

Fixtures for 18/19th April

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Dover	A		London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Westcombe Pk III	H		Invicta League
3rd	Edenbridge	H		Mid Kent A
4th	East Peckham	A		Mid Kent B
5th	Tour to Haddington - East Lothian	A		Tour
Vets	Tour to Pembroke	A		Tour
Evergreen	Warlingham Vets	A	sunday	Evergreen Cup Semi

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Fixtures for 11th April

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st			London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Aylesford II	H	Invicta League
3rd			Mid Kent A
4th			Mid Kent B
5th
Vets

Congratulations to saturday's visitors Basingstoke, on securing promotion to London Division One, although in truth it was all but mathematically certain that they would be promoted before saturday's fixture. The Match report shows that once again, our boys made their presence felt against the League Leaders but after suffering 2 injuries, were eventually over-whelmed by an unstoppable tide of pace and power.

The Mustangs secured a 19-0 home win against Thanet II, with tries from Nick Sargent, Nick East and George Coomber. 2 seasons ago, this would have been a fixture to determine the Invicta League Title and runners-up position, with Thanet going on to secure the title that season. Although The Mustangs have slipped off the pace in the title chase this season, they remain in much better shape than Thanet II who are rooted firmly at the bottom of the table, so soon after topping it. Its a funny old world. Many thanks to Bob Judd who came in to referee this game as a late replacement, after the society referee dropped out.

A win for the 3rds against 2nd placed Aylesford III would have sealed another Mid Kent A League title for Maidstone but in the event, the Dream Team met their match and conceded victory to Aylesford III for the first time ever in this derby fixture. One gathers that Aylesford were quite pleased to win this one - and rightly so - but the 2 points that Maidstone secured from this match means that Massey's men are still very much in pole position as the last League game approaches on April 18th.

The 4th team were pleased to meet Aylesford IV on a day when their 1sts, 2nds and 3rds were all fully occupied elsewhere, and the result was an emphatic reversal of the defeat suffered in the away leg of this fixture earlier in the season (Although it would of course have been nice to see Dan Cummings turn-up again). The side was captained by Dave Jackson, who selflessly conceded his place on the field to one of the many subs we had available - and that's after coming all the way down from Lichfield to play. Tim Vetchen and Josh McKenzie from the U17s had big games, with Josh scoring 2 tries and there was also a try for debutant Kerry, who looked like he's played a bit of good rugby in his time. STOP PRESS: It was a shame to hear that Ray Batstone, one of the original Linton Crew and well known to us through his son's membership of last year's Maidstone U18 side, suffered a double fracture of his jaw in this match and is awaiting an op. We wish him a speedy recovery, in time for next year's fixture.

The 5ths enjoyed an excellent game down at Aylesford where, despite taking their own ref with them (Julian Calverley) they had no answer to the hard running of the Aylesford centres, one of whom was, quite appropriately, Gareth Bramwell, playing in his father's memorial match.

The Vets travelled away to Cranbrook for what was skipper Glyn Richards' last match in charge (barring tour) after 8 glorious years at the helm of the unique ship that is Maidstone Vets. Whilst it was a shame to lose in this last fixture, it was a great place to do it, as Cranbrook have been the most implacable but the friendliest of foes during Glyn's tenure and although there have been periods of memorable victories, its probably fair to say that the balance of power has shifted somewhat towards Cranbrook more recently. There will be other tributes payed to Glyn's contribution and acheivements no doubt and his natural modesty would not entertain much fuss to be made but, having led his troops through battle after battle, where the word "friendly" is surely one of the great misnomers, he has always been in the thick of the action whether its playing, training, touring, drinking, socialising or just clowning around. A natural leader and a master of the 'bon mot', he has displayed unerring judgement whenever needed and an ability to say the right things at the right time, whether in victory or defeat, mourning or celebration and whilst always serious about his rugby, he could never have been accused of taking it seriously. Apart from the fact that he is Welsh, not a bad bloke really all in all and surely now looking to hang on to the No 8 shirt as a player rather than as the person who picks the team !! Sincere thanks to Glyn for all his hard work and dedication and good luck to Steve Vincent, who brings a fine playing and captaincy pedigree to the job when he takes over next season. Vets Tour Rules 2009

Next Week

Being Easter saturday and a day on which we don't normally play fixtures, there is just one postponed Invicta League Match to be played, so come along and support the Mustangs if you are allowed out for a couple of hours and have recovered from the Club Dinner on thursday..

Results for 28th March

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Basingstoke	H	Lost 8-61	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Thanet II	H	Won 19-0	Invicta League
3rd	Aylesford III	A	Lost 10-6	Mid Kent A
4th	Aylesford IV	H	Won 48-12	Mid Kent B
5th	Aylesford V	A	Lost 38-12	Mid Kent C
Vets	Cranbrook Vets	A	Lost 34-24	Friendly

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Results for 28th March

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Dorking	A	Lost 71-10	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Canterbury III	A	Lost 24-11	Invicta League
3rd	Gillingham Anchs II played Lordswood 2nd/1st XV	A	Won w/o Won 25-24	Mid Kent A
4th	Gillinghm Anchs III	H	Won 25-12	Mid Kent B
5th	Leigh	H	Lost 5-17	Mid Kent C
Vets	Deal Betts Vets	H	cried off	Friendly

Another tough day at the office for the 1st Team, with a perhaps predictable result given the availability of our top-players this week, but still a brave performance - and certainly better than the early season performance against the same opposition.

The Mustangs suffered from providing players to the 1st team, but were lucky to be able to call upon players as good as Simon Wright to step up and do a job for them. Whilst no reports about the match have come my way, one excellent piece of news was the return of John O'Brien, playing his first rugby since limping off from a 1st team match around 10 weeks ago. Players of his stature aren't easily replaced.

Friday brought a call from Anchorians to say that they couldnt raise a good enough team to put out against Massey's all conquering mob, so instead the Third Team went up the hill to play the best team that Lordswood could muster on the day. All one can say is Great match,Great result, Great match Report!! Next week's match against Aylesford III will determine the destination of this year's Mid Kent A title, so it will be interesting to see what they can throw at us. One can be sure it will be a battle royal.

Playing on the 1st team pitch at home, a thrown-together 4ths lived up to their Top of The Bill status, by despatching a chunky looking Anchs III with some ease. Given that the normal front-row were all AWOL, a call to Shaun the Shep yielded a more than adequate prop and hooker to do the necessary at the front of the scrum. Sincere thanks to Shaun and Paul, (neither of whom looks their age of 48,one looking 10 years younger and the other 10 years older), who will go anywhere for a game of rugby when Sheppey thirds dont have a game. Five tries were scored by Maidstone, all in the first half, one each for Dave Francis (playing superbly at fly-half after stepping up from the Vets),Craig Bowden,Rob Purfit and 2 for the all-action Aaron Bishop. It was also good to welcome former stalwart, Louis Casimir-Cohen back into the team on a break from University, despite the appalling purple football shorts!!

The 5ths were in with a hope of being numerically superior to Leigh when Leigh showed up with only 13 players. However, the numbers were evened up by the addition of Paul Ehrhart and Glyn Richards, who certainly weren't going to have a first ever loss to Maidstone 5ths recorded on their CVs. Not so lucky for Vet's 2nd row Tony O'Mahoney, who volunteered for service in the 5th's 2nd row and wound up on the losing side. However, a good time was had by all and at least some of our Vets got a run out after DB Lions cried off on saturday morning, owing to an overnight bereavement. Next week, the 5ths play Aylesford V and Aylesford have asked that it be played for the annual Carl Bramwell Memorial Trophy, Carl having played for both of our clubs during his playing career.

Club Dinner

Closing date for booking a place and payment for the event on the 9th April at The Village Hotel, is this coming saturday, so make sure you come equipped to pay at the bar.

Danny Caprice

Congratulations to Danny, who scored a hat-trick of tries on his England 7s Debut. Further details in the news section.

Footnote

Spare a thought for the hooker who couldnt play this week as he had tickets for London Irish. Got all the way to The Madjeski Stadium before discovering that the match is next week-end !!

Fixtures for 28th March

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Basingstoke	H	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Thanet II	H	Invicta League
3rd	Aylesford III	A	Mid Kent A
4th	Aylesford IV	H	Mid Kent B
5th	Aylesford V	A	Mid Kent C
Vets	Cranbrook Vets	A	Friendly

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Results for 21st March

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Old Colfeians	H	Lost 7-26	Kent Cup
2nd (Mustangs)	Gravesend II	H	Lost 5-38	Invicta League
3rd	Dover III	H	Won 28-14	Friendly
4th	New Ash Green	H	Lost 12-34	Mid Kent B
5th	Weavering	H	Lost 0-40	Friendly
Vets	Folkestone Fossils	A	Won 17-21	Friendly

It was rather nerve racking as saturday morning dawned, to know that we had somehow managed to end up with 5 of our 6 fixtures at home, only 4 referees and changing facilities for only 3 matches. However, I think we just about got away with it !! Dover III changed in the tabernacle (somehow without falling through the floor). The 5ths + Weavering changed at the leisure centre. The Thirds changed on the balcony. Most remarkably, John Milledge from the Kent Society phoned on saturday morning on the off-chance of getting a game to referee - at which point a silent prayer of thanks would have been completely justified.

Maybe a silent prayer or two would have also produced better results on the day. Whilst any casual observer might have thought that Maidstone's prayers were being answered in their cup-match against Colfeians on the 1st Team pitch, they would have been fooled by the fact that Colfeians had forgotten to bring their shirts and had to borrow the Red, Black and White of Maidstone whilst the home side wore their own change-strip. Largely owing to numerous enforced changes, Maidstone were unable to repeat their recent rare League success against Colfes in this Kent Cup Quarter Final.

There was a knock-on effect on the fortunes of The Mustangs, as they lost to Gravesend II with a side that had been patched up (or some would say enhanced) with the addition of 3 or 4 third team regulars. Whilst the forwards were largely able to compete, the back-line proved to be somewhat porous against the pace and power of the Gravesend three-quarters but overall the team did well to limit the damage to under 40 points, after the mauling inflicted earlier in the season.It was good to see Mark Thurgood bull-doze over for the only home try from what must have been all of 3 yards.

The Thirds had no League fixture this week, so entertained a very spirited and free-running young Dover team on the Somme instead. To some extent, it was a game of men against boys but it was no place for the faint-hearted. Dominic Baxter showed that he had lost none of his appetite for the crunching tackle whilst away ski-ing and also showed that tries can be scored without the need for the searing pace of youth, scoring two to set up a Maidstone victory whilst Sean Charlton and inevitably, Jacques Vrey got the others. The game was halted with 15 minutes to go, owing to a worrying neck injury to a young Dover prop, who fortunately made a full recovery in time to sink a few pints with his team mates later in the day.

A very unfamiliar looking New Ash Green II turned up to play the 4th team at home and suspicions mounted as they proceeded to run in tries at a rate that belied their relatively low league position. A quick call to Anchorians confirmed that New Ash Green 1st team had asked to postpone their Kent Vase tie scheduled for that day, on the grounds that they were unable to raise a team, so lets just say that the team that played our 4ths was much stronger than it would have been had they also been honouring their Cup fixture. Despite the score, it was a heroic performance from the 4th team, with many of them having their best game of the season,eg Toby Young,Chris Finch,Chris O'Callaghan, with Aaron Bishop excelling once again at open-side flanker and getting a try, Alan McCabe scoring the other. John Burke had a fine game at hooker and then played half a match for the 3rds, where his ball-carrying made an immediate impression. Thats another player who we might not see in a 4th team shirt again!!

The 5ths organized themselves a run-out against a 10 man Weavering squad, gave them 5 players to even up the numbers and then lost 40-0. Generous to a fault or what ?? Once those Weavering backs get hold of the ball in space though, there is usually only one outcome.

The Vets were the only team that played away and they returned from their trip to Folkestone battered and bruised, but with a very satisfying win under their belts, courtesy of 2 tries for Dave Francis, 1 from Richard Weston and the extras from Keith Coomber. I wish I had got a photo of skipper Glyn Richards, Paul Ehrhart and Dave Hughes wedged tightly into the the Club-house 2 seater sofa, pints in hand, as they watched the rugby on the telly. Cosy or what ? Congrats to Ireland by the way, on their fine Grand-slam, just in case there were any of you who didnt get a jubilant text from our token Irish-man, Ground Chairman Brian McKeon.

Next Week

It looks as though we could be stretched to the limit on playing numbers next week, so please try to be available and not cry-off, if at all possible.

EVERGREEN CUP

The semi-final against Warlingham has been confirmed for sunday 19th April, 2:30 Kick off away. I hope we will have plenty of supporters there to cheer the boys to victory.

Fixtures for 28th March

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Dorking	A	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Canterbury III	A	Invicta League
3rd	Gillingham Anchs II	A	Mid Kent A
4th	Gillinghm Anchs III	H	Mid Kent B
5th	Leigh	H	Mid Kent C
Vets	Deal Betts Vets	H	Friendly

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Results for 14th March

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Chobham	H	Lost 15-31	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Dover II	A	Lost 57-0	Invicta League
3rd	Sevenoaks III	H	Won 56-15	Mid Kent A
4th	Weavering	H	Lost 32-8	Mid Kent B
5th	Sevenoaks IV	A	Lost 34-0	Mid Kent C
Vets	Rye Goons Cry off	H	No Game	Friendly

Not a great week for results - unless you count Manchester United 1-Liverpool 4 and England 34-France 10. However, on a weekend when Lordswood were unfortunately forced to withdraw from the League, we need to count our blessings.

The 1st Team result was disappointing, despite the huge improvement over early season form, as it did not represent progress on the recent road to recovery. Well done to Ben Court for his 2 tries though.

The Mustangs appear to have run into a rampant Dover II, although no details have yet come my way other than the score. The ship will need to be steadied next week in time for the visit of Gravesend II if another rout is to be avoided.

At home, The Thirds gained the only win of the day as they took apart a brave but under-strength Sevenoaks III with an astonishing 5 tries for Peter Mattinson and a 17th try of the season for Jacques Vrey.

The 4ths were within 4 points of Weavering with 20 minutes to go, but then Weavering's lightning quick backs ran riot to ruin the score-line. John Broadley from the U17s made an impressive senior debut at scrum-half and it was good to welcome the return of Andy West to Maidstone, when he was most needed to take on the powerful Weavering pack.. You cant have too many 18 stone props in a club !!

The 5ths went to Sevenoaks with a makeshift side but enjoyed an exciting game against 7Oaks IV, who are one of the sides who still play for the love of the game rather than the result. Steve Quinn, our enthusiastic new 5th team captain has just the kind of optimistic outlook needed to lead a team at this level. Having pulled in replacements from all quarters owing to late drop-outs he later wrote of the 34-0 loss: " If it weren't for the Vets that turned up, we'd have been slaughtered" !! Well done to Chris Wilkinson for a good debut - playing his first rugby since school and looking like he will be a valuable addition.

Rye Goons cried off the Vets game on friday morning and very unusually, nothing at all turned up on the fixture exchange, so the Vets were left without a game. The sensible choice would have been for them to sit in the bar and watch the Rugby on telly but instead they turned up, got changed and went out to knock lumps out of each-other playing 7s for an hour, before sitting in the bar and watching the rugby. You'ld have thought they were old enough to know better!!

Tuesday Night Training This Week There is a positional skills specialist training session for all levels within the club + the U16s,17s and 18s, utilising the senior and youth coaches, starting at 7:30. Tracey has laid on an Irish Stew for afterwards to celebrate Paddy's Day and there's penty of the black stuff to drink, so try to come along and benefit from this session.

Kent Cup On saturday we welcome Colfeians for the Kent Cup quarter finals. Kick Off is at 1:30 to allow for the England Rugby afterwards, so it should be a good day at the club. If thats not enough excitement for you in one day, you can finish the day with live music at the White-Horse on London Rd (a spit away from the Mughal Dynasty) starting at 8:30pm www.meninshortz.co.uk It would be great to see you there.

Fixtures for 21st March

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Old Colfeians	H	Kent Cup
2nd (Mustangs)	Gravesend II	H	Invicta League
3rd	Hastings & Bexhill II	A	Friendly
4th	New Ash Green	H	Mid Kent B
5th	TBA		Friendly
Vets	Folkestone Fossils	A	Friendly

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Results for 7th/8th March

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Thanet	A	Lost 33-21	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Old Dunstonians II	H	Won 36-0	Invicta League
3rd	Lordswood II	A	Won 7-47	Mid Kent A
4th	Lordswood III	H	Won 38-10	Mid Kent B
5th	Ashford IV	A	Won 24-33	Friendly
Vets	Gravesend Moles	H	Won 17-12	Friendly
Evergreens	Charlton Park Vets	H	Won 19-0	Evergreen Cup qrtrs

6 wins out of 7 would normally be cause for celebration, except that the one that got away was the most important and with no dis-respect to Thanet, was probably the most winnable of the 5 remaining 1st team fixtures. However, it seems to have been a pulsating and entertaining game for all that, with many good performances to savour but a regrettable late injury to Craig Whitehead overshadows much of the positive stuff.

At home, the Mustangs were much too good for a beleagured Old Dunstonians II, who nevertheless fronted up and turned in a gritty performance that belied their lowly league position. John MacIntyre made his Mustangs debut at the age of 46, which is not bad for a guy who only started playing rugby 5 or 6 years ago. However, he still had plenty of puff left over for the Evergreen Cup on Sunday.

Another former Weavering player took the plaudits for the 3rd team, as Darren Banfield earned the Man of the Match award against Lordswood II in a typically bad-tempered affair. It was by all accounts a below par performance from the League leaders - ahead of today's Evergreen Cup match, but still good enough to put Lordswood II to the sword, Eugene Moore claiming a hat-trick of tries.

In a much better tempered affair against a very likeable Lordwood III mob, there was another hat-trick of tries, this time from Alan McCabe who showed blistering pace whenever he saw a gap and finished with 23 points. Notwithstanding Alan's hat-trick, Man of the Match might have been another South African, U18 debutant Luke Olivier, if he hadn't pulled a ham-string before half-time. In the event, the accolade went to Aaron Bishop who put in an outstanding display at open-side flanker in his first game of the season. The two best quotes of the day however, came from Lordswood. When someone remarked how quick their new winger was, the response came back that "he's not quick, he's terrified". Then when Mayhem came on as a 2nd-row replacement to join a line-out and make the numbers back up to 15 for Maidstone, a Lordswood player said, "Blimey, if they can get him off the ground, we're going home !!" Needless to say we couldn't, so they didn't. Happy days.

The 5ths looked well pleased with themselves when they eventually got back from Ashford, having reversed the heavy defeat of earlier in the season. There were tries from Richard Nunn,Paul Kelly, Mike Gillies,Colin Frost and Gary Hickey, with some powerful tackling coming in from Simon Fleming who has obviously benefited from the amount of training that he's been doing since the start of the season. Sadly, it was the last game at Maidstone for Julian the Frenchman, who at around 5ft tall, is amazingly quick and powerful and who would have stayed in the Mustangs if his command of English had been better. To prove the point, after playing him at No 9 since his arrival, it was only last week that we discovered that he likes to play anywhere in the backs except scrum-half. We wish him well for his return to Montpellier.

The Vets got back to winning ways by edging a win over regular visitors, Gravesend Moles. There were tries for Richard Weston, Keith Newman and John Whitehead, who was just limbering up ahead of his 1st Evergreen Cup match the following day.

Talking of which, a large crowd including plenty of the U9s and U12s, cheered Maidstone to a convincing win in the Evergreen Cup quarter final today, over a barrel-shaped Charlton Park team (chests, not stomachs) that could have inflicted severe damage if they had been able to get their hands on the ball more often. A lack of any genuine 2nd row forwards was probably Park's undoing but Maidstone played well and looked well worth their win. Tries from Jacques Vrey, Dave Charlton and Gus Parker wrapped things up, whilst the irrepressible Dave Tugwell seemed to be the outstanding player. On then to the Semi-finals again, where Maidstone will meet either Sevenoaks Acorns or Westcombe Park Vets, who Maidstone beat in the first round last year. STOP PRESS: 'Combe beat Oaks yesterday but its also possible that we meet one of the Western Division Clubs in the semis. Watch this space.

Club Dinner and Awards Night.

The Club Dinner + Awards will be taking place at the Village Hotel on Thursday 9th April.

There will be posters around the club house from this weekend + the booking forms will be behind the bar with Tracy + the girls, so there's no chance of forgetting about it.

As a bit of a change, this year we have a different venue and a comedian rather than a guest speaker, in addition to Mr Martin Arnold's highly anticipated key note speech!

It would be great if we could get a good representation from all the sides this season, for what is always an impressive and enjoyable occasion for all sections of the Senior Club. (NB This is not a black-tie event. Dress code is usually Club-tie and blazer/jacket or suit)

Fixtures for 14th March

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Chobham	H	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Dover II	A	Invicta League
3rd	Sevenoaks III	H	Mid Kent A
4th	Weavering	H	Mid Kent B
5th	Sevenoaks IV	A	Mid Kent C
Vets	Rye Goons	H	Friendly

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Results for 28th February

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	None
2nd (Mustangs)	Old Elthamians II	A	Lost 20-0	Invicta League
3rd	Cranbrook II	A	Won 0-60	Mid Kent A
4th	Battersea Ironsides 4th	H	Lost 12-17	Friendly
5th	Uckfield	A	Lost 36-14	Friendly
Vets	Battersea Ironsides Vets	H	Lost 5-24	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

They came, they saw, they conquered !!

The Ironsides turned up in hordes (or more literally, in a coach); they put us to the sword on the pitch; they invaded our club-house; they pillaged our food; they ravished our women (although strictly speaking, I think it was consensual) and they drank our bar dry, before escaping back to Battersea, carrying off crates of beer and cider and at least one of our "maidens". All in all, not a bad little day-trip really. Just glad they left our sheep and cattle alone and didn’t burn the place down when they left.

Shame about the results – and its not just England I’m talking about.

Our Vets knew that they were up against a good side when the Ironsides took to the field, but also felt that they could have done better themselves on another day and are looking forward to the return match next season. Battersea picked Maidstone’s 67-year-old Paul Ehrhart as our Man Of The Match – incredulous at how well he played. He certainly looked like he’d been in a match afterwards, with his head battered and bruised, but the infectious laugh was un-affected. What a great player – although he’s lost a yard of pace over the years.

Up on the 1st team pitch, the cobbled together 4th team were surprised by how well they performed against the Battersea 4ths, managing to achieve near total dominance in the 1st half. Great had been the amusement when people spotted Jim Walker’s name on the team sheet at scrum-half (not least for Jim) but of course it meant that he had umpteen opportunities to get his hands on the ball – and there is nothing Jim likes more than getting his hand on the ball. He had a storming game – and got away with murder whilst bending the laws to the limit – until eventually his own skipper had to complain to the ref about him “feeding” in every scrum. 12-0 ahead at half-time, Maidstone made the mistake of thinking that it was going to be one-way traffic all afternoon and did not take sufficient care to keep the ball away from Battersea’s elusive runners, which resulted in 3 late tries for the visitors. Careless – but well done to Battersea for getting themselves back into the game and snatching victory at the death.

The general consensus was that it was a pleasure to host such a good bunch of guys and we look forward to assembling a raiding party for the return trip to Battersea next season. Well done to John and James Faulkner of Maidstone and Battersea, for devising and organizing the whole outing.

Elsewhere, The Mustangs played a very good Old Elthamians II but were unable to repeat the achievement of having inflicted one of only two defeats suffered by Elths this season. In a game that was much closer than the score-line suggests, both sides played well but Elths proved better at exploiting overlaps on a couple of occasions.

The Thirds went to Cranbrook with a team stuffed with talent and racked up a very emphatic victory in this postponed fixture to reclaim their rightful place at the top of Mid Kent A by winning their game in hand. Jacques Vrey got another 2 tries to bring his tally up to 13 for the season, whilst Tuggy was also at his belligerent best, scoring 2 tries himself.

The 5ths had organized an away-day of their own and took a large party down to Uckfield. They left at 10am and got back around 11pm, so I guess it was a successful day – apart from the result.

Evergreen Cup The Evergreen Cup quarter final vs Charlton Park is now confirmed for Sunday 8th March at 2pm. It will be a challenge for tired legs, as most of our players will be playing their 2nd game of the weekend but in the heat of battle, I’m sure that they will quickly forget their aches and pains. Come along and give the Evergreen team your support.

Race Night The ever resourceful and enterprising U12s parents have organized a race night for next Saturday (7th March) and all club members are welcome. Anyone who attended the U12s quiz night earlier in the season, should have some idea of what to expect and can be sure that it will be a well attended and entertaining evening.

Fixtures for 7th/8th March

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Thanet	A		London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Old Dunstonians II	H		Invicta League
3rd	Lordswood II	A		Mid Kent A
4th	Lordswood III	H		Mid Kent B
5th	TBA			Friendly
Vets	Gravesend Moles	H		Friendly
Evergreens	Charlton Park Vets	H	sun 2pm	Evergreen Cup qrtrs

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Results for 21st February

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Cobham	A	Lost 30-10	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	T Wells II	H	Won 34-5	Invicta League
3rd	Medway II	H	Won 24-16	Mid Kent A
4th	Medway IV	A	Lost 23-13	Mid Kent B
5th	Medway IV	H	Lost 0-72	Mid Kent C
Vets	Canterbury Vets	A	Lost 30-25	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

Having been away for the week, it was good to come home and hear that the 1st Team were still in with a reasonable hope of winning against Cobham with 10 minutes to go, even after missing an easy penalty and having a try disallowed. It says everything about how much more competitive the team has become in recent months, and the fact that saturday's front-row had an average age of 20 and more than held their own, bodes well for the future.

The Mustangs pulled up Charlie Flynn and George Coomber from last week's 4th team and recorded a good win against T Wells II. Sad to record that a knee injury to Damian Houlihan has probably ended his season, so soon after his return to the club after a spell Down Under.

Considering the damage that he did to them in the first half of the season, The 3rds were delighted to see that Medway II did not have their superb young open-side flanker in their team on saturday, which perhaps made the difference in enabling Maidstone to secure a vital win over their most dangerous rivals for the Mid Kent A title (Aylesford III having lost on saturday also). This game was something of a re-union for last season's 1st team front-row, (as featured in the photo on home-page header) with both Matt Plowman and Rob Jeffrey having a big impact on the outcome, Rob turning up on the wing to score the winning try. Great to see them both playing in Maidstone colours again, although man of the match was actually the rampaging ex-army prop, John MacIntyre. This game was also noteworthy for the rare sight of a certain well known sexagenarian prop and former 3rd team skipper, warming the bench after missing the previous week. I'm sure that there would be certain players who would have enjoyed a certain frisson of "Schadenfreude" if the skipper had inexplicably forgotten him and left him standing there for 80 minutes !!

In the lamentable absence of their woefully un-commited skipper (un-necessary mid-season ski-trip), The 4ths had to give away too many of their players to the higher sides to maintain the form of the previous week, which was a shame as they would normally have fancied themselves to beat Medway III, as they did in the first half of the season. Alan McCabe scored all of Maidstone's points with a converted try after 45 seconds and 2 further penalties. A dominant scrum was enhanced by welcome guest appearances from Darren Yates and Mark Thurgood, Yatesy playing his first game since his wedding earlier in the season. Toby Young had his first game at Prop for the 4ths and seems to be settling into senior propping very well, as well as contributing effectively in the loose. The game also marked useful club debuts from Will Lowther and Casey Mitcham. Thanks to Mark Staples and Dave Jackson for doing all the skipper's jobs this week, in an unusually difficult week.

The 5ths had the misfortune to run into a Medway 4th team that were in no mood for taking prisoners, with the upshot that they went down to something of a cricket score. However, as ever, they stuck to their unenviable task task of trying to compete with a team that contains a number of Medway's very good, former 1st team players. Lets hope that next week's annual away day to Uckfield will prove to be a friendlier affair.

All good things come to an end, as did eventually the Vet's impressive 13 match unbeaten run. The Vets were chasing shadows whenever the young Canterbury backs were given the ball and due to missed first-up tackles, Canterbury were able to run in 4 tries starting from within their own 25. However, in the tight it was a different story and Maidstone were able to manoeuvre themselves into scoring positions of their own. Final score Canterbury 30 - Maidstone Vets 25, the try scorers being Dave Francis, John Whitehead, Pete Gray and Richard Weston. Keith Coomber added a conversion and a penalty. There was a debut for Alex Carter and second row assistance from the excellent Phil Nash. The Vets will be looking forward to playing a "true" vets side next week, when Battersea Ironsides come calling.

Battersea Ironsides Jon Faulkner's brother James (a former MGS and Maidstone Youth player) is skipper of the Ironside's 4th team and has arranged a double-header friendly excursion for next week, with a coach hired for the trip and an itinery that involves 12:30 Kick Offs, 2 six nations matches, a departure time of 7:30 and unless I miss my guess, a certain amount of drinking in between. Former associates of James, (such as Jim Walker, Gavin Dyke, Martin Arnold and of course Jon Faulkner), are queuing up to play against them, so it should be a pretty entertaining day all round. Who's to say that we shouldnt organise a return "away-day" to South London for the same time next year. It would make a nice change to rub shoulders with the SW post-codes, rather than mixing it in SE like we normally do.

Evergreen Cup Quarter Final Subject to final confirmation, it looks as though we will be playing Charlton Park vets at home on sunday 8th March at 2pm. Make it a date for your diary.

Training will be at The Village Hotel on Tuesday at 7:30 and back on The Somme on thursday at 7:30.

Fixtures for 28th February

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	None
2nd (Mustangs)	Old Elthamians II	A		Invicta League
3rd	Cranbrook II	A		Mid Kent A
4th	Battersea Ironsides 4th	H	12:30 KO	Friendly
5th	Uckfield	A		Friendly
Vets	Battersea Ironsides Vets	H	12:30 ko	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

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Results for 14th February

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Gravesend	H	Lost 3-25	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Sidcup II	A	Won 7-15	Invicta League
3rd	Gravesend III	H	Won 18-9	Mid Kent A
4th	Gravesend IV	A	Won17-15	Mid Kent B
5th	Gravesend V	A	Lost 5-0	Mid Kent C
Vets	Sittingbourne III	H	Won 20-5	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

A somewhat disappointing result for the First team this week, but against one of the better teams in the league, which shows how expectations have changed in the past month or two. Maidstone's only points came from the boot of Craig Whitehead on a pitch that didnt lend itself to running rugby, although that the game was played at all was a minor miracle considering the layer of soggy snow that covered the pitches on friday.

The Mustangs were pretty pleased with a good all round team performance that secured a win against a big Sidcup side that was 7-0 up at half time. 2nd half tries from Dane Smith and a sharp looking Damian Houlihan, turned the game around for Maidstone.

The Thirds did what they needed to do in order to retain control of Mid Kent A, by beating Gravesend III despite the absence of skipper Massey and 3 or 4 other regulars. Making a welcome return to action, this time in the back-row, was one of Maidstone's best known characters Matt Plowman, who went AWOL from the 1st team front-row earlier in the season and who is probably even now filling out his standing-order form so that he can be considered for selection again next week.

The 4ths went to Gravesend with a bare 15, having named 5 replacements on tuesday night. Olly Coomber was lost on saturday morning after turning up at home at 6am with his face re-arranged and no recollection of how it happened. Apart from other reasons, he couldn't play because he would have been a "blood injury" as soon as he ran on the pitch. Meanwhile, brother George "only 3 of them to beat in my own 25 so I'll have a go" Coomber. turned in another exciting performance at full back, scoring one of the two first half tries that gave Maidstone the cushion they needed to hold off a powerful Gravesend side, David Wahl getting the other. The Maidstone mid-field tackling was superb throughout with Alan McCabe, Dave Jackson, and Mark Staples making more than their share but the outstanding player for Maidstone in attack and defence was Charlie Flynn who wrapped up the opposition all day like some great shaggy bear.

The 5ths also suffered some late drop-outs but assembled a useful sixteen and lost by the narrowest of margins to a young Gravesend team on the banana pitch. Toby Young made his senior propping debut , having just turned 18 and seems to have acquitted himself well in the front-row and later in the back-row where his picking and driving stood out. It was pleasing to see that rumours last week of Trevor Bradley's broken ankle had been greatly exaggerated and that instead of going to hospital he sat and watched Ireland beat France, which was obviously much more therapeutic.

The Vets gave Sittingbourne 3rds 3 players to make up a 15 a side match but precious little else as they wrapped up the game 20-5, thanks to tries from Adam McKay, Simon Randall,Dave Hughes and Dave Francis. After struggling slightly for numbers earlier in the season, The Vets have returned to a pretty healthy quorum with the addition of some quality players - as evidenced by their 13 match unbeaten stretch. Keep it up guys, the end of the season is in sight and no doubt your temporarily absent skipper Glyn is logging on in Australia to keep an eye on how his bid for "Team of the Season" is progressing in his 8th and last year as Vets skipper. It would be good if he could lift the Trophy again when he attends his last Club-Dinner as skipper (which incidentally, is being held this year at The Village Hotel, details of which will be published in the coming weeks)

Fixtures for 21st February

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Cobham	A	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	T Wells II	H	Invicta League
3rd	Medway II	H	Mid Kent A
4th	Medway IV	A	Mid Kent B
5th	Medway IV	H	Mid Kent C
Vets	Canterbury Vets	A	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

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Results for 7th/8th February

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Bromley	H	Won 27-7	Kent Cup
2nd (Mustangs)	Aylesford II	H	Postponed	Invicta League
3rd	Whitstable II	H	Cancelled	Friendly
4th	Dover IV	A	Cancelled	Friendly
5th	Cranbrook III	H	Lost 7-27	Mid Kent C
Vets	Lordswood Vets	A	Drew 3-3	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

The lesson from this weekend was never to trust the weather forecasters, as they will always make you look foolish if you take too much notice of them.

The forecasts on thursday and friday made it clear that with a combination of rain, sleet and snow added to heavy frosts on friday and saturday nights, there was little prospect of any rugby on saturday and more importantly, on sunday when the Kent Cup 2nd round match with Bromley was due to be played. Indeed, we received a somewhat incredulous enquiry from Bromley on friday, expressing some amazement that we were still considering playing the cup-match on sunday and asking for an early decision. It only became apparent today, when looking at some of their photos, that their ground is still under several inches of crisp snow - which accounts for their incredulity.

Sadly, the word from the groundsman on Friday was that only the first team pitch would be playable over the week-end, which meant that there was no choice but to postpone the Mustang's ill-fated Invicta League fixture with Aylesford II for a 2nd time. When saturday dawned bright and warm, that decision then looked somewhat hasty - although to be fair it would still not have done the bottom pitch a lot of good to have been played on.

Luckily, there was no early cancellation of the Cup Match, despite the horrendous forecasts, and in the event the home supporters were able to enjoy a relatively comfortable win for Maidstone in a potentially tricky encounter against a decent Bromley side that must have fancied their chances of pulling off a cup up-set, despite the 2 division gap between the two sides. With Bromley lying 2nd in London SE 4, Maidstone needed to play well to see off the threat they posed and after coping with the initial Bromley attacks they quickly showed that they had the edge in forwards and backs to put the result beyond doubt by half-time. James Sullivan showed some real finishing power to bag the first and the last try in a very good performance. Maidstone now go into the last 8 where despite the continued presence of Kent's 3 National League Clubs 2nd Teams, any of the 8 sides could fancy their chances of reaching and winning the final.

With the Mustangs, 3rds and 4ths not playing, attention focused on the 5ths against Cranbrook, up on the park. Level at half time, thanks to a good try from Richard Nunn, the wheels fell off somewhat in the 2nd half thanks to a couple of injuries that left the team with only 13 players on the field at the end - 3 substitutions having been made at half time. Former skipper Trevor Bradley suffered a suspected broken ankle and went to hospital, where hopefully the injury will prove to have been less serious than at first thought. No complaints about the result though, which was well deserved by a good Cranbrook team. No complaints either about the ref, "Chunk" from the Vets who reffed his first adult game on his way towards joining the Kent Society.

Talking of the Vets, their 11 match winning streak has now become a 12 match unbeaten run after drawing with Lordswood Vets/3rds in a somewhat feisty encounter. In the early stages, it appeared that it would only be a question of time before Maidstone racked up the points to secure another routine victory but Lordswood had either ideas and defended resolutely to keep the vets at bay, notwithstanding 2 disallowed Maidstone tries. The spectators were especially entertained by an outbreak of verbal abuse amongst the Lordswood players that very nearly came to blows but it all blew over as quickly as it started, so no harm done. Lordswood is always a sociable club to visit and in the bar afterwards, it was pleasing to discover an avid reader of this weekly offering from amongst the Lordswood ranks. Tim aka "Norway" (on account of his null points track-record of course) regularly cruises the various Kent Rugby web-sites and was very complimentary about the Maidstone site, so cheers for that Tim. You keep reading:we'll keep writing !!

Despicable Crime alert It pains me to report that whilst we were all enjoying the Kent Cup tie on sunday a heinous crime took place back at the club-house. If anyone happens to know which slimy little toe-rag pinched the front light off my bike, I would be pleased to find out who it was - confidentiality assured of course. (Thanks for not pinching the speedo though, as that would have been even more pointless and despicable)

Fixtures for 14th February

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Gravesend	H	Kent Cup
2nd (Mustangs)	Sidcup II	A	Invicta League
3rd	Gravesend III	H	Friendly
4th	Gravesend IV	A	Friendly
5th	Gravesend V	A	Mid Kent C
Vets	TBA	H	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

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Results for 31st January

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Beckenham	A	Won 38-20	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Tonbridge judds II	H	Lost 7-15	Invicta League
3rd	Old Gravesendns II Played South Woodham Ferrers II	A	Walk-Over Won 25-5	Mid Kent A Friendly
4th	Footscray II	H	Won 61-12	Mid Kent B
5th	Old Gravesendns III	H	Won 26-15	Mid Kent C
Vets	Footscray III	A	Won 20-5	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

It was a shame that the Mustangs couldnt turn a surfeit of possession and territory into a win on saturday, as it would have been nice to report 6 wins out of 6 for the first time this season. However, 5 out of 6 aint bad, especially as it included another win for the 1sts who are now winning with what appears to be monotonous regularity and are actually on the 2nd longest winning streak in the club, although they have some way to go to catch up with The Vets, who recorded their 11th straight win on saturday. However, there is still just enough time, for the 1sts to match that before the end of the season - although a tad over-optimistic perhaps?

After an outstanding display for the first team last week, Tommy King scored 2 tries in what was a pretty emphatic win over close rivals Beckenham, whilst old campaigner Mark Thurgood showed that a steady scrum is a basic requisite of winning rugby.

Meanwhile, at home the Mustangs were frustrated by a Tonbridge Team that took their few chances well, despite being on the back-foot for most of the game.

The 3rd team were facing the dismal prospect of a 2nd week without rugby after Old Gravesendians called on friday evening to say that they couldnt raise a team. When a text to Kent clubs failed to produce any responses, the excellent Harlow Fixture Exchange came up trumps with an away trip to South Woodham Ferrers, near Southend. This might sound like a long trip until you consider that John Hogarth comes down from Southend to play for the 3rds most weekends (and Steve Pooley comes up from Devon to play for the 5ths), so for once Hogy had almost a home game.

The 4ths welcomed the return of Darren Banfield to the side as he kicked conversions from both touch-lines, scored 2 tries (and failed to ground a 3rd in a shocking display of jug-avoidance) as he amassed a personal haul of 24 points. The game marked the Maidstone debut of hooker John Burke, who looked a good prospect for action at the top end of the club, although his half-time replacement Mike Hill quickly showed what a class act he is with a crunching solo try from 25 yards out. The game also marked the return from injury of 2 great scrum-halves in Paul Murphy and Ben Jones. Selection head-aches ? We've got some !! Thanks are due to Maidstone Grammar School for the use of their 1st Team pitch for this game.

The 5ths enjoyed a comparatively rare League win in what was a well matched and very enjoyable League fixture vs Old Gravesendians III. In an U12s parental conspiracy, Colin Frost got 2 tries whilst Brian Costello bagged another. In an effort to dispel the confusion caused by having 2 Steve Quinns in the team, one of them has decided to move to Ireland, so this was "Shaggy's" swan-song performance for the 5ths and to mark the occasion he was allowed to kick a conversion as a special treat. Talking of Ireland, I hear that the joke doing the rounds there is that the only difference between Ireland and Iceland is one letter and six months !!.

The Vets took up an invitation to visit the very hospitable Footscray to play some festival rugby and help Footscray's oldest player turn 60 in style. Despite being the guests, our Vets spoiled the party by taking the formidable try-scoring machine Chris Lindley with them, as he was visiting from Yorkshire (where he still reads this round-up every week (there's not much to do in Yorkshire) to attend the 40th birthday party of Slasher McKay, our youngest Vet and resident Eddie Izzard look-alike. Cracking party btw Slasher; The club-house was heaving. Air guitars abounded as the excellent Black Starr did their stuff and some of our 60+ Vets showed they could still rock on with the best of them.

Mini/Midi festival

Congratulations to the youth section for staging such a well planned and executed festival today, despite the challenges presented by the arctic weather. With over 700 children attending, it was a great tribute to the work put in by Alan Crosbie and his organizing Committee. Thanks to all who put in such a great effort to make the festival a success.

Kent Cup

Next week is Kent Cup Sunday as we welcome Bromley RFC to The Mote. We have gone to considerable effort to play the game on a sunday so that all of our players and supporters get a chance to watch the 1st team play. It would be especially pleasing if players, parents and coaches from the youth section were to stay at the club to enjoy the big occasion and cheer the team on to victory. Prior to kick-off at 2pm , the U18s will be playing a Kent League match versus Old Colfeians and would also appreciate your support.

Footnote

Congratulations to former Mustangs skipper David Scanlan, who is enjoying a new lease of life playing No 8 for St Albans 1st team as they chase promotion to London 2 North. Check out their web-site

Fixtures for 7th/8th February

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Bromley	H	Sun 8th	Kent Cup
2nd (Mustangs)	Aylesford II	H		Invicta League
3rd	Whitstable II	H		Friendly
4th	Dover IV	A		Friendly
5th	Cranbrook III	H		Mid Kent C
Vets	Lordswood Vets	A		Friendly
Nomads	TBA

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Results for 24th January

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Old Colfeians	H	Won 11-10	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Beckenham II	A	Lost 13-3	Invicta League
3rd	Cranbrook II	A	Postponed	Mid Kent A
4th	New Ash Green II	H	postponed	Mid Kent B
5th	Cranbrook III	H	postponed	Mid Kent C
Vets	Gravesend Moles	A	Won 26-10	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

Whilst its always a great disappointment when games are cancelled owing to flooded pitches, the one consolation is that it affords a rare opportunity to watch the 1st team in action. Thus it was that many of us were lucky enough to witness the first 1st Team League victory since Feb 2008. However, I'm not sure that I could stand the tension of watching games like this every week - especially after the disappointment of losing to Sidcup and Tunbridge Wells by such narrow margins in recent weeks and desperately hoping to avoid witnessing a repeat of those results.

Trevor's match report contains all the riveting details but what lingers in the memory is the massive defensive effort in the last 15 minutes whilst defending a miniscule but vital 1 point lead against a sustained forward onslaught that was eventually relieved by an amazing half-back break out from Tommy King and Sam McPherson. Tommy King looked absolutely outstanding in attack and defence throughout, whilst Nick Sargent and Matt Iles also caught the eye amongst some great performances from the whole team. The points came from an unstoppable Neil Graves bullock-charge that took him over the try-line from 20 yards out and 2 Craig whitehead penalties.

It has been clear for some time that performances have been getting better as the weeks have gone by and, given the high morale of the team and the dedicated coaching efforts, it was only a matter of time before fortunes must change. How lucky to be on-hand to enjoy the moment.

Elsewhere, the Mustangs went down to Beckenham II in a result that probably ends any lingering hopes of reaching the top of the Invicta League this season.

After Dover vets failed to raise a team, The Vets were lucky to pick up a fixture with Gravesend Moles and returned to business as usual by winning there - following a rare loss there earlier in the season.

Training this week Following the torrential rain this week, and in an attempt to preserve the pitches for the Club Mini-festival on sunday 1st Feb that has been months in preparation, there will be no training at the club this week except for the 1st team squad on thursday evening. No training at the barracks either this week, owing to circumstances beyond our control but a session has been arranged at The Village Hotel on tuesday instead. More details can be obtained from Andy Golding. Please bear with us for a week but its very important that we try to preserve the pitches for this important mini-festival event.

Fixtures for 31st January

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Beckenham	A	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Tonbridge judds II	H	Invicta League
3rd	Old Gravesendns II	A	Mid Kent A
4th	Footscray II	H	Mid Kent B
5th	Old Gravesendns III	H	Mid Kent C
Vets	TBA	A	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

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Results for 17th January

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Sidcup	A	Lost 14-9	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Sevenoaks II	H	Drew 5-5	Invicta League
3rd	Ton Judds III	H	Drew15-15	Mid Kent A
4th	Ton Judds IV	A	Lost 27-12	Mid Kent B
5th	Ton Judds V	H	Lost 0-34	Mid Kent C
Vets	Whitstable Vets	H	Won 20-7	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

Thank goodness for the Vets or we would have been looking at a week without a win to report. The old chaps were looking justifiably pleased with themselves as they chalked up yet another hard fought win in what is starting to look like an impressive season. Tries were scored by skipper Glyn Richards (still well worth his place in the number 8 slot in his last season as Vets skipper), by the surprisingly ferocious old war-horse Keith Newman and by a certain well known character with nothing else to do on a saturday afternoon, John Whitehead - making a welcome return to the playing colours.

Elsewhere, The Firsts were competitive against a good side at Sidcup (and vastly better than in the corresponding fixture last season) but it still wasnt quite good enough.

The Mustangs performed far better against Sevenoaks II than in the away leg earlier in the season, but failed to turn multiple scoring opportunities into a win. John Francis gained the accolades for man of the match, despite playing out of position on the wing.

The 3rds were mindful of what a good team they were up against in TJ3, having been surprised to lose there earlier in the season. However, being forewarned was not sufficient to guarantee a win and in the end, it was with some relief that a draw was secured. Tom Challis turned in another classic display of back-row play to gain the man of the match award.

The 4ths took a strong side to Tonbridge but met an even stronger TJ 4th team (after having beaten them at home 29-0 earlier in the season). Whilst Maidstone's backs were superb, it was probably the lack of a specialist hooker that cost Maidstone the game - no disrepect to the ever willing "Action Jackson" who stepped manfully in to the gap. Ironically, we had 3 specialist hookers in the side at selection but gave one to the 5ths and lost 2 others on match day.

Talking of the 5ths and specialist hookers, new skipper Steve Quin was delighted to gain the services of Simon Wright (small) to plug the hole in his front row and was full of praise for his prowess and influence on the performance of the side. Simon Wright is the current club player of the year, having received the award at the club dinner in April. He seems to be living up to this title, having now played in 6 out of 7 sides this season. He hasnt played in the 1sts (yet) but I have absolutely no doubt that he would acquit himself equally well there if he was called upon to do so ( but don't worry - it aint going to happen). Even despite the services of Simon, TJs racked up a fairish score but it was never as comfortable for them as the score-line suggests.

Cup Matches

Kent Cup. Having been forced to postpone this week's scheduled game against Bromley, we are now expecting to play the fixture on Sunday 8th Feb, 2pm at home.

Evergreen Cup. The draw has been made for the 3rd round and Maidstone have been drawn against either Tonbridge Judds Vets or Charlton Park Vets, who havent yet managed to play their 2nd round match. We are hoping to play the game on 7th or 8th Feb but it will depend on the 2nd round match being completed before then.

Fixtures for 24th January

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Old Colfeians	H	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Beckenham II	A	Invicta League
3rd	Cranbrook II	A	Mid Kent A
4th	New Ash Green II	H	Mid Kent B
5th	Cranbrook III	H	Mid Kent C
Vets	Dover Vets	A	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

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Results for 10th January

Well, That Was The Week That Wasn't - or TW3 for the benefit of our older readers.

All games were declared frozen off by friday night, so it looks as though all of last week's League games will replace the friendlies scheduled for this coming week. (see below). Its a shame, as we had 7 sides all primed and ready to go - but thats life.

Not quite sure at this stage, when the Kent Cup Match with Bromley will be played.Watch this space.

Thanks to Tracey for opening up the Club-house from 2pm on saturday. It was good to see a decent number of people down there,with people enjoying the table-tennis and darts, as well as the rugby on TV. We aim to make sure that the Club-house is open on every saturday of the season regardless of the weather, so that players and their WAGS (and kids for that matter) can meet for a beer and a bit of socializing. (Not the kids of course) (and the WAGS dont have to drink beer)(although there's nothing wrong with women drinking beer if they want to).

Fixtures for 17th January

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Sidcup	A	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Sevenoaks II	H	Invicta League
3rd	Ton Judds III	H	Mid Kent A
4th	Ton Judds IV	A	Mid Kent B
5th	Ton Judds V	H	Mid Kent C
Vets	Whitstable Vets	H	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

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Results for 3rd January

Happy New Year to all our Readers !!

Everything was set fair for an entertaining pair of matches on saturday - except the weather.

Whilst the omens were not good when the pitches were inspected at 11, the strong sunshine led many to hope that Rugby would be possible and in fact, once the Vets and 5ths had had a look at The Somme, they deemed it no worse than a hard pitch in September and got changed for action.

Unfortunately, by the time that the Mustangs and Aylesford II kicked off on the same pitch at 2:30, the frost was already beginning to set back in again and the poor conditions got rapidly worse until at half time, all parties agreed to abandon the match, to be replayed at a later date. It was a great shame, as with an appreciative New Year's crowd and 2 very good teams on display, the stage was set for a very entertaining match - but the right decision was made in the end. Thanks are due to Aylesford for being willing to give it a go and apologies are due for the wasted journey but fortunately it wasnt too far to travel.

The annual Vets vs 5ths game was won as usual by the Vets, which isnt to say that it wasnt hotly contested but its probably fait to say that the conditions rather favoured the slower-moving trundling of the Vets forwards rather than the high speed rapier thrusts of the 5ths three-quarters. Tries were scored by Steve Vincent, Dan Norton (son of Steve but only a Vet for the day by genetic link) and memorably"not-scored" by Pete Gray, who crossed the line but presumably not fancying a spectacular dive on the hard ground, was dis-possessed before a try could be awarded.

Skipper of the 5ths on saturday was Steve Quinn (small) who has now taken over the reigns of the 5th team from Martin Carr, who is stepping down to give more of his undivided attention to his work. Sincere thanks are due to Martin for the excellent job he has done in recruiting, retaining and leading some of the club's most enthusiastic players who manage to enjoy their rugby and camaraderie even when they don't necessarily win every game. Handing over to Steve Quinn, who is perhaps the most enthusiastic and optimistic of the new recruits in the past couple of years as well as a tidy player, will leave the Barbarians ethos in very good hands for the foreseeable future.

Next week, it should be business as usual, weather permitting, but with teams travelling further to play, any decision on the pitches will be made on saturday morning, well before teams start to assemble for travel.

Fixtures for 10th January

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Sidcup	A	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Sevenoaks II	H	Invicta League
3rd	Ton Judds III	H	Mid Kent A
4th	Ton Judds IV	A	Mid Kent B
5th	Ton Judds V	H	Mid Kent C
Vets	Chelmsford Vets	H	Friendly
Nomads	No Fixture

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Result for 27th December

Thanks to the guys from Weavering for coming down for a post-Christmas run-out and contributing to a very enjoyable fixture. It was a closely contested match and the eventual score-line didnt do justice to the even-ness of the 2 teams. Weavering's numbers were supplemented by the addition of a few Maidstone players on the day, such as the well known fly-half Nick East and centre Jim Walker. Adam Williams (remember him), Jeff McCreery, Mark Fish and Will Arnold also gave their all for the Weavering cause, but it was not enough to cope with the bullocking runs of Jacqes Vrey,the tackling of John MacIntyre and above all the relentless, probing, in-your-face irrepressibility of Tuggy,who only knows one way to play the game and thats with 150% commitment.

There were some real crowd-pleasing moments to amuse the surprisingly large number of spectators, especially the tackle on Mac that resulted in the tackler somersaulting through the air as he flew straight over the top. Another favourite was Jacques Vrey getting tackled from behind after breaking free on the half-way line and trying to gallop the 50 yards to the try-line.

Anyway, it was good to get the game off the ground to everyone's benefit and as a suitable warm-up for Jim Walker's 30th birthday party in the evening. Thanks to Trevor Marvin for opening the club-house and thanks to Kim Martin for blowing the whistle. Couldnt have played without you.

Next week, there are just 2 games to entertain the crowd. One is the annual Vets vs 5th Team fixture - and the word is that the 5ths have a really good chance of winning it this year - so they told me. The other is the Mustang's Invicta League match vs Aylesford II, which should be equally entertaining. Come along and enjoy the fun.

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Results for 20th December

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Tunbridge Wells	H	lost 16-18	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Thanet II	A	won 15-35	Invicta League
3rd	Vigo II	A	won 0-51	Mid Kent A
4th	Tunbridge Wells III	H	won13-10	Mid Kent B
5th	Tunbridge Wells IV	A	lost 22-7	Mid Kent C
Vets	Canterbury Vets	H	won20-14	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

How nice it would have been to enjoy the carols, mulled wine and mince-pies on saturday evening whilst savouring the widely anticipated first League win of the season for the 1st Team. How cruel that in the last minute of the 9 minutes of injury time added by the ref, Wells were able to convert a last minute try to win, which put paid to all such digestive and musical enjoyment and so it was with huge disappointment that the first team finished 2008 without yet having turned the corner in the League. However, it will be the New Year when they play their next game and with some of the plans already in place, there is every reason to hope for a better 2009.

The Mustangs had a better time of it at Thanet and showed that they are still a force to be reckoned with, even if not hotly in contention for the Invicta League title at this point in the season. Tommy King got 3 tries again, whilst Andy Cairns and Tom Harvey got the other two, Leo Fedorcio kicking all five conversions. Its pleasing to report that Kenton Parbutt, Olly Coomber and George Coomber, all 3 regular fourth team players, leap-frogged the 3rd team to make their Mustangs debuts this week and none of them looked out of place. On a different note, I am pleased to report that the Mustangs once again fulfilled a fine tradition that dates back around 10 years when Sean Charlton (i'm told) first acquired a cabbage or cauliflower on the annual trip to Thanet, for the benefit of Maidstone Rugby's most prominent vegetarian, Lurch (aka 1st Team Manager Nigel Maddaford). This year the cabbage was acquired by Tom Harvey and presented to Lurch in a touching ceremony back in the club-house - and just in time for Christmas dinner. With Amanda having won the hamper in the raffle, Nigel will need to play his first match of the season on the 27th in order to run-off the excess weight.

The 3rds destroyed Vigo II in the League, although judging from the match report and despite the score-line, Vigo gave a very good account of themselves. With 17 out of the 18 selected players over 35, it was good to see that youth development was being encouraged by the inclusion of Mike Hill at Hooker. Never let it be said that the Dream Team is not progressive.

The 4ths got themselves back on track with a hard-fought win over a powerful Tunbridge Wells III, the team that had ended the 4ths unbeaten start to the season just 5 weeks before-hand. Wells started ominously, with their forwards picking and driving their way out of their own 22 in a very impressive manner and then their centre running in a solo try from deep without the defence laying a finger on him. The conversion attempt hit the upright (as did the 2nd Wells attempt later in the game) and from then on the tide turned in favour of Maidstone, Connor Brooker getting two tries on his first return after joining the marines and Mark Staples earning the man of the match accolade for his efficacy at open-side flanker.

The 5ths took a depleted side to Tunbridge Wells after a number of last minute drop-outs and no-shows and were soon down from 15 to 14, so they did remarkably well to contain Wells 4ths, who are at or near the the top of the League, to a respectable score. Ben Foskett starred in the line-out once again and Paul Hodges came back on after injuring his leg at full-back, to play in the back-row (and was alarmingly, the fastest forward, even with an injured leg - or so one of the backs told me). Well done to Steve Quinn (little) for skippering the side in the absence of Martin this week.

The Vets played their annual Peter McCabe Memorial match, this time against Canterbury 5ths. Their dominance in the scrum set them up for a hard-fought victory with tries from Adam McKay,Rich Foden, Rich Weston and Graham Bishop. Keep an eye on the Vets, as they have now won around 7 on the bounce and after a slow start are coming up on the rails as a potential club team of the year.

NEXT WEEK

There are lots of players who have expressed an interest in playing on sat 27th, so we are likely to put out a number of XVs to give players a run-out. We will text you in the next day or two to let you know where and when. Meanwhile, if you are available and would like to play, you can make sure of your inclusion by emailing me here. [email protected]

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Results for 13th December

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Deal Betteshanger	A	Won 15-20	Kent Cup
2nd (Mustangs)	Old Williamsonians	H	Pitch unplayable	Friendly
3rd	Whitstable II	A	Cancelled	Friendly
4th	Sittingbourne II	H	pitch unplayable	Friendly
5th	Old Wills II	H	pitch unplayable	Friendly
Vets	Lordswood Vets	A	Won 7-13	Friendly
Evergreen	Anchs Vets	A	Won 5-21	Evergreen Cup

Hurrah !! For the first time since February 2008, (when we were 4th from top in London division 2),its great to be able to report a win for the 1st team - especially in an important cup tie where there are no 2nd chances to succeed. This was never going to be an easy game and DB Lions must have really fancied their chances of claiming a cup scalp, so on a day when a trip to the East Kent Coast must have been about as appealing as a week in the jungle with Kilroy, the re-assembled team that travelled did very well to withstand the challenge of the more than capable home team. Congratulations guys. Now that you've remembered how to win, there should be many more good days to enjoy before the end of the season.

This of course was not the only cup tie being played on saturday, as a Maidstone over 35 Team took on the Anchorians Vets in the 2nd round of the Evergreen Cup. Owing to the torrential rain on Friday night that caused all of our 4 home games to be abandoned, the match was switched at late notice to Gillingham and thanks are due to Gillingham for providing the hospitality and a pitch. The game was full of commitment and effort but handling was difficult for both sides owing to the extreme cold. Pete Mattinson got the first try and it seemed only a matter of time before his pace would secure another. In the event he was denied a 2nd when he tried to touch down under the posts instead of where he crossed the line and was tackled by an unseen defender. However, further tries followed in the 2nd half, when the pace of Chris Pedder caught Gillingham off guard to set up Mike Laurenson and then the scoring was completed by Sean Charlton, with brother Dave converting all three. A quarter final place now beckons for our intrepid Old Campaigners.

A slight detour on the way back to the club, enabled a quick visit to Lordswood to see how our actual Vets XV had fared in their friendly with Lordswood. Once again the old chaps had ground out a narrow win, making it 5 or 6 on the trot now, to defeat Lordswood and go home with the honours.When the 4th team game was cancelled on saturday morning, 4th team star-veteran Craig Bowden, jumped at the chance to play for the Vets instead - especially as they were short of recognised backs.The problem was that no one, least of all stand-in skipper Steve Vincent, knew who he was and so he was kept on the bench till the last 25 mins, which must have thrilled him no end. Coming on with Maidstone 7-0 down, he scored a vital try with his first touch of the ball to propel Maidstone towards eventual victory. A further try followed from stand-in centre Kev Bailey, (who could easily pass for his son Sam if only he were younger and better-looking) and then a kicked penalty sealed victory. (This is the 3rd time that Steve Vincent has skippered the side on his birthday and each time he has been rewarded with a win. How nice) As a footnote to this piece about the Vets, its worth relating a little anecdote about dedication and loyalty and appetite for rugby, which should be an inspiration to us all. I had a call from Steve Norton (One of Maidstone's longest serving players)at about 12:30 asking if the Vets game was still on, as he had heard about all the home games being cancelled and he didnt know that the Vets match had been switched to Lordswood. Had the game been off, he had tickets for the Harlequins vs Stade Francais match and would have nipped round to the Stoop for an afternoon of top class entertainment. When he knew that the Vets game was still on, he swopped his afternoon in the Harlequins grand-stand for a cold, muddy, bruising front-row battle at wind-swept Lordswood, and looked well-pleased with his choice when I saw him in the bar at 4 O'clock. What a bloke !!

Thanks to Liz and Helen for opening the bar back at the club for the three victorious returning teams to come back to. There was a great atmosphere in the club-house as players savoured the day's events amidst all the Christmas decor and enjoyed the nail-biting conclusion to the Quins match.

Talking of Christmas atmosphere, dont forget that there will be Carols, Mince Pies and Mulled wine after the games next week, as well as a Christmas Raffle and other excitement. Festivities will kick-off around 5:30, so its a great chance to get the wives and kids into the club-house to share in what is always a splendid occasion. Youth section members are also very welcome. Anyone with any musical talent is welcome to use the PA afterwards to entertain the grateful throng, so get practising your party pieces. We are honoured to have a couple of illustrious (and very lovely) musicians joining us to accompany the carols but dont be deterred if you dont measure up to the same standards.

Looking ahead to 27th, it seems that many people are interested in playing some rugby on that day.

We think that there will be an U21 game on the day to cater for returning students and our current U17s/U18s and perhaps also some intra-club games as well as one away-game. More details to follow next week.

Lastly, there is a plan afoot to get a table-tennis table and Dart-board into the club-house in time for thursday night in case training should be interrupted by frozen pitches or torrential rain again. It should be fun seeing all the competitive instincts coming to the fore as we find out who at Maidstone's got talent.

Fixtures for 20th December

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Tunbridge Wells	H	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Thanet II	A	Invicta League
3rd	Vigo II	A	Mid Kent A
4th	Tunbridge Wells III	H	Mid Kent B
5th	Tunbridge Wells IV	A	Mid Kent C
Vets	Canterbury Vets	H	Friendly
Nomads	TBA

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Results for 6th December

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Basingstoke	A	Lost 15-3	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Canterbury III	H	Won 56-0	Invicta League
3rd	Aylesford III	H	Won13-10	Mid Kent A
4th	Aylesford IV	A	Lost40-10	Mid Kent B
5th	Aylesford V	H	lost 17-37	Mid Kent C
Vets	Gravesend V	A	Won 10-7	Friendly
Nomads	Fixture Exchange	H/A	no game	Friendly

For the first time this season, no tries were scored against Maidstone 1sts as they battled it out with one of this year's promotion favourites Basingstoke,to secure a respectable scoreline on one of the year's most daunting away trips. With new full-back Jaco Du Toit on board, the whole team played with renewed confidence and defended for their lives in a performance that would have been good enough to beat many of their fellow Leagues stragglers. Everyone was in good spirits when the coach got back from Hampshire at around 8:30 and its good to see that morale and team spirit seems to keep increasing in the face of continued adversity. With the rest of the club in good shape, it can only be a matter of time before the break-through comes at 1st team level.

Having shipped 50 points last week, The Mustangs turned things right around again this week to record a big score against Canterbury III in the Invicta League. It was good to see James Ferris easing himself back into action with a 60 minute run, to be replaced at scrum-half by Duncan McClintock, who was adding to the portfolio of positions in which he can now play - aided no doubt by the removal of the Freddie Mercury-esque moustache that he's been sporting for the last few weeks in aid of charity. Not for the first time this season, Tommy King got himself three tries.

When Eastborne cried off their 1st Team fixture with Aylesford on Friday night, I'll bet that they gave scant thought to the knock on effect it would have on the other teams facing Aylesford sides on saturday. Namely, that, on a day when one might have expected to find Aylesford at full stretch to get 5 teams into the field, they were instead able to fill any gaps in their lower teams with spare 1st teamers. The results and scores tell their own story, especially when compared with the form book, but one result that was unaffected was at 3rd team level, where the Dream Team's remarkable run of victories over Aylesford III was maintained, albeit that it took 2 tries from James Sullivan (the 2nd in the 79th minute) to continue the winning sequence and wrest 1st position in the League from the visitors. Paul Massey said before the game that if Aylesford could beat the side he had out, then they deserved to be top of the League, so I think its safe to conclude after saturday that they nearly deserve to be top.

At 4th Team level, the strong running of the Aylesford three-quarters was too good for the Maidstone back-line and they shipped some pretty soft tries - especially in the 1st half. The 2nd half was a bit more competitive as the Maidstone pack with Chris Francis at the fore, started to pick and drive, leading to tries from Bob Purfit and Dave Jackson. Simon Wright was totally dominant at the front of the line-out for Maidstone, although Aylesford's veteran flanker was equally dominant in the middle.Craig Bowden tackled well and James Laurent looked pretty sharp and lively as he probed for gaps from scrum-half but Maidstone's best player in defence and attack was George Coomber, who scythed down attack after attack and then set off on one mazy run after another. A great display. One point of interest was the appearance of a heavily disguised Dan Cummings in the Aylesford 2nd row but he couldn't fool us with that comedy beard he was wearing. Great to see him though - even with a blue shirt on. Just a shame that we let him score !!

The 5ths were still within a point of their visitors with 15 minutes to go but then lost their extra league bonus point by conceding around 20 points in the last period of play,which was a shame after such a spirited performance.

The Vets came back from Gravesend with broad grins, having recorded their 5th consecutive win in a really tight contest, where once again they had to come from behind to win. Tries from Peter Gray and yet another from skipper Glyn Richards accounted for the Maidstone points. Lots of players played out of their normal positions and Ben Foskett, the one under-40 player in the team, proved to be a star by snaffling all of the line-out ball in the middle of the line. After a shaky start, the Vets seem to be getting their season back on course.

Next Week

The 1sts are involved in a Kent Cup fixture at DB Lions, whilst Maidstone over 35's will be playing an Evergreen Cup Match 2nd round match at home vs Gillingham Anchorians. The intention is that despite the Evergreen game, for which most of the players will come from the 3rd team, we will aim to fulfill all of our other fixtures as well, so its a good chance for lots of players to step up a team and for everyone that wants one, to get a game. Make sure that at least one of the skippers or Jerry Sargent (Team Secretary) knows your availability.

Looking ahead to 27th December, it seems likely that there will be some rugby activity for die-hard enthusiasts, so make sure that you have communicated your availability if you think you will be up for it so soon after Christmas. We need to know straight-away, so that we can sort out appropriate fixtures.

Fixtures for 13th December

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Deal Betteshanger	A	Kent Cup
2nd (Mustangs)	Old Williamsonians	H	Friendly
3rd	Whitstable II	A	Friendly
4th	Sittingbourne II	H	Friendly
5th	Old Wills II	H	Friendly
Vets	Lordswood Vets	A	Friendly
Evergreen	Anchs Vets	H	Evergreen Cup

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Results for 29th November

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Dover	H	lost 5-28	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Gravesend II	A	lost 50-5	Invicta League
3rd	Edenbridge	A	won 48-0	Mid Kent A
4th	East Peckham	H	lost 0-5	Mid Kent B
5th	Shootershill 3	H	lost 0-3	Friendly
Vets	Rye Goons	A	Won13-10	Friendly
Nomads	TBA	H/A		Friendly

Disappointment at hearing the 1st team result can often be assuaged to some extent by hearing of another good win for The Mustangs: No such relief this week, as Gravesend II finally reversed the run of defeats of recent encounters to beat The Mustangs - and in some style.

Congratulations first though to Dover, who won this first League meeting between our two clubs by playing good intelligent rugby and by doing all the simple things well. As mentioned in the match day programme, they have come through the League system in recent seasons by making the most of their home grown talent and no-one can begrudge them their success - although it would of course have been nice to interrupt their progress on saturday. Having said which, it was not all one- way traffic and there was some good play to applaud from Maidstone but no League points to show for it.

There was much disruption to the 3rd team this week owing to Twickenham absentees and then a series of injuries,late drop-outs and call-ups to the higher sides. However, the team that travelled to Edenbridge was still far too good for the beleagured Edenbridge 1st team to cope with and a big score was posted. Well done to Ollie Stride, David Wahl, Toby Young and Chris Finch who all performed well at this level, David getting a try and Chris Finch playing completely out of position at Centre. Its interesting to note that the 48 points scored amounted to more than twice the sum total of the points scored by the other 5 sides on the day (23)

The 4th Team surrendered the lead in the Mid Kent B division to their closest challengers by losing 0-5 to East Peckham at home. It was a cracking match to play in and lived up to its top of the table billing but Maidstone were always second best in the scrum and Peckham were perhaps a little livelier in the backs. However, with these two sides destined to meet in the last match of the season, the League Title is still within the grasp of Maidstone by the simple expedient of winning all of their remaining fixtures.

The fifths picked up a well matched fixture vs Shootershill 3rds, (who had lost at home to our 4ths last week) but lost by the slimmest margin of 3 points. However, Martin was very pleased with improved performance this week, especially in terms of commitment and aggression and feels that Colin Frost's excellent thursday night training sessions are starting to pay dividends. Thanks to Kim Martin for refereeing the game. On a day when Weavering's League game vs Anchorians III was cancelled owing to the lack of a referee, its worth reflecting on how lucky we are to be able to call upon the services of such good non-society refs to help us out on the frequent occasions when society refs are not available. Please make sure that you continue to give all refs your support and appreciation at every opportunity.

The Vets, unusually, also suffered several last minute drop-outs and faced travelling to Rye with a much depleted side. However, they took with them some under-age players (Rye Goons are not Vets after-all) and came away with an unlikely victory. Congratulations to Andres Eilers, Ben Foskett, Simon Fleming and especially to Zoltan the Hungarian, who scored his first ever try to set up the win, with Vets skipper Glyn Richards snatching victory with the 2nd try.

Availability appears to be very high for next saturday, so its quite likely that there will be a Nomads team playing - if a suitable fixture can be found.

Evergreen Cup

Maidstone have drawn a home fixture at last, (after 5 succesive away matches) and are to play Gillingham Anchorians on 13th December, 2:15 KO. To make sure that players are available, the 3rd team friendly vs Whitstable II has been cancelled on that day. Evergreen Cup matches are highly competitive and great to watch, so anyone who can't make it to support the 1st team at Deal-Betteshangar in the Kent Cup on the 13th, has a ready made counter-attraction to enjoy at home.

Fixtures for 6th December

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Basingstoke	A	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Canterbury III	H	Invicta League
3rd	Aylesford III	H	Mid Kent A
4th	Aylesford IV	A	Mid Kent B
5th	Aylesford V	H	Mid Kent C
Vets	Fixture Exchange	A	Friendly
Nomads	Fixture Exchange	H/A	Friendly

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Results for 22nd November

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	No fixture	A
2nd (Mustangs)	East Grinstead 1st	A	lost 30-0	Friendly
3rd	Sevenoaks Acorns	H	7oaks cried off	Friendly
4th	Sittingbourne II c/o playd Shootershill 3	A	Won 5-24	Friendly
5th	Ashford IV	H	Lost 7-36	Friendly
Vets	Folkestone Fossils	H	won22-12	Friendly
Nomads	TBA	H/A		Friendly

This was a somewhat unsatisfactory week in terms of fixtures, with only 4 matches being played. The 3rds were on the fixture exchange from Wednesday onwards but did not get a match. The 4ths, were more fortunate, having picked up a replacement fixture with Old Shootershillians 3rds after Sittingbourne II were unable to raise a team.

The Mustangs took on a tough proposition in tackling East Grinstead 1st team, bearing in mind that Grinstead are near the top of London SE 4. In truth, it was a below par performance from the Mustangs and although Grinstead were good, the fact that half of the Maidstone team had been out with Luke Day the night before, did not help their cause. Luke has taken sabbatical leave from work and is off to Australia for 3 months: we wish him well and a speedy return, as his all-action displays at open-side flanker are a great assett at the top-end of the club. The worst news of the day was not the result or the score (which was at least more respectaable than England's) but the dislocated shoulder suffered by Gary Whitehead as he continued on his road to a 1st Team return. How utterly disappointing for him.

Another injury blow was the broken collar-bone suffered by Ben McKellar within 5 minutes of the start of the 4th team match at Old Shoots. Ben has been in outstanding form after making the switch from winger to centre and will be missed - especially for next week's top of the table clash with East Peckham. However, there are so many good players challenging for places, the team should be well up for the fixture. Tries for Kenton Parbutt,Rob Purfit,Andy Temple and Alan McCabe put Maidstone 24 - 0 up before Shoots grabbed a consolation score at the death. Rich Gray had some lively runs with ball in hand and Rob Purfit made a big difference after 3 weeks off, whilst the half-back pairing of Bowden and McCabe ensured a steady supply of quick ball for the lively three-quarters to play with.

The Ashford 4th team that turned up to play the 5ths bore no resemblance to the team they would have fielded had their 1sts, 2nds and 3rds all had fixtures. However, you have to play the team in front of you on the day and it wasnt a great 5th team performance by any means. Mark Burrill got Maidstone's consolation try, converted by Matt Ellesmere, whilst Pete Gray deserves a special mention for playing a full match in the front row after having played for the Vets against Folkestone Fossils at 1 pm.

Celtically challenged Vets skipper, Glyn Richards was away in Cardiff with Vets 2nd row Tony O'Mahoney, so it was good to be able to replace them this week with guest appearances from Mark Fish and Jacques Vrey, who made a significant difference to what was already a good looking side, skippered on the day by Dave Hughes. Folkestone Fossils are a great bunch of guys and the games are always very enjoyable, which is just as well really as our Vets are scheduled to play them 3 times this season.

Other Matters

Well done to the U12s parents, who staged a quiz night at the club on saturday night and packed the place out for what was a very good social event and fund-raiser. I gather that The Crawford-Smith team proved to be the worthy winners - and promptly chucked their £100 prize money back into the fund-raising kitty. I dont know where their annual tour is destined for this year, but it should be very well funded after all the fund-raising that has been occurring.

Membership Subscriptions

Members are reminded that subscriptions are now overdue. There are still those among you who have yet to pay a membership subscription and a number of others that need to update their standing orders. Subscription desks will be running on Thursday evenings and Saturdays for the remainder of the month, so please ensure that you either bring a cheque for full payment or your account details to fill in a Standing Order form for your bank. Any outstanding subscriptions after 30th November will not be permitted to pay by standing order without payment of the outstanding balance. (Payment details on Membership Page) If you are not paying your subscription then someone else is subsidising your rugby and you are ripping your mates off, so please make sure that you are making your monthly contribution to the running of your club.

Fixtures for 29th November

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Dover	H	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Gravesend II	A	Invicta League
3rd	Edenbridge	A	Mid Kent A
4th	East Peckham	H	Mid Kent B
5th	TBA	H	Friendly
Vets	Rye Goons	A	Friendly
Nomads	TBA	H/A	Friendly

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Results for 15th November

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Tun Wells	A	Lost29-20	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Dover II	H	Won19-13	Invicta League
3rd	Vigo II	H	Won43-7	Mid Kent A
4th	Tun wells III	A	Lost17-23	Mid Kent B
5th	Tun Wells IV	H	Lost17-37	Mid Kent C
Vets	DB Lions Vets	A	not played	Friendly
Nomads/Vets	Footscray III	A	Lost19-12	Friendly

Christmas came early for Tunbridge Wells, as 2 gift-wrapped tries gave them victory in what would have otherwise been a first win for The Firsts on the long road back to League safety. However, there were so many pluses in this performance that the corner must soon be turned. Well done in particular to the front row of Mark Thurgood, Nick East and Martin Maytum, especially as both Mark and Martin prefer tight-head, so one of them must have played completely out of position at loose head prop. Gareth Hill and Mark Ryan scored a try each whilst Piers Francis accounted for the other 10 points with 4 succesful kicks.

The Mustangs prevailed in a tough encounter with Dover II, despite several enforced late changes,to maintain their challenge for the Invicta League. Dover proved to be a very good side and The Mustangs were forced to spend the last 20 minutes defending their line, so the win was especially pleasing. James Sullivan got 2 tries, Tommy King got one and Gary Whitehead kicked the extras.

The Thirds were far too strong for Vigo II. Charlie Flynn used his considerable momentum to get himself 2 tries whilst Tom Harvey showed that he has the pace to get tries at this level also by bagging 2. (Where to next for this recent rugby convert, who is moving up the ranks fast?) Sean Charlton, Jacques Vrey and Ian Howson accounted for a try each and John Hogarth kicked the necessaries.

The fourth team's 9 match winning run came to an end at Tunbridge Wells, where they lost by one try. Missing a few regulars, the team were unfortunate to suffer 2 early injuries and were then further disrupted when George Coomber had to go off for a period. However, they should retain their position at the top of the division on the basis of a superior points difference over East Peckham, who they meet in 2 weeks time. Tries for Bowden, Finch and McCreery.

The fifths found themselves 22-0 down before very long, then fought back to 22-17 before conceding 15 more points in the last 10 minutes. Kenton Oxley, Paul Edwards and Ian Davis got the tries and Matt Ellesmere did the extras.

The Vets and Nomads combined forces to go to Footscray as neither the Vets nor Nomads had a decent quorum to fulfill their respective fixtures. (Apologies to DB Lions Vets for crying off on Friday). How fortunate for the Nomads though, to have the Vets on board, as Footscary 3rd proved to be big and bulky and far from the scratch team that we had expected. However, that made for a very well matched contest in the end (reffed exceptionally well) which Footscray won by 1 try. There were good debuts for 17 year olds Josh McKenzie and Phil Relf and also for forty-something rugby debutant Gary Griffiths, who showed that he had the bottle to put in the tackles when needed. New player, Richard Powell also showed that he has the attitude to stand up and be counted when the going gets rough. Dave Hughes got Maidstone's first and Fabrice Ochini emerged from a pile up on the line with the second.

Next week, its all friendlies and a chance to get away from the unrelenting series of League games that has taken us a third of the way into the season. Its worth remembering that there is still everything to play for at all levels of the club and whilst 3 of the teams have played themselves into contention to win their Leagues, there is every opportunity for the others to gain League respectability (whilst the Vets can look forward to lots more beer and friendlies as per normal). The important thing is that morale is remarkably good throughout the club and the belief and attitude at the top end is still spot on. Lets keep it up.

Fixtures for 22nd November

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	No fixture	A
2nd (Mustangs)	East Grinstead 1st	A	Friendly
3rd	Sevenoaks Acorns	H	Friendly
4th	Sittingbourne II	A	Friendly
5th	Ashford IV	H	Friendly
Vets	Folkestone Fossils	H	Friendly
Nomads	TBA	H/A	Friendly

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Results for 8th November

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Sidcup	H	Lost10-24	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Old Dunstonians II	A	Won 0-83	Invicta League
3rd	Tonbridge Judds III	A	Lost19-15	Mid Kent A
4th	Tonbridge Judds IV	H	Won 29-0	Mid Kent B
5th	Tonbridge Judds V	A	Lost 40-7	Mid Kent C
Vets	Whitstable Vets	A	Won 0-31	Friendly
Nomads	Sevenoaks IV	H	Won 10-7	Friendly

A mix of results to consider this week, with the 2 major surprises being a loss for the Thirds at Tonbridge and a first ever win for the Gonads, at home to Sevenoaks IV.

The First Team lost a game that could have been won (which has not always been the case this season) and took a number of positives out of the day, not least a more robust performance from a beefed-up pack. Their day will come. (Many are desperately hoping that the breakthrough comes next week, so that departing Kiwi, Sam Johnston can be given the blame for the run of poor results: he would be sure to enjoy the joke)(See more about Sam below)

The Mustangs notched up another gear to tear a demoralised Old Dunstonians II to shreds, Tommy King grabbing three of the tries and 5 or 6 others getting onto the score sheet.

The Thirds raced into a 14 nil lead at Tonbridge before uncharacteristically losing their grip on the game, to fall victim to a young, lively and enterprising Juddians three-quarter line. John Hogarth and Dave Tugwell got Maidstone's 2 tries but young, lively and enterprising centre, Dominic Baxter was Maidstone's man of the match.

The Fourth Team stretched their unbeaten run with a sizeable win that did not reflect the even-ness of the game against a spirited TJ 4th team. Recent rugby convert Tom Harvey followed up his recent try-scoring exploits for the Nomads by scoring 2 more for the 4ths, showing electric pace that is surely going to take him further up the club in the near future. Mark Fish added his considerable presence in the 2nd row on a rare excursion out of the third team, and with several players returning next week, pressure for places will be intense.

The Fifths faced a tough trip to Tonbridge 5ths and returned well beaten, but not as badly as they would have been had Rich Nunn not had a superb game in his new position of Centre, from where he scored Maidstone's one consolation try.

The Vets enjoyed their away trip to Whitstable, where they were quite a bit too good for Whitstable's emergent 4th team, Paul Ehrhart making a welcome return to action after a lay-off for dodgy knees, which tends to be more prevalent in your late 60s (I expect).

The Gonads recorded their 1st win of the modern era in a superb fixture against Sevenoaks Fourth Team (who confusingly, are really their 5ths). Ex-footballer Jonathan Sharp, who has been training with the club since pre-season, opened the try count in his first ever game of rugby whilst Gaelic Footballer extraordinaire, Brian Costello got the 2nd.

Other Matters

Sam Johnston It was great to see such a large turn-out for Snakey's last stand on saturday night as people turned out in force to see off Sam and Cat as they head for a new life in New Zealand. The Neaves and Johnston musical double act was as gruesome as always but as popular as ever and the club-house was really buzzing until late into the night. A fitting send-off for a great player and one of the biggest personalities of Maidstone Rugby during the last decade. In an extract from this week's match programme, a tribute from 1st team captain, Martin Arnold follows:

Sam johnston, who plays his last game for us today,arrived in Maidstone in in October 2001 with his fellow Kiwi Mark McIlroy and was immediately integrated into the playing and social side of the club. He was one of the first of the Darfield crew to follow Eugene Moore's advice and come over to play for Maidstone, and his influence has had a lot to do with some other great players following in his footsteps.

Since making his debut against Tunbridge Wells 7 years ago, he has made more than 150 1st Team appearances in all competitions. He has been an ever present in the 1st Team in recent seasons and has been a club man in every sense of the word - he rarely, if ever, missed a training session and his enthusiasm for the game is there for all to see.

I'm sure everyone has a special memory of Sam, whether that be him hanging out on the wing during his "phantom" phase, leaping like a salmon in the line-out during his "salmon" phase or performing duets with Shaun Neaves at club social events during his "Britain hasnt got that much talent" phase. On behalf of everyone at the club I would like to thank Sam for all his efforts and his friendship and wish him and Cat all the best for their future together in New Zealand.

Fixtures for 15th November

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Tun Wells	A	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Dover II	H	Invicta League
3rd	Vigo II	H	Mid Kent A
4th	Tun wells III	A	Mid Kent B
5th	Tun Wells IV	H	Mid Kent C
Vets	DB Lions Vets	A	Friendly
Nomads	TBA	H/A	Friendly

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Results for 1st November

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Old Colfes	A	Lost 47-0	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Old Elthamians II	H	Won 27-12	Invicta League
3rd	Cranbrook II	H	Won 24-6	Mid Kent A
4th	New Ash Green II	A	Won 0-13	Mid Kent B
5th	Cranbrook III	A	Won 5-14	Mid Kent C
Vets	Sheppey Vets	H	Won 15-10	Friendly
Nomads	Couldnt find fixture	A		Friendly

What a fabulous set of results this week - barring one.

Spare a thought for the 1st Team players who are going out every week to fly the flag for Maidstone. They're a great bunch of players who deserve better than they're getting in what is a very tough league. With a couple of new additions, the team could easily turn a corner and salvage something from their season - even if its not now going to be promotion;-) They should each feel proud that they're the best players in a club full of good players.

For evidence of that, look no further than The Mustangs, who beat the hitherto unbeaten League Leaders Old Elthamians, to lay down a real challenge for the League leadership. 2 Tries from Nick Sargent and one each from Rich Glover and Ben Court wrapped up the game, with Gary Whitehead kicking the extras in his first game back after a long injury lay-off.

Or what about the 3rd team, who comfortably disposed of hitherto unbeaten League leaders Cranbrook II to climb to the top of the Mid Kent A Division League Table themselves. Tries from Mattinson,Vrey,Baxter and Tuggy accounted for most of the points whilst Dave Coleman followed up his man of the match display in the 4ths last week by taking the man of the match award for the 3rds this week.

And then there are the unbeaten 4th Team,(the only unbeaten side in the 3 divisions of the Mid Kent League), who consolidated their position at the top of Mid Kent B with a gritty win against a very committed New Ash Green II. Jack Wainhouse made an impressive debut at 2nd row and Andy Staples made a huge contribution at Number 8 to counter the threat of the NAG pack when they started to rumble ominously. Tries came from hooker, Geoff McCreery and from Mark Staples, with Alan McCabe kicking a speculative penalty. (George Coomber cost himself a starting position by getting lost en route again but worse than that, he had brother Olllie's kit with him so Ollie couldnt start either. I think Ollie should get him a Sat-nav for Christmas).

The Fifths made their own contribution to this roll of honour by going away to Mid Kent C League leaders Cranbrook III and coming away with a hard-fought victory. Mike Gillies and Rich Nunn got the tries with Matt Bird kicking the conversions.

Owing to the heavy rain on the Somme, the Vets were shunted up to the park to play their fixture vs Sheppey Vets and got back to winning ways with a satisfying performance. Not so satisfying for Rich Foden though, who played for Sheppey to make up their numbers to 15.

The Nomads had around 17 players all primed and ready to go, but were unable to secure a fixture, so regrettably there was no rugby for a lot of players. No such problem next week, as a friendly fixture is already lined up vs Sevenoaks IV at home.

Training

Don't forget that tuesday night training will be in the Maidstone Barracks gym from here on. Thursday's will continue on the Somme as now.

Fixtures for 8th November

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Sidcup	H	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Old Dunstonians II	A	Invicta League
3rd	Tonbridge Judds III	A	Mid Kent A
4th	Tonbridge Judds IV	H	Mid Kent B
5th	Tonbridge Judds V	A	Mid Kent C
Vets	Whitstable Vets	A	Friendly
Nomads	Sevenoaks IV	H	Friendly

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Results for 25th October

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Beckenham	H	Lost 3-27	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Tunbridge Wells II	A	Won 12-31	Invicta League
3rd	Old Grvsndians II	H	Won 39-0	Mid Kent A
4th	Footscray II	A	Won 5-37	Mid Kent B
5th	Old Grvsndians III	A	Won w/o	Mid Kent C
Vets	Dover Vets	H	Lost 7-43	Friendly
Nomads	Maidstone 5ths	A	Lost 12-43	Friendly

After training on thursday evening, there was a great atmosphere in the bar as players gathered around to watch a DVD of the 1st Team Cup Match against Diss the previous saturday. It was a fantastic match to watch, with Maidstone playing some superb rugby to take Diss to within a gnats crotchet of suffering their first defeat of the season, which but for a fantastic try-saving tackle on Ed Laurent, could so easily have happened. There was therefore every reason to hope that the weekly improvement in performance would translate into a League win over Beckenham but sadly, it was not to be.(match report) Morale and optimism remain high however and it can only be a question of time before results turn Maidstone's way.

And if anyone from out-side were fooled into thinking that Maidstone is a club in crisis, just look at the table above. I think that most clubs would like to swop their problems for ours, given the chance.

The Mustangs juggernaut is well and truly back on the road, although next week's match against league topping Elthamians II will test their League winning credentials. Tries from Tommy King, Sam Rogers,Mike Laurenson, Mark Graves and Andy Cairns sealed victory over Tunbridge Wells.(match report)

The Third Team limbered up for their potential League decider next week, by disposing of Old Gravesendian's II by a comfortable margin, although the win would have been much easier had it not been for the Old G's open-side flanker, who collected Paul Massey's man of the match award. This was quite some acheivement to eclipse as it did, Maidstone's hat-trick scoring flanker, Jacques Vrey.(match report) Looking forward to next week, Cranbrook II are unbeaten so far this season, but with the quality and power of the Maidstone players available for next week's match, its hard to imagine them remaining unbeaten much longer.

The 4th team lost both 2nd-row forwards, a prop and a flanker in the 18 hours before kick-off but were still comfortable winners away at Footscray. Best player in the Maidstone side was veteran Dave Coleman (our illustrious Hon Treasurer) who was plucked from obscurity on the 3rd team bench to add his savvy and physical presence to the fourth team effort. Well done to Pete Gray for stepping in at the last minute to replace a flu-ridden prop, despite a broken finger. It was handy also to pick up Jack Budgen as a late back-row replacement and also to be able to bring on Mark Staple's brother Andy as an emergency substitute, playing his first rugby since a serious injury interrupted a promising rugby career six or seven years ago.

The Fifth's league game vs Old G's III was a walk-over when Old Gs cried-off, which gave rise to an opportunity for a home game between the 5ths and Maidstone Nomads, who were in serious danger of getting no fixture to play, despite having a pretty decent side assembled. The 5ths were somewhat stunned to find themselves 7-0 down within 3 minutes of the start, when after some text-book rugby from forwards and backs, Tom Harvey ran in a try for the Nomads from within his own half. The Nomads managed to hang on to the lead for around half an hour but the 5ths really started to get their act together and showed that they had the experience and power to exploit the opportunities that came their way. Outstanding player for the 5ths was Andy Brown although there were numerous good performances. For the Nomads, Tom Harvey's two solo tries won him the accolades, but Inigo Lasa was his typical all action self, despite breaking a toe in training on thursday.

The Nomads marked a couple of rugby debut's for guys who have been training regularly. One of the U12 parents Aidie Shaw, decided to give it a go for the first time and German student Andres Eilers also played for the first time and took to rugby like a duck to water. (I've always thought that its quite lucky for the rest of us that the Germans havent got the hang of rugby yet. It gives us some hope of winning another World Cup!!). Despite an eventual one-sided score-line, the game was enormous fun and a marvellous chance for new players to play a full 80 minutes of real rugby. It also gave many players the opportunity to try out a new position that they might never otherwise get to play. Its probably worth making the point that playing in the Nomads does not relegate one to 7th team rugby. Its just that it is not always possible to give people a game in a team that is commensurate with their ability. At least four of saturday's team could well feature in the top half of the club by the end of the season and a number of others could easily slot in at 4th team level.

Dover phoned on thursday to say that they were struggling to get a vets team together to send to play our Vets. However, their problem was solved when Thanet cried off their 4th team league match and enabled Dover to send their 4th team instead. Inevitably, it was a much tougher proposition for the vets, playing a team who are unbeaten in 3 seasons (so I heard). However, the Vets had no complaints - except with themselves for putting up a well below-par performance on the day.

Evergreen Cup

Maidstone are through to the second round by default, as Bromley were unable to raise a team to play us. News of our 2nd round opposition should be available very shortly. Lets hope its a home draw after 4 consecutive away matches.

Other Matters

The new system for ordering food for after thursday training, seemed to work very well this week, with Tracy serving up a very tasty looking supper to hungry players. Just a reminder that, if you want to eat afterwards, you need to place your order with the bar-staff when you arrive.

Fixtures for 1st November

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Old Colfes	A	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Old Elthamians II	H	Invicta League
3rd	Cranbrook II	H	Mid Kent A
4th	New Ash Green II	A	Mid Kent B
5th	Cranbrook III	A	Mid Kent C
Vets	Sheppey Vets	H	Friendly
Nomads	TBA	A	Friendly

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Results for 18th October

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Diss	H	Lost 27-32	Intermediate Cup
2nd (Mustangs)	Westcombe Pk III	A	Won 5-32	Invicta League
3rd	Anchorians II	H	Won 38-12	Mid Kent A
4th	Anchorians III	A	Won 0-10	Mid Kent B
5th	Leigh	A	Lost 31-19	Mid Kent C
Vets	Cranbrook Vets	H	Lost 7-33	Friendly
Nomads	New Ash Green III	A	Didnt play	Friendly

Week by week the gap is narrowing for the 1st team and it is only a matter of time before they chalk up their 1st win, with fellow strugglers Beckenham being an obvious target for that dubious honour. Considering that Diss are the unbeaten leaders of London 2 North, this was a fine performance but the narrow loss leaves the team to concentrate on salvaging something from the League instead.

The Mustangs are returning to some very good form, as they demonstrated in comprehensively outplaying a pretty competent Westcombe Park Third Team, with some outstanding performances from Ian Lee,Sam Rogers and Man of the Match, Tom Moon. Despite some early set-backs, the Invicta League season has a long way to run and the Mustangs could well be back in contention by the end of the season. However, I bet there isnt another team in the League that will field 2 props with a combined age of over 100 as we did on saturday !!

The 3rds had to stand up to be counted against an extremely robust Anchs 2nd team but they came through it to put pressure on the other contenders at the top of the Mid Kent A division. Well done to Zoltan the Hungarian,(an ever-present at training) who turned up with his boots and got a game for the 3rds and did pretty well by all accounts, despite it being only his 2nd game of rugby. However, with 2 outstanding tries to his name, Peter Mattinson took the honours for Man of the Match.

Dave Jackson led the 4ths to an ugly but important win against Anchs III, to maintain the 4th team's unbeaten position at the top of the Mid Kent B table. With only one regular front-row player and a lightweight pack, Maidstone were still able to dominate possession thanks largely to Chris Finch's outstanding line-out jumping, and the Maidstone three--quarters did the rest, Darren Banfield scoring a try to spare his blushes over a couple of penalty misses.

The 5ths were disrupted by several late drop-outs but were able to replenish their ranks from an extensive bench. However, this wasnt enough to secure them a victory against one of their bogey teams, Leigh. Despite that, it was a very good game played in a very good spirit and marked a very good debut at Hooker for promising player, Tom Warren.

The Vets met up with a typically robust and physical Cranbrook vets team and despite welcome guest appearances from Dominic Baxter and Chris Pedder in the back-line, they didnt have enough muscle and bustle to cope with the savvy and presence of the Cranbrook forwards, or the running power of their backs. No complaints about the result though, as they were fairly beaten by the better team on the day.

Despite having a peach of a fixture lined up against New Ash Green III, the Nomads didnt take the field, largely owing to the lack of a skipper to take them out this week.However, availability is very good for the 25th and hopefully, the Nomads will return to the field soon. Watch this space.

Other Matters

Some advance notice that Snakey's last stand is to take place at the clubhouse on saturday 8th November, starting at 7:30, to mark the departure of Sam Johnston from these shores as he returns to New Zealand, probably for good. Sam has been an ever present in the 1st team in recent years and has made an immense contribution to the playing success of the club - as well as the social life, (never knowingly keeping his trousers up when they could have been round his knees). All are welcome to participate in his farewell fest and to hear a last reprise of the legendary Neaves and Johnston musical combo. There should be a poster on the Web-site soon to advertise the event properly- when Mark Ryan gets around to posting it (too technical for me)

Food Following the frenzy of fury and near riot that broke out when there was no food available after training last thursday, I am pleased to announce a new system for this and future weeks. If you wish to eat after training, please let Tracey know when you arrive at the club on a thursday and, would you believe it, she will cook your food to order so that its piping-hot, ready and waiting for you when you come out of your shower. What could be simpler and better than that - whilst ensuring no waste and 100% satisfied customers? Thank you Tracey. You're like a mother to us.

4th team Night-out Lots of the 4th team have been press-ganged into supporting their follically challenged leader at the Cherry Tree in Barming on saturday night (25th). The set kicks off at around 8:30, goes on till late and then its all back to Andy Cairns new pad afterwards, which is just a short stagger away.(Although he doesnt yet know about it). All are welcome; entry is free; see you there. www.meninshortz.co.uk

Fixtures for 25th October

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Beckenham	H	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Tunbridge Wells II	A	Invicta League
3rd	Old Grvsndians II	H	Mid Kent A
4th	Footscray II	A	Mid Kent B
5th	Old Grvsndians III	A	Mid Kent C
Vets	Dover Vets	H	Friendly
Nomads	TBA	A	Friendly

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Results for 11th October

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Gravesend	A	Lost 44-5	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Sidcup	H	Won 25-15	Invicta League
3rd	Gravesend III	A	Won 14-24	Mid Kent A
4th	Gravesend IV	H	Won 36-5	Mid Kent B
5th	Gravesend V	H	Lost 19-30	Mid Kent C
Vets	Gravesend Moles	A	Lost 17-10	Friendly
Nomads	No fixture			Friendly

Block fixtures are great - although few and far between these days. This was as close as we get to a block fixture in these days of League Rugby and on this occasion, Gravesend can congratulate themselves on having had the best of the rubber, with 3 wins out of 5, including the crucial 1st team game.

It could all have been very different for the 1st team if they had managed to convert some of their gilt-edged chances in the first-half, but it ended up as another emphatic defeat for a team that is suffering from lack of confidence and that is getting very few breaks. However, there are enough quality players in the side to ensure that this run of poor results will not go on indefinitely: what better time to break the duck than in next week's Intermediate Cup home match vs Diss ?

The Mustangs returned to the kind of form that nearly won the Invicta League last year, in beating Sidcup II in a closely fought encounter at The Mote. The Mustangs were boosted by the welcome return of Matt Iles, an outstanding former youth player for Maidstone, who made a telling contribution in his favoured position of Number 8. Most credit must go to the front-row of Mark Thurgood, playing on through injury and stand-in loose-head prop John O'Brien, who both had excellent games,especially in the tight. Gareth "Grange" Hill anounced his return with a well taken try and Neil Graves announced his introduction from the sub's bench with a tackle that sent his Sidcup opposite number into the middleof next week. It was disappointing to lose new player, Chris Wallis to a rib injury that will keep him out of First Team contention for a couple of months. We wish him a speedy recovery.

The Thirds made unnecessarily hard work of putting away Gravesend's 3rd team, and questioning the referees decision when a Jacques Vrey try was disallowed didn't help their cause, because they were reduced temporarily to 14 men as a result. (It was the fact that Jacques was buried under a pile of exclusively red and white shirts when the try was disallowed that gave rise to the dissent) However, he got another one later to make up for it. Charlie Simpson had another very good game, this time at blind-side flanker whilst Peter Mattinson clinched victory with a searing try under the posts. This result helps to keep the pressure on the other teams at the top of the League, including next week's implacable opponents, Anchs II.

The 4ths had so many good players available that when Craig Bowden and Simon Wright (long) turned up on the touch-line with their boots, there was no room to fit either of them into the team. How often would this be the case? However, things are going well for the 4ths this season and the Gravesend skipper wanted to know afterwards how we had acquired so many good players since March when we last played them. The biggest difference today was the inclusion of Ben McKellar, who had been selected to play on the wing for this, his 1st match of the season but who was switched to inside centre by Vice Captain Dave Jackson, leading the side onto the field once again. It proved to be an inspired move as Ben carved Gravesend wide open with his 1st touch of the ball to run in what would prove to be the first of his three tries. New flanker Bob Purfit looked a lot quicker and younger than his age when he skipped through for a fine solo try but the champagne moment of the day was the superb mid air catch from Mote cricketer Tom Harvey followed by a jinking solo run and pass off the floor to the supporting Chris Finch for an easy try under the posts. Dan Taylor started at Number 8 and showed once again how good he is going forward with the ball. Charlie Flynn moved to 8 in the 2nd half and put in another storming performance in his favoured position. Steve Goodwin returned for his 1st match since January and showed that he has lost none of his scrummaging power during his long absence.

Dont really know what happened to the fifths, although they were clearly suffering from a lack of specialist three-quarters in their line-up at the start. They appeared to be in for a heavy loss at half-time but obviously managed to fight back for a reasonably respectable score-line. (Not quite close enough though, to give them a losing bonus-point by the end).Interestingly, Bob Purfit came on as a late replacement after being replaced at half-time in the 4th team game, and scored a try for the 5ths on top of the one that he got for the 4ths.

The Vets went down to a fairly narrow defeat at the hands of Gravesend Moles, who have not won this fixture for around 10 years and who even gave up playing the Vets at one point as they were fed-up with so many heavy defeats. The Moles had around 27 players and played all of them during the match, which is one of the big advantages of playing social rugby. However, no complaints there, as we have done it to them on numerous occasions before.

The Nomads did not get a game as there was no skipper for them and no suitable fixture. A Nomads fixture is available for next week vs New Ash Green III and one hopes that there will be enough players to fulfill the fixture, despite the absence of several regular 5th team players. Anyone who is interested in playing should flag their availability to any one of the club's six skippers.

Fixtures for 18th October

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Diss	H	Intermediate Cup
2nd (Mustangs)	Westcombe Pk III	A	Invicta League
3rd	Anchorians II	H	Mid Kent A
4th	Anchorians III	A	Mid Kent B
5th	Leigh	A	Mid Kent C
Vets	Cranbrook Vets	H	Friendly
Nomads	New Ash Green III	A	Friendly

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Results for 4th October

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Cobham	H	Lost 6-22	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Tonbridge Judds II	A	Lost 27-14	Invicta League
3rd	Medway II	A	Won 14-26	Mid Kent A
4th	Medway III	H	Won 29-7	Mid Kent B
5th	Medway IV	A	Lost 19-0	Mid Kent C
Vets	Sittingbourne III	H	Won 49-7	Friendly
Nomads	Faversham II	H	Lost 0-50	Friendly

The 1st Team result showed no improvement this week, but the scoreline continued to improve. After last week's match against Thanet, where the result remained in doubt until 20 minutes from the end, this was also a game that could have been won. What will now be most important is that the team gets itself into winning form in time to take on some of the fellow strugglers at the bottom of the Table. Well done to Steve Coates on making his 1st team debut - and acquitting himself well by all accounts. Steve is one of those ambidextrous players who can play in any position on the park with equal aplomb, although strangely he has never been asked to play 2nd-row. However, he's confidently expecting a post-pubescent growth spurt that should do the trick.

It feels strange to report on another defeat for The Mustangs, after what was nearly an unbeaten season last year. Andy Cairns scored his first try at this level after some powerful running; Tom Moon had another very good game playing in the centre; Former Canterbury player Chris Wallis made a good debut in the 2nd row and Ben Rookledge from our U18s looked very comfortable playing at this level when he came off the bench. Well done to Ross Laing for once again stepping up to prop for The Mustangs when needed.

The 3rds found themselves in a dogged battle at Medway, against a young development 2nd XV side who were in contention right until the end. Tries from Sean Charlton, Pete Mattinson and the outstanding Jacques Vrey sealed victory with John Hogarth adding the extras after breaking Medway hearts all afternoon with his booming downfield kicks. The game saw a welcome return for a couple of young players, Mike Hills at Hooker and Jack Budgen in the back row, playing his first game of the season. Raw but highly committed and effective would be a good description of Jack, who had some outstanding games for the 4ths at the end of last season. Hungry, would be a good description of Mike Hills, who had not eaten before the game and was so weak by half-time after a robust performance that he had to be fed on chocolate and oranges to try and revive him before the 2nd half commenced. I'm pleased to report that he revived sufficiently to go the distance.

Dave Jackson led the 4th team to another good victory, beating Medway III for the first time in many a long League encounter. Mark Staples, making his debut for the club, got the first try; Inigo Lasa, the irrepressible Basque got the 2nd and George Coomber got 2 from full-back, including a stunning follow-up chase to collect a sliced penalty kick followed by a solo run from the half-way line. Darren Banfield kicked 3 conversions and a penalty.

The 5ths were disrupted by a number of late drop-outs and took a weakened team to Medway - which is no place to go with a weakened team. On top of that, new prop Jack Coomber twisted his knee within 2 minutes and then Steve Jones had to leave the field with yet another cut eye. Despite all that, it was really only some weak tackling that lost Maidstone the match.

The Vets lined up against Sittingbourne III and posted a big score to get back to winning ways. Short of players before the kick-off, they suddenly realised that baby-faced 4th team sub Ian Davis is actually 35 (despite having a much younger wife) and so they nabbed him to play for them instead. Apparently, they were very pleased with his contribution to Vets rugby, so it remains to be seen whether this now marks a permanent transition on his part "to the dark side"

With an abundance of players left over after selecting 6 sides this week, it became clear that it would be necessary to put out a Nomads team again this week to accomodate all the players wanting to play. However, the great difficulty with Nomads rugby is not in assembling a team but in finding suitable opposition. Having gathered around 14 players, including 2 that had never before played a match and another 6 with almost no experience, it was slightly terrifying to see the size of the "scratch team" that Faversham II had managed to assemble for this fixture.(In hind-sight, the Nomads should clearly have played Sittingbourne III and the Vets should have played Faversham II) Fortunately for the Nomads, they had managed to secure the services of Will Rush, who played out of position at scrum-half to give the Nomads a fighting chance of making a game of it and Gaelic Football specialist Brain Costello was a revelation at fly-half. Also outstanding was Mote Cricketer Tom Harvey, who had never played rugby before but who tackled superbly and showed some real pace with ball in hand: A "natural" if ever I've seen one. Zoltan the Hungarian also acquitted himself pretty well in his first game and a mention must also go to Pete Gray, who defies the old adage that Props should not be allowed to kick the ball.

Of course it was a heavy defeat for the Nomads but it gave lots of people the chance of a match who would not otherwise have played. It helped that Faversham II were a super bunch of players without an ounce of malice between them and ideal opponents - if they hadnt been quite so big !! (As a footnote, its worth mentioning that Faversham II are one of the few teams on the circuit who always buy a jug for the opposition - which was slightly embarrassing this week as for once, we hadnt collected for a jug and were unable to reciprocate. Its a shame that this tradition has disappeared amongst many teams these days, although I know that our Vets for instance, always make the effort. Its a rugby tradition thats well worth preserving)

BAR OLYMPICS 21st November

Advance notice of a Bar Olympics event to take place on a Friday night in November. Events will include Table Tennis, Darts, Shove Ha'Penny, Quiz round etc. (Steve Coates was disappointed to hear that there would'nt be a "drinking warm piss" round - but then bar olympics means something slightly different in the Army) Teams of 5 will be sought to represent teams in the senior club or from parents in the junior section. A ploughmans supper will be provided and I've even heard talk of some free beer. Watch this space for further details.

And lastly, a little snippet from this week's match programme, which is well worth repeating here. No prizes for recognizing the inimitable style of the author.

Happy Birthday!

Believe it or not, Nick Sargent reaches the milestone of his 30th Birthday tomorrow. Nick, who for so long has lived in the shadow of his better looking and more talented older brother Jon, made his 1st XV debut as a 17 year old in the 1996 Intermediate Cup win over then holders Thanet, and has been a mainstay of the side (injury permitting) for a decade.

Part of our Kent Cup Final side in 2000, where within 5 seconds he made one of the worst clearance kicks and best tackles you are likely to see on a rugby pitch, he went on to represent Kent in the County Championship in 2003. Having only recently returned to training following jaw surgery over the summer aimed at making him look a little bit more like his brother, he is now a senior member of a side which includes 7 teenagers looking to him for wisdom + guidance… Happy birthday little bro!

Fixtures for 11th October

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Gravesend	A	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Sidcup	H	Invicta League
3rd	Gravesend III	A	Mid Kent A
4th	Gravesend IV	H	Mid Kent B
5th	Gravesend V	H	Mid Kent C
Vets	Gravesend Moles	A	Friendly
Nomads	TBA		Friendly

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Results for 27th September

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Thanet	H	Lost 3-33	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Beckenham II	H	Lost 16-21	Invicta League
3rd	Lordswood II	H	Won 31-15	Mid Kent A
4th	Lordswood III	A	Won 0-46	Mid Kent B
5th	Bexley III Played Weavering	A	Walk-over Lost 5-63	Mid Kent C
Vets	Sheppey Vets	A	Lost 24-5	Friendly

A much better week for the 1st Team this week, showing that its not destined to be the same disastrous scenario week after week, despite current difficulties. In fact, with some of the new and returning players in prospect in future weeks, sooner or later the team will return to winning ways: its just a matter of keeping the faith in the meantime.

The Mustangs had their usual epic struggle with Beckenham II but lost out this time, despite the tally of 16 points from Duncan McLintock. Somehow though, I have a feeling that there will be no runaway winner in the Invicta League this year. One surprise this week was that Canterbury III conceded their Invicta league fixture vs TJ II. I wonder if Canterbury have bitten off too much in trying to put their 3rd team into this competition - although Westcombe Pk III look as though they will be able to cope.

The 3rds had a tough battle against Lordswood II, with Jacques Vrey in the thick of the action as usual. Tries from Massey,Bates and Howson were not enough to seal victory but the 4 penalties and 2 conversions from the boot of Dave Charlton put the game out of sight of Lordswood, despite a flourish in the 2nd half when they briefly held the lead..

The 4ths took to the field under Vice-Captain Dave Jackson and recorded an emphatic 46-0 win against Lordswood III. Connor Brooker and Alan McCabe got a couple of tries each and there were also tries for Ben Jones,Charlie Flynn and debutant prop/hooker/back-row Rob Purfit. On top of that, Fly-Half Craig Bowden stunned everyone by getting a drop-goal. Is there no end to his talents? Next week's game against Medway III will pose a sterner test but if the team can come through with a win, they could be looking to be in contention for a serious assault on the title this year.

Bexley III cried off vs the 5ths on Friday morning, conceding the League points, so a replacement fixture was urgently needed. As luck would have it, Weavering suffered a cry-off from Gravesend IV (very surprising) and were faced with the prospect of playing a Maidstone side for a 3rd week in a row. They accepted the fixture and thanks largely to the inclusion of a terrific new winger, the score went heavily in favour of Weavering, in what was apparently a much more enjoyable game than the score-line suggests, Richard Nunn getting Maidstone's consolation try and Jake the Aussie getting scragged at every possible opportunity. One significant land-mark was that the game was reffed by our very own Steve Matthews, officiating for the 1st time following his Ref's course in the summer. I havent yet heard how he did but if he proves to be as illustrious a ref as he has been a player for Maidstone, then he should go far. Meanwhile though, we want him back in the 1st team as soon as he is fit.

The Vets went to Sheppey with a somewhat thread-bare side and lost to a Sheppey Vets side that were free of any 2nd or 3rd team duties on the day. It was a good game, well won by Sheppey, despite a try from the old war-horse Keith Newman who bagged his one try for the season at the earliest opportunity. Maybe he will be spurred on by this to stay out in front from here as leading try-scorer.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our unbelievably hard-working Deputy Chairman Bob Hayton, was working his magic with sponsors and Vice-Presidents at the first VP lunch of the season. You will soon see the fruit of his photographic efforts on the web-site and in the local press. Bob contributes the following notes:

Maidstone Rugby welcomes Sponsors Despite the disappointing result for the 1st XV in what has been a difficult opening to the season for the club, Maidstone Rugby were pleased to invite their sponsors to lunch for this weekend's league fixture against Thanet Wanderers. With new shirt sponsors for 4 of the clubs sides the day gave an opportunity for the club to say thank you to its sponsors who provide invaluable support to community based sport. Simon Wright of Simon Wright Homes reaffirmed his continued and long term support as the club's primary sponsor. The club were pleased to welcome John Sheath and his wife Vanessa from Brachers Solicitors who have made a significant commitment to the club as new official sponsors, in particular as lead sponsors for the club's extremely competitive Mustangs XV. John Sheath is an ex Beckenham player and was particularly pleased to be able to watch the Mustangs take on his old club in an Invicta league fixture. Additionally, Britelite Windows and Homewarm were also on hand to maintain their support as shirt sponsors for the club's 3rd XV, a side which has probably been the most consistent in the Mid Kent A League since its inception, and forms the foundation of the club's Evergreen Cup XV where they were runners up last year. Earl Street Recruitment complete this years new sponsors as the shirt sponsor of the club 5th XV.

Our Sponsors are vital to the well-being and future of the club, at all levels. Please support them whenever you have the opportunity.

Playing Numbers

It is extremely gratifying to have such healthy numbers at this stage of the season and we are very committed to providing all players with regular rugby - even if it means putting extra teams into the field. However, its extremely important that any-one who wants to be selected makes sure that they are paying a monthly subscription to the club. Please take responsibility and don't wait to be asked.

Fixtures for 4th October

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Cobham	H	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Tonbridge Judds II	A	Invicta League
3rd	Medway II	A	Mid Kent A
4th	Medway III	H	Mid Kent B
5th	Medway IV	A	Mid Kent C
Vets	Sittingbourne III	H	Friendly
Nomads	Faversham II	H	Friendly

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Results for 20th September

Team	Opposition	H/A	Results	Competition
1st	Chobham	A	Lost 111-0	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Sevenoaks II	A	Lost 39-5	Invicta League
3rd	Sevenoaks III	A	Lost 27-17	Mid Kent A
4th	Weavering	H	Won 15-10	Mid Kent B
5th	Sevenoaks IV	H	Won 19-15	Mid Kent C
Vets				Resting
Nomads	Tonbridge V		Lost 50-10	Friendly

In the last week of the cricket season, the First Team suffered the proverbial "cricket score" after being devastated by injuries, both prior to the match at Chobham and then during the game itself. The match report makes it clear that the team fought bravely despite the hopeless circumstances and one only needs to look at the names on the team sheet to recognize that they are all good, loyal players who will not have given up until the final whistle. Next saturday will be our 1st week-end back in occupation of the club and will see the visit of Thanet Wanderers, who have fared extremely poorly at the hands of Maidstone in recent seasons. Lets hope that the omens are good for a rapid change of fortune.

The Mustangs fared little better at Sevenoaks, after having been still well in contention at half-time and the 3rd team suffered an early set-back in their League campaign after coming second in a tough match against a very good Sevenoaks 3rd team. The Maidstone side looked to be a strong one on paper despite several last minute changes, and there was a fine solo try from debutant Charlie Simpson to celebrate in the first half, but the Sevenoaks three-quarter defence was so good that there was no way through, despite the quality of the Maidstone back-line.

Inspired perhaps by the presence of their mother on the touch-line, Oliver and George Coomber had storming games for the 4th team in subduing a lively Weavering team, who have been much too good for the 4th team to cope with in recent seasons. Charlie Flynn led the side onto the field and had one of his best games in a Maidstone shirt, whilst the handling and support play over-all was generally superb. The half-back combination of Ben Jones and Alan McCabe accounted for Maidstone's tries, whilst the extras were provided by McCabe and Darren Banfield, who turned up at half-time in time to replace an injury and to get onto the score-sheet against his former club.

The 5th team had the satisfaction of scoring in the last 5 minutes of the game to win this tight encounter with Sevenoaks IV. Two tries from Mike Gillies (including the winner) and one from Andy Brown, accounted for 15 points whilst two crucial conversions from Matt Ellesmere provided the winning margin.

Owing to the number of players left over after selection on tuesday, a fixture was found for a Nomads side, to make sure that everyone who wanted a game, got a run out. The side was captained by Mark Wilding, who did a sterling job in assembling a team from scratch and getting it into the field. In the event, Tonbridge gave them a player but the Nomads still played 14 against 15, which didnt help against TJ's speedy backs. It was nonetheless, a great acheivement to play at all, and a good chance to see players standing up to be counted against the odds.

Gaeilic Rules.

About thirty players turned up to participate in this pre-cursor to the All Ireland final on the telly in the club-house. Brian McKeon reffed and the game ended up as an honourable draw between the "parents of the U12s" and the "rest of the club". A good time was had by all and some useful money was raised towards the U12's tour kitty.

Its amazing what can be acheived when an enthusiastic group of parents get behind something. It would be nice to think that this could become an annual event.

Boys are back in town

To mark the take-over of the rugby club from the cricket club this week, the 1sts, 2nds and 3rds are all playing at home on saturday and there is a party night at the club, with Oasis disco providing the music. All are welcome on what could be another pleasant Indian Summer evening. Entry is free. Just turn up, stay late and enjoy the ambience.

Fixtures for 27th September

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Thanet	H	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Beckenham II	H	Invicta League
3rd	Lordswood II	H	Mid Kent A
4th	Lordswood III	A	Mid Kent B
5th	Bexley III	A	Mid Kent C
Vets	Sheppey Vets	A	Friendly

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Results for 13th September

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Dorking	H	Lost 10-84	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Aylesford II	A	Won 35-11	Invicta League
3rd	Llanishen (Cardiff)	A	Lost 29-19	Friendly
4th	Sheppey II	A	Won 22-39	Friendly
5th	Weavering	H	Lost 0-35	Training Game
Vets	Played for Weavering

Delight at the success of the Mustangs in their 1st League Game of the season away to local rivals Aylesford II, was tempered by the scale of the 1st team loss at home, which was not the ideal start to the League season. However, there is every reason to hope that matters will improve for the 1sts as the season progresses and key players become available and return from injury.

Certainly, the Mustangs performance was a good display of 15 man rugby, with another very good performance from Sam McPherson at scrum-half before he left the field injured, but the outstanding player once again was big Darren Yates, who scored a try from 45 metres out after trampling the mesmerised Aylesford winger. Shades of Jonah Lomu and Tony Underwood perhaps - except that Lomu was quick: Yatesy tramples people slowly.

The third team were 3 tries down by half-time in Cardiff but managed to score 3 of their own in the 2nd half as the Bearsted boys, Massey,Challis and Baxter each got onto the score sheet. Too little too late however, although they fared better in the bush-tucker challenge afterwards as their hosts provided them with dry weetabix doused in chilli and various insects and grubs to eat. Quite tasty actually, said Paul Massey,so maybe we should ask Trevor to start stocking a new line in bar-snacks!! Dave "Action" Jackson drove down from Lichfield to meet the tourists and drove straight back to work afterwards, pausing only to eat his portion of Welsh mini-beasts. Commiserations to Steve, landlord of ME1 bar in town, who's tour was spoilt by a horrendous raking on his shin which left him limping badly - especially as it was probably a Maidstone boot that did it.

The 4th team that went to Sheppey to play their 2nds in an early season friendly, was probably the strongest 4th team to have started a season in the last 5 years. With Darren Banfield (19 points) and Francis Hatega in the centres, 2 quick wingers in Connor Brooker and Jack Shiraby and a rock-solid platform in the scrum that allowed Matt Vickers to take 5 or 6 against the head, it would have been difficult to lose. Lets hope that the side that starts its Mid-Kent League campaign next week will be as dominant. Thanks to Steve Vickers for providing a match report. He can come again !!

A call from Weavering on wednesday apologised that they could only raise a 7s team to play our 5ths and would have to cry-off. However, a quick call to Glyn Richards ascertained that at least half a dozen of our Vets would be able to turn out for Weavering to make a game of it - and make a game of it they did, winning 35-0. Bad luck for the 5ths, although they were trying to give all of their 25 players a game, which didnt lend itself to a cohesive performance. I'm sure they will acquit themselves better in the League next week at home to Sevenoaks whilst the 4th team tackle Weavering in the League.

All Ireland Final

Those with any green tendencies will know that next sunday (21st) Kerry face Tyrone in the All Ireland Final at Croke Park. In honour of the occasion, Brian Costello, one of our U12s coaches has arranged for the game to be shown in the bar at 3:00. Prior to this, we will be staging a a Gaelic-rules football match at the club, starting at 1:00pm. All players are welcome to come along,learn the basic rules, play a match and then drink some black stuff and watch the match in the bar. Come along and try it - the more the merrier. Thanks to Jeff in the cricket club for opening the bar and for getting the Setanta screening organised.

Shameless Self promotion

On thursday evening Men in Shortz are back at ME1 Bar (opposite Ashes), kicking off around 9pm, so there should be ample time for you to come down and catch some of the set after thursday night training. (A good turn-out might help to take Steve the landlord's mind off the nasty gash in his leg - see above) It would be great to see you there. Free Entry of course (although you might have to pay to get out !!) See the web-site if you want to know what to expect www.meninshortz.co.uk

Fixtures for 20th September

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Chobham	A	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Sevenoaks II	A	Invicta League
3rd	Sevenoaks III	A	Mid Kent A
4th	Weavering	H	Mid Kent B
5th	Sevenoaks IV	H	Mid Kent C
Vets			Resting

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And so another season begins.

Results for 7th September 2008

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Sevenoaks	A	Lost28-15	Friendly
2nd (Mustangs)	Sevenoaks II	A	Lost 19-3	Friendly
3rd	No Game
4th	No Game
5th	No Game
Vets	Ashford Vets- Tournament and beer festival		won 1	Lost 3 (but never by more than one score) Drank some Ale.

Maidstone Rugby kicked off its 129th season, with a double-header against old friends, recently relegated Sevenoaks, who appear to be determined to bounce straight back into London II at the earliest opportunity. Thanks largely to a new coaching and playing structure, Sevenoaks are a much better side than they were last year and the addition of a new fly-half has also made a big difference, so its encouraging that, despite a somewhat disrupted pre-season of their own, Maidstone were able to live with them for much of the game, putting together some excellent tries in the process. As the Maidstone side becomes more settled and new players get used to one another, one can look forward to further steady progress, especially in view of the numbers showing up at training and the good work being done there. It was especially pleasing that Mustangs skipper, Nick East, should have got himself a try whilst stepping up to the 1st team hooker slot and that Maidstone's last try moved through around 13 pairs of hands before being grounded by Mark Ryan for his 2nd try.

Prior to the first team game, The Mustangs gave a good account of themselves considering that it was their first match of the season, with new scrum-half Sam McPherson looking particularly lively - not to mention a few older hands like Darren Yates and - could it be? Ross Laing at Loose Head Prop. It was good also to see Richard Glover back in circulation and to initiate a number of this year's U18s into 2nd team rugby.

Down at Ashford, Maidstone's Vets kicked off their season by defending their trophy in what has become a very good early season tournament and social event ( You cant go far wrong with a real-ale festival and veteran rugby players - although some of the live bands stretched tolerance thresholds somewhat). Maidstone lost to Anchs, (who won the plate), Romford (who won the Cup)and Medway (who won nothing) before beating Canterbury in a wooden-spoon avoidance match.

Despite being comfortably the oldest side on show, our Vets were never shown-up though and were in fact the only team to score a try against Romford on the day, so there was some honour to be salvaged despite relinquishing the Cup. More importantly, they gave a good account of themselves in the beer tent and renewed many old rugby acquaintanceships - which is what its all about really. Just a foot note about Romford, who made the journey across the water in their club mini-bus with a disturbingly good squad of players and who played some absolutely bullocking rugby - particularly against a French touring team in the final who they knocked aside like nine-pins- and who then delighted the crowd with a rousing song or 3 after the presentation, featuring of all things a porcelain wash-hand basin that appears to accompany them everywhere. Great to see a team that not only plays great rugby but that also preserves traditional rugby values. Just a shame that they're from Essex!!

Other Matters

The bar was open after training on thursday, courtesy of Jeff from the cricket club, and hopefully it will now be open after training on tuesdays and thursdays until we take-over tenancy of the club in the 3rd week of September. Please take the opportunity to come in for a beer (or a refreshing isoponic drink if you want to re-hydrate effectively) . At the same time, there should be membership packs available for anyone who needs to join or to amend their standing order.

Please note that there is a "Boys Are Back In Town" party night at the club on sat 27th to welcome everyone back to the club for another new season. The music is courtesy of Oasis Disco, entry is free. Just turn up, stay late and have a good time.

Fixtures for sat 20th

Team	Opposition	H/A	Competition
1st	Dorking	H	London 2 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Aylesford II	A	Invicta League
3rd	Llanishen (Cardiff)	A	Friendly
4th	Sheppey II	A	Friendly
5th	Weavering	H	Training Game
Vets			Resting

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Results for 19th April

Team

Opposition

H/A

Competition

1st
Haywards Heath H Lost 0-75
London 2 South

2nd

(Mustangs)
Old Dunstonians H Won 75-15
Invicta League

3rd
Canterbury III H Lost 0-28
Friendly

4th
Gravesend IV H Won 12-7
Mid Kent B

5th
Rye Goons A cancelled
Friendly

Vets
Gravesend Moles A Won 3-0
Friendly

And so another season ends.

Not quite the story-book ending we would have hoped for (where we beat Haywards Heath at home, Jersey get promoted and we don’t have to pay for a week-end for 20 in the Channel Isles next season) but it could have been a lot worse – except of course for the unfortunate Martin Arnold who was stretchered to hospital after the game and appears to have snapped a ham-string.

Commiserations to Martin - and to the 1sts, who soldiered on in the face of serious injuries and unavailabilities in the 2nd half of the season and still managed to finish in 8th place, (a position currently occupied by Manchester City who also had some great results in the first half of the season but fell away towards the end).

Back-tracking to Hayward’s Heath for a moment, congratulations are due to them for their splendid victory and for winning the league in style, having lost just twice all season. It was great to have their supporters at the club on the last day of the season and their entourage of drag-queens will live long in the memory. Good luck to them in London One next year.

Whilst the First team were suffering their biggest League defeat for a number of years, the Mustangs were inflicting one on Old Dunstonians II. (See Laurence Waters' hugely entertaining match report) With Mark and Neil Graves to the fore, it was an outstanding performance – especially considering the number of regulars who were playing in the 1st team. However, it didn’t alter the picture in the Invicta League where runners-up spot for a 2nd successive year was not really sufficient reward for a great season. Special thanks are due to David Arnold, who agreed to step in and referee the game after the Kent Society ref dropped out on Friday night. He seems to have coped OK, although counting up to 75 must have been stretching for him.

The 3rds met their match in a friendly against a talented young Canterbury development side, which had some outstanding players, particularly at scrum-half and fly-half. It was a close contest in the forwards but there was just too much pace and skill amongst the Canterbury back-line to be contained for long, despite the close attentions of James Hughes, Aaron Bishop and Paul Massey who all had excellent games in the Maidstone back-row. Having lost the Kent Society Ref for this game also, Paul Ehrhart stood in, despite his dodgy knees, and saved the day. It was just a shame that Ross was injured and couldn’t play in this match, his last as 3rd team skipper, as Paul would undoubtedly have enjoyed giving him a hard time. Adam Green called before kick-off to apologize and to explain that he couldn’t get to the game, which was a great disappointment for him, being last match of the season but I gather that his consolation prize was the birth of his first child – a son. A reasonable excuse for not showing up, I guess.

The 4ths turned in one of their best performances of the season, to turn over a very powerful Gravesend 4th team, who were playing for runner’s up spot in the Mid-Kent B. (I’m pleased to say that the losing bonus point that they picked up for finishing less than 10 points behind was sufficient for them to gain runners up spot on points difference) So many people played well that its almost a shame to mention any individual, but Dan Wilkins at full back, Jack Budgen in the 2nd row, Alan McCabe and David Wahl in the centre and Ben Rookledge at open-side all spring to mind, with Craig Bowden master-minding events from fly-half. Player of the day though was David Scanlan who absconded from 2nd-row in the 3rds to play number 8 in the 4ths for his last match before leaving Maidstone and to play along-side his old school-mate from Wales, Ben Jones. Ben was last season’s 4th team player of the year but has not played at all this year owing to dodgy knees. However, judging by this performance, we should look forward to seeing him back again next year. Sincere thanks are due to Will Arnold for agreeing to referee what was never going to be an easy game, although to their credit both sides acted with considerable discipline and restraint.

The Vets picked up an away fixture with Gravesend Moles and won a tight game 3-0, despite conceding a very kickable penalty just before the end, which the Gravesend kicker managed to miss despite the most elaborate “Wilkinsonesque”preparations. Vets skipper Glyn Richards, was sporting an impressive shiner when he turned up at the VP lunch on Sunday after getting a pretty hefty bang just above his nose but he seemed none the worse for it - except in the good-looks department where it had unfortunately done little to enhance his features.

Evergreen Cup

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Regular readers will remember that Maidstone were knocked out in the semi-final by Purley John Fisher, who were particularly strong in the front five. Now, by an ironic quirk of fate, it appears that PJF cant field a front-row for the final at Croydon RFC on May 11th owing to a pre-arranged tour and so the Cup organisers have asked us if we would be able to contest the final instead. Watch out on the web-site for confirmation and details of what could/should be a great way to end the season.

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U17s

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Congratulations to the U17s, many of whom are now 4th team regulars, for winning the Kent 7s Plate Final against Aylesford yesterday. With the score tied at 12-12, Maidstone won it on drop-goals, which made up for losing the Kent Bowl final on drop-goals last month. Just a word about Ben Rookledge, who trained for the U17s 7s team on Saturday morning, played for the 4ths on Saturday afternoon, played 7s for the U17s on Sunday and then stepped up to the U18s team to help them out after they lost 5 players to injuries on the day. Keen or what !! (U18s lost on drop-goals in the semis by the way)

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And finally

So, after having played just over 180 senior fixtures (85 wins), including 3 outings for a 7th side for the first time since the late 1970s, and having attracted around 70 new players, most of whom have stayed to enjoy regular rugby at Maidstone, we can now close the door on Maidstone’s 128th season and listen out for the crack of willow on leather at the Mote until we meet again for pre-season training in July, ready to build on this year’s achievements and hopefully to go on to better things next. See you there !!

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RE 20-04-08

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