Match Report
Maidstone 0 v Tunbridge Wells 27 by Trevor Langley
London League 1 South
Home at The Mote, Saturday 19th September, 2009, Kick Off –3.00pm
With Maidstone’s team restored to something like it’s strongest, this was a game that could, and should, have generated a first win of the season against a Tunbridge Wells side that has, itself, struggled in this league over the last season. But, instead of rising to the occasion, Maidstone played an incoherent, muddled game of rugby and handed the prize to the visitors.
Poor in the line out and in ball-retention in loose play, Maidstone gave their opposition so many opportunities to strike against them, it was no wonder they took advantage.
And yet, it could have been so different. After two quick penalties gave Tunbridge Wells a six point lead on ten minutes, Maidstone had a long spell in which they matched the visitors. But when it came to the crunch, they failed to retain sufficient sang-froid to get across the visitors line and from this point, they slowly subsided, losing any semblance of coordination along the way.
To add to the day’s misery, scrum half, Craig Whitehead, was carried from the field after 30 minutes, after twisting his knee making a tackle. This gave debutant Gavin Milne, a recent recruit from Edinburgh, the opportunity to show his paces, but this was not the baptism, I’m sure, he envisaged.
Maidstone’s troubles started in the line out, where hooker Pankhurst seemed unable to hit his jumpers, handing Tunbridge Wells a good supply of Maidstone’s ball in the process. The scrum, on the other hand, was solid and from this platform on 25 minutes, Maidstone should have scored. After driving to the visitor’s 5-metre line from a previous set scrum, when the visiting eight lost the ball and went backwards, Maidstone won another scrum.
Initially, it looked as though the pack would drive over the line; when they were held and the ball released, the backs rushed the play and ended up conceding a penalty, relieving the pressure.
As is so often the case, Tunbridge Wells made Maidstone pay for their profligacy by demonstrating how to take advantage of an opportunity when, from 30 metres out, they won turnover ball in the loose and moved it left o score out wide. With Murtagh adding the points, Maidstone found themselves 13 points down, just before half-time, when they should have been at parity.
Maidstone knew they had to attack to get back into this game and likewise, Tunbridge Wells could see that another score would seal the game for them. The visitors tried two speculative drop goal attempts when they got into the Maidstone 22 early on but the decisive score came when Maidstone mounted their own attack on the visitor’s line.
Full back Gareth Hill, popping up in the centre, made good ground until he was tackled, spilling the ball in the process. Reacting more quickly, Wells released fly half, Rogers to run the length of the field to score in the corner. With Murtagh again adding the conversion, the deficit widened to 20 points and all seemed lost.
The final nail in Maidstone’s coffin came on the half hour, when, with a conventional move down the line to their winger, Tunbridge Wells outflanked the Maidstone defence to allow centre Turagaiviu to finish under the posts.
Unless Maidstone start doing the basics right, and soon, this is going to be a long and difficult season for the team and its supporters. The players have the capability but they need the belief in themselves that comes from winning. Unfortunately, this is currently in short supply.
Team
John O’Brien; Josh Pankhurst; Rob Jeffrey (Luke Debnam 70 mins): Steve Matthews; Andy Bacon: Lee Thomson; Jack Lamb; Ben Court: Craig Whitehead (Gavin Milne 30 mins); Peter Horne: James Dance; Neil Graves (Matt Iles 55 mins); Lewis Fawcett; Damian Houlihan: Gareth Hill
