Maidstone 3rd XV 12
Tunbridge Wells 2nd XV 12
A shitty afternoon at the Mote saw both teams reluctant to take the field. TW were totally depressed in the changing rooms half an hour before kick off, wondering why they had made the trip, and Maidstone were so late getting to the pitch that the ref penalised them even before kick off. Not a good omen for flowing rugby. However, at times rugby skills did shine through from both teams, though there were far too many stoppages and mistakes to call this a classic.
Maidstone quickly realised they could dominate up front, even with Price and Laurenson temporarily in their front five. Scrums, driving mauls and breakdowns close to set piece were dominated by the bulkier Maidstone pack, but wide ball was more of a lottery and TW had some young, flyers in their backs.
A series of 5m scrums saw Maidstone turn the screw and eventually ever alert scrum half Dom Baxter came up with the try from a metre out ( he is lethal from here). It looked as if Maidstone would press home this advantage, but all the good work was lost when the TW 10 burst through and fed to his second row who scuttled over under the posts and the conversion meant that Maidstone had it all to do against the wind in the second half.
Game plan was to keep it tight and drive the ball, which worked very well for 3, 4 or 5 phases. But an error or wrong option would negate all the good build up. Eventually a series of drives, lineouts and scrums near the TW line saw Baxter add his second score. A 5m scrum saw Maidstone sprint towards the line. The ball popped out and Dom picked up and finished in devastating fashion from one metre – unstoppable. Banfield slotted to give a 5 point lead and still plenty of work to do. TW eventually worked their way into Maidstone 22 with a superb kick to the 5m line. Maidstone struggled to get out but defended valiantly. Superb tackling in the backs from Bates. Hogarth, Major, Moore and Leggat kept wells out, and Banfield was solid as usual under the high ball.
Plowman got carded with 12 mins left, which really put the scrum on the back foot - though Mac dug in, despite feeling like shit, and Jaques stepped up to prop. Great defence continued until the last play of the game when Maidstone lost possession and wells moved the ball wide to score in the corner. Gutted, but still the kick to come. Fortunately it was missed, to make it a tie, but it was definitely a game Maidstone should have shut out.
Man of Match – Dom Baxter. Great awareness, always sniping, great in the tackle and played a forwards game.
Apologies to Mike Laurenson, who spent most of the game on the touchline. Mike is a great player and an even better friend, and this will not happen again.
PM
