Sittingbouren III 17
Maidstone V 17
Sittingbourne III 17 - 17 Maidstone V Barbarians (Tries: Gillies (3); Con: Tuffrey)
For the second time this season against the same opponents the Stones' "never say die" attitude paid dividends in a dramatic finale at Sittingbourne. Having conceded a converted try with a minute to go Maidstone hit straight back by forcing their hosts into a mistake on their five metre line. From the resultant penalty man of the match Mike Gillies, with the help of his pack, drove over for his third try of the afternoon leaving Barbarians' debutant Craig Tufffrey to coolily slot the points to level the match.
The contest, a great advert for the game of rugby at this level, was as even as the scoreline suggested in a game that was as hard as it was fair. Sittingbourne started the stronger and took advantage of this pressure by touching down after creating an overlap in the backs. The Stones swept back however with some fine mauling from veterans Neseyif, Arthurs and Bradley that was augmented with some good line-out ball from Frost and Quinn. This eventually led to two tries in fairly swift succession from the hero of the hour, scrum-half Mike Gillies, to give the Barbarians the lead at the break.
Both teams had periods of pressure in the second period but were often handicapped by a knock-on just as it seemed that a try was in the offing. Despite some great defence from the visitors, including holding the ball up over the try-line, the home team eventually made amends by drawing level. It was then the Stones' turn to pressurise the home team, quite often coming via centre Richard Nunn's barn-storming runs that Sittingbourne's defence had little answer to. Unfortunately for the visitors they were not able - at this stage anyway - to trouble the scoreboard.
Just as seemed that the match was destined to end in a 10-all draw the spectators present were treated to a denouement worthy of any Six Nations match. The Barbarians exited the pitch feeling as though they had won and Sittingbourne no doubt felt the opposite. Both sides, however, could walk off with a great deal of satisfaction having played in a match that reminded all the players of why they play the game.
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