Match Report
Maidstone V Barbarians 12 v Lordswood 3rd 10 (Game 3)
Gillies (Try), Edwards (Try),
Oakley (Con)
Mid Kent League C - Week 2
Mote Park, Saturday 26th September 2009, Kick Off –3.00pm
For the second game in a row, Maidstone fifth string took the lion’s share of possession and territory but, unlike last week’s 32 nil demolition at Gillingham, didn’t manage to capitalise on their frequent visits to the try-line of the visiting Lordswood 3’s in this Mid-Kent C league fixture.
Having lost their Skipper, Steve Quinn, for the day (volunteering to go and play for the 4th team), the Barbarian ship was left in the “safe” hands of Field-Captain Trevor Bradley and the experience of others to take on a formidable Lordswood 3rd XV on the sun-baked lower pitch at The Mote.
Within 15 minutes from the start, the Barbarians were over near the corner thanks to quick hands, a darting backline move from the safe hands of Paul Edwards and finished off by scrum-half Mike Gillies in support to ground the first try of the day, although unconverted.
Despite a shockingly poor 1st half throwing-in display from Bradley and a struggling lightweight front row, the remainder of the first half mostly belonged to the home side as they began to put some fluidity to their game. The decision to rotate the scrum after 30 minutes and sacrifice Craven and Carr must have been the best decision of the day as Bradley was joined by Hunter and Kelly on either side of the front row – although that decision was soon bettered when Hunter volunteered to hook against a solid but loose-binding opposite number.
The scrum secured, a silly penalty on the 22 to Lordswood 10 minutes from the interval was capitalised with a quick tap as the majority of Barbarian forwards stood open-mouthed and could only watch as their defences stretched. The resulting poor display of tackling lead to an unconverted try to Lordswood in the corner much to the delight of the away support to leave the half-time score at 5 points each.
A schoolboy lesson learnt on the reality of defending against the referee’s whistle ?
Where the first half had been tight and frantic, the 2nd half began with renewed purpose for the Barbarians to show that their weekly training sessions were helping not only the experienced but the new recruits.Unfortunately, how to finish off the opposition with majority possession and territory has yet to be covered ? This was evident on no fewer than 6 occasions when the ball was held up twice under man of the match Gillies; snaffled out of the driving hands of Oakley; no support for lightweight winger Scott Andrews as he attempted to ground the ball between the opposition centres & PAUL EDWARDS – probably not worthy of a mention – having done all the hard work to breakdown the whole Lordswood backline, only to do his Ben Kay World Cup Final impression and drop the ball over the line !!
dwards did compose himself and within 10 minutes had found the gap he needed to breakthrough on the halfway line and race for a two-handed touchdown under the posts ! Coolly converted by No8 Steve Oakley.
What happened immediately after that conversion can only be excused as clash of experience, non-experience and lack of communication as 2 Barbarian forwards rushed in to receive the restart, the ball bounced off both into the arms of the marauding Lordswood pack who rumbled through the shell-shocked defence and scored again in the corner. The 2 pointer required to bring the scores level fell short.
The last 10 minutes saw both defences working extremely hard to avoid any further scoring opportunities and then came the whistle, much to Barbarian relief, and a final score of 12 – 10.
One impressed observer from the MFC heirarchy said afterwards that the 5th team looked like a much more capable outfit than in the past three seasons, which was praise indeed and vastly down to their ongoing training together and playing together regime providing some much needed momentum.With two games played, two games won and sitting unusually at the top of the C league, the Barbarians find themselves at home to Sevenoaks V this coming Saturday – all support welcomed.
More details, fixtures and results for all the Maidstone teams can be found on www.maidstonerugby.org.uk
