Match Report
Sittingbourne III 12 - 24 Maidstone V Barbarians
Tries: Gillies, Newman, Frost, Bradley; Cons: Oakley (x2)
Maidstone Barbarians made it six wins in a row after a stirring comeback from 12 - 0 down after 20 minutes on Saturday. The "never say die" attitude, that they will need in abundance next week when they face local rivals Aylesford with a number of regulars missing, prevailed as the home team were shut out for the final three quarters of the game. For the second week in a row a Stones' debutant was man of the match. 'Big Sam' was the choice this week to down the post-match boat race pint for his unstinting tackling around the pitch.
Despite the Stones' backs looking dangerous from the off it was Sittingbourne's superior weight advantage up front that led to their early scoring and quite possibly previous Barbarian XVs may have easily rolled over. Not this team though and after soaking up a mountain of pressure, the visitors were awarded a penalty five yards out just before half-time. Scrum-half Mike Gillies needed no invitation to burrow his way over after taking a quick tap and to reduce the arrears to one score at the break.
Most of the second half was spent deep in Sittingbourne territory thanks in part to the dominant Maidstone line-out - so much in fact that the hosts gave up competing against the Stones' throw. With No. 8 Colin Frost in particular supplying a lot of good ball it was no surprise that the Stones drew level when centre Maff Newman side-stepped his way over. Frost himself nudged the visitors in front soon after as Maidstone smelt blood (or was it just second row Steve Oakley's shorts following his earlier rendezvous with the contents of an animal's guts?).
Oakley went close several times before Sittingbourne launched a wave of desperate attempts to get back in the game though the Maidstone defence held firm. Prop Trevor Bradley finally delivered the coup-de-grace when he found himself impersonating an outside centre with an expert swan-dive over the line whilst leaving his backs to do the dirty work in the ruck; thus proving the team mentality this side has.
