Match Report
Mustangs vs TJII – Sat 26th September 2009
Home at The Mote, Kick Off –3.00pm
On yet another scorching September afternoon, a TJ’s team flying high at the top of the table came to The Mote to take on a Mustangs side which so far this season had struggled. For once, the team that was picked on Tuesday more or less resembled that which took the field.
After a bright start, the home side inexplicably had somewhat of a brain melt and a spilt pass lead to Maidstone standing still allowing TJ’s to kick through from 40 metres out and with the bounce of the ball not going in favour of the retreating Maidstone players, TJ’s pounced to open the scoring with a converted try.
McClintock got the home team on the scoreboard with a well struck penalty, but soon after Maidstone went further behind when from 35 metres out, TJ’s caught the home defence napping down the blind side on the left and sent their speedy left winger over to score, the try once again converted.
McClintock had added a further penalty before Richard Coles powered over from the base of a scrum 5 metres out from the TJ’s line. McClintock added the extra’s.
From the restart came one of the best tries scored by the Mustangs in recent years. The kick off was caught on the Maidstone 22 by ageing scrum half Dave Tugwell, who set off on a scintillating straightish run (Tuggy claims to have run 150 metres), beating defenders at will in taking play up to the TJ’s 10 metre line before passing left to the supporting runners. Simple yet effective running and passing kept the momentum going before Matt Butterworth received the ball on the left wing and breezed past the full back to cross the line in the left corner and run around to score under the posts. McClintock had the simple job of converting the try.
This took Maidstone into a 20-19 lead at half time. The message at the interval was to keep up the intensity, concentration and discipline, as these elements had been so good in the first half.
After the restart, Maidstone immediately gave away a penalty, which TJ’s converted to take the lead. Maidstone still played some great rugby, but unfortunately concentration slipped at key moments and TJ’s were allowed to score a couple of soft tries. One came from a kick and chase, where once again the bounce of the all didn’t favour the home side and left TJ’s an easy run in to score. After a surging driving maul from the TJ 22, Maidstone thought they had scored but the ball was deemed to be held up. From the 5 metre scrum, Maidstone coughed up possession and TJ’s counter attacked taking play all the way up to the Maidstone line and were awarded a penalty, which was kicked.
A missed tackle in the centres allowed TJ’s another score, and took the game away from Maidstone’s grasp, with the score now 23-44 to the away side (McClintock had added another penalty). However the spirit of the Mustangs could not be faulted and they came back at TJ’s to score 2 more tries. After some driving runs through the middle by the forwards, Matt Butterworth again popped up to score, driven over the line by his comrades. More good passing and running rugby saw James Sullivan given the ball on the right wing and having first taken his opposite man on the outside, cut back in to pass inside to the supporting Butterworth who cantered in to complete an excellent hat-trick in his first game back in over a year.
The final score was 33-44 to TJ’s in what was a very entertaining game played by two well matched teams. TJ’s themselves played some excellent rugby and on the day deserved the win. Maidstone however will take great encouragement from this performance and will hopefully use this as a platform to go on to better things this season. As things above the Mustangs settle down, and hopefully last minute disruptions are kept to a minimum, it will allow this side to gel further as a unit BUT there is still a big responsibility on the Mustangs squad to attend training and work on the things which weren’t up to scratch and improve further on what we did well.
The team as a whole performed well. Nick East led superbly and for once with calm and sensible head. Richard Coles made many powerful bursts with ball in hand. Sean Walker is a new addition to the club, but having not played for a very long time, certainly looked the part. Dane Smith got the back line moving well and Chunk McClintock kicked well at goal.
Man of the Match this week is shared – firstly Butters for his hat-trick and secondly to Tuggy, who had an excellent game in both defence and attack (Fin please note that most runs from Tuggy were forward not sideways). Tuggy was rewarded for his efforts with a ride on Wrighty’s chopper.
Div of the Day – Simon Wright, we all know why.
Team:-
Jim, SC, Mayhem, Amy Wainhouse, Wrighty, Charlie Simpson, Sean Walker, The Sack, Tuggy, Bush League, Butters, Fitz, Wet Jam, Sully, Chunky, Rooky, Whitelegs.
Physio’s – Catherine & Anna
Coach – A.W.O.L.
Manager – Laurence Waters
