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Maidstone 3rd XV 15
Ton. Juddians 3rd XV 15
Having lost at Juddians and not played since before Christmas Maidstone
were looking for a good performance to set the tone for 2009. However,
Judds were in no mood to be rolled over, and took an early lead with a
penalty for offside at a ruck. Maidstone pressurised the Judds 22 but were
frustrated by solid defence. A penalty on the Judd 10m line led to a quick
tap and go by Judds, who moved the ball well, fed their left wing, who
despite being held by three defenders managed to keep going and reach the
line for an unlikely score.
Maidstone did not panic and started to play the ball through the forwards,
with driving mauls and picks from the base of rucks. From a line out on
the judd 22, one of these drives surged towards the tryline. It was
stopped short but after a couple of close charges, prop Mac McIntyre went
over and manged to ground the ball, to put Maidstone back in the game.
A few minutes before half time a similar situation saw Maidstone stopped
short, but cool heads and good control saw them roll and drive over the
line, with the big Bok Jacques coming up with the ball to add to his ever
growing try tally. A sweet conversion by John Hogarth saw maidstone go in
with a 12-8 half time lead and the confidence to continue to take the game
to Judds. The game plan being to keep the ball tight and stop Judds using
their quick young backs.
The second half saw Judds raise their game up front, and their fly half
continually put in good crossfield kicks to peg Maidstone back and put
pressure on left wing Jez Major as the Judd winger threatened the high
ball. jez coped very well under a lot of pressure.
A great trademark tackle by Tom Challis turned a Judds attacker and
created a steal for Maidstone to relieve pressure, but a sliced kick led
to Judds creating a ruck right on the try line. Their canny scrum half
dummied and scuttled over under the posts to put the game back with Judds.
Despite persistant pressure, the Judd defence stayed solid, and time and
again a Maidstone infringement saw them kicked back out of range.Maidstone
have a never say die attitude and continued to believe they could get a
result. Eventually, the Judd no. 6 was penalised for hands in a ruck,
giving Maidstone the option of kicking for the corner or going for the 3
points to tie the game. A tough decision, especially when some players
were saying we were 4 points behind. However, a maths teacher made the
decision to go for the posts and Hogarth's sweet strike made it 15 all
with barely a minute left. Thats how it stayed.
Probably a fair result, though Judds may view it as a game they should
have held onto.
A good tough encounter against a good up and coming judds team, which was
also very well refereed, as the game could have gotton out of hand a
couple of times.
Man of match Tom Challis-magnificent on the floor, at the break down, in
the tackle and what a take from the kick off. We'd expect nothing less
from the ever enthusiastic and competitive 49 year old. Also well played
Pete Mattinson, out of position at full back, but worth his weight in
attck and defence.
Cranbrook next week-game on!
Team Details:
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