Maidstone vs Old Elthamians - 01/10/06

Our first home game of the season was against a strong Old Elthamian (“OEs”) side on the Somme. Maidstone started the game in fine form, winning turnover ball and spreading play across the whole width of the pitch through several phases with forwards and backs linking well in attack and excellent ball retention and recycling. The move was finished off in the corner with a try, our first of the new season, by Dan Eastwood. The prompted a period of sustained pressure by the OEs which resulted in a try under the posts. Despite some good defensive work and the forwards holding their own in the set-piece plays, relentless OE pressure produced another 2 more scores in the first half.

In the 2nd period Maidstone continued to play largely on the back-foot. They made a number of forays into the OEs half of the pitch but poor handling meant that they were unable to convert these opportunities. Mistakes in defence and rampaging play from the OEs imposing Number 8 resulted in four more tries to Old Elthamians.

We played a 3rd period where the teams agreed to switch the OEs Number 8 into a Maidstone jersey. He had clearly been a major differentiating factor between the teams and it was going to be interesting to see whether this continued whatever team he played for. He certainly re-energized the Maidstone team and it was heartening to see that he was able to penetrate the OEs defence just as easily as he had pierced Maidstone’s for the first 40 minutes. He scored 3 tries working off a Maidstone scrum that had competed well throughout the game. Dualtagh Franklin also scored his first try of the season, barging over from a 5 metre penalty, which he had won after a strong run ended only by a high tackle.

Against a strong Old Elthamian side, Maidstone fought well and kept their shape throughout the game. Despite the score-line being very one-sided in the first 2 periods, Maidstone were never completely out of the game and if they had been able to eliminate silly mistakes and some basic handling errors the score would have been much closer. Given that the team was missing some regulars and was introducing several new players there was much to be positive about. Several Maidstone players had excellent games including Dan Eastwood and Ross Stapleton.

Maidstone Man of the Match: Dualtagh Franklin.

Final score: Maidstone 29, Old Elthamians 50.