Weekly Roundup 5th December

RESULTS

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Old Colfeians	A	Lost 62-8	London One
2nd (Mustangs)	Old Colfeians II	A	Lost 37-5	Invicta III
3rd	Old Alleynians II	H	Lost 13-19	Invicta II
4th	Medway III	A	Lost14-7	Mid Kent A
5th	T Wells IV	A	Lost 38-0	Mid Kent C
Vets  (O4	Old Wills II	H	Won 22-17	Friendly

Well, thats half the season completed and at this stage, it seems a fairly safe bet that we're not going to win the league this year. In fact, its beginning to require an optimist on the scale of Steve Pooley to envisage us finishing outside the bottom three, although all things are possible and many of the games that have been lost in the first half could equally well have been won.  Not so with the Colfeians game unfortunately, where for once it was the Maidstone pack that was heavily outgunned, giving the team no chance of competing on equal terms.

The Mustangs travelled to Colfes on the same coach and came back with the same result, although not quite such an emphatic defeat as experienced by the 1st team - but still not good.

Meanwhile at home, the 3rds were hopeful of doing to high flying Alleynians II, what they had done to Canterbury III the week before. Preparations were thrown into disarray by the non-arrival of Matt Plowman, although you wouldnt have known it from the whirlwind start that saw 5 points to Maidstone after about 7 phases of play, during which Alleynian's only touch  of the ball had been to fumble the catch at the kick-off.

With Jacqes Vrey making a more than adequate stand-in for Plowman at prop, a penalty from Hogy stretched the lead to 8 before Alleynians began to stretch their younger legs and assert themselves with a penalty try. Following the loss of Mike Hill, when Maidstone were reduced to 14 men, the lead changed hands 3 times before the end and Maidstone, came agonizingly close to securing the win on several occasions in the last 10 minutes, but Alleynians held on for a win that gives them a realistic shot at winning this league.

For the 4ths it was a familiar story at Medway, where, as on many previous occasions in recent seasons, early dominance was not translated into points and Medway to their credit, refused to lie down and be beaten, coming from behind to go on and win the match in the last 5 minutes. For Maidstone, it was good to welcome back John Burke for his first match of the season and also to welcome 2 new players from the team's sponsor, Players Gentleman's Club.

All that I've heard about the 5th team match at Tunbridge Wells, is that  "we were spanked LOL,38-0 but it was fun regardless" .  It always looked tough for the 5ths at Wells, bearing in mind that some of the team were saving themselves for the annual game against Maidstone Vets which takes place next week and has a much higher level of anticipation than in recent seasons, given the relatively successful time that the 5ths have been enjoying of late.

The Vets were oblivious to all of this as they pulled off a very enjoyable win against a good-natured Old Wills 2nd team, who enjoyed the game so much that they are already scouring their fixture list for a chance to play a return match.

OTHER MATTERS   Sincere commiserations to Richard "Sack" Coles, who took a bad knock in last week's match against Sevenoaks, only to discover 2 days later that one of his vertebrae was fractured in 3 places.  Its a big blow for the club, as Richard is one of the brightest hopes for the future of the club, but its an even bigger blow for him as he faces the prospect of 2 months off work in a neck-brace. Thank goodness however, that it was not even more serious and we wish him a speedy recovery.

Having been plastered all over the front page of the KM on Friday, most people must know by now that we are hosting the Anthony Nolan Trust at the club on thursday between 5pm and 9pm, as they register potential bone marrow donors in the search for a blood match for local Kent Society Referee Nick Buttle, who has Leukaemia.   If you are aged between 18 and 40 and in good health, please come to the club and support this important cause by giving a saliva swab. Its not often that we have the chance to give so little that could mean so much to someone else.

RE

Next Week's Fixtures

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Dover	H	Sat 2:15	London 1 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Westcombe Pk III	A	Sat 2:15	Invicta 1
3rd	Whitstable II	H	Sat 2:15	Friendly
4th	Vigo II	A	Sat 2:15	Mid Kent A
5th	Maidstone Vets	H	Sat 2:15	"Friendly"
Vets	Maidstone 5ths	H	Sat 2:15	"Friendly"

Click on a link below for previous weekly round ups

28th November

21st November

14th November

November 7th

October 31st

October 24th

October 17th

October 10th

October 3rd

September 26th

September 19th

September 12th

September 5th