Weekly Roundup 24th Oct 09

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Aylesford	A	Won 3-7	London One
2nd (Mustangs)	Canterbury II	H	Lost 17-27	Invicta League
3rd	Aylesford II	A	Won 5-27	Invicta II League
4th	Anchorians II	A	Lost 8-3	Mid Kent A
5th	Sittingbourne III	A	Won 29-12	Friendly
Vets	Sheppey Vets	H	Won 19-5	Friendly

Well, what a week-end that was: for Maidstone, it had everything from hypertension to hypnosis!!   More of that later.

Meanwhile, I just need to report that I received some correspondence during the week from a Les Ford, whoever he/she might be?  He/she writes:

 

“’Ere, Woogie, I like reading your Weekly Hand Up every week ‘cos I like to know what’s going on, but it gets a bit depressing when your 1st team lose every week. Wouldn’t it be great if they could have a win one weekend  – maybe with a last minute match-winning try or something to entertain the crowd. Just leave it with me son, and I’ll see what I can do”

 

Well Les, who-ever you are, not quite sure how you accomplished this neighbourly feat but it seems to have worked and it gives great pleasure to be able to report on an important win for the 1st team, which has lifted us from the bottom of the table for the first time in 14 months, thanks to a stunning try from Neil Graves in the last few minutes of the match. To the victor go the spoils but to the loser go commiserations and sincere thanks for the marvellous hospitality on the day and a closely fought contest, which could easily have gone the other way.  Lets hope that when the two teams meet at Maidstone next year for the return leg, it will no longer be the battle for the wooden-spoon.

 

To complete the smash and grab raid at the Jack Williams ground, Paul Massey’s Third team inflicted a stunning defeat on Aylesford’s Second Team, in what was always going to be one of the biggest challenges for our 3rds in a very challenging League season. It sounds as though our boys (boys?) really upped their game for this match, Rich Gray carrying off the man of the match award whilst scoring only the 3rd try of his very long career and Jacques Vrey having his best game that anyone can remember, whilst Ben Rookledge provided the pace and destructive open-side work that wins ball and wins matches.

 

Back at the ranch, The Mustangs (without their skipper Nick East, who was with the 1sts) gave a very good account of themselves against Canterbury II, leading 17-10 at one stage before going down 17-27, whilst The Vets did somewhat better than that, in subduing the threat from a lively Sheppey Vets XIII, supplemented by two Maidstone players to make it up to a full XV. ( Why anyone would let Kevin Bailey play for the opposition, I can’t imagine. I certainly wouldn’t want him in my face for 80 minutes!!)

 

Away at Gillingham 2nds, the 4ths turned in a much more cohesive performance than in recent weeks and were disappointed to come away from there with an 8-3 loss, although on the plus side, the match marked the return of super scrum-half Ben Jones for his first game of the season, playing the 1st half at No 8 before moving to 9 for the 2nd.

 

The 5ths were the subject of something of a fixture cock-up but were lucky to pick up an ideal fixture against Sittingbourne III, where despite being behind at half-time, they pulled off a fine victory.  Skipper Quinn was full of praise for Chris O’Callaghan afterwards and for “Big Sam” in his first match, who turned up at training thinking he had the looks and pace to be a centre but then had a blinder in the 2nd row instead. (You can say good-bye to the looks, Sam). There was even a try for a certain T.Bradley, who is quite well known in Barbarian circles.

 

Anyway, enough of all this tedious rugby talk, what about the Hypnotism? 

As one might imagine, the 1st team were in a pretty good mood when they got back to the club-house on Saturday and so a pretty lively throng were assembled for the event. One couldn’t help being slightly nervous for the fate of Colin Adamson and his Hypnosis Experience, remembering the sad death of the so-called comedian at the club-dinner last season but I’m glad to say that little Col was more than a match for the banter coming his way. Out of the 10 volunteers for the Hypnosis, only Sam Rogers and Ryan Mills succumbed but they were caught hook, line and sinker. It’s the sort of evening where you can’t quite believe what you are seeing in front of your own eyes and was highly entertaining.  Well done to Sam and Ryan for being the stars of the show: many are called but few are chosen – and thanks especially to Sam for following instructions and buying me a pint of lager as soon as he woke up. (You still owe me one Ryan)

 

Next week, there is an impromptu Halloween fancy dress party at the club on Saturday night, so have a look in your dressing up box and see what you can find – except for Lurch of course, for whom dressing-up won’t be necessary.

RE

Fixtures for 31st October. 

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Beckenham	H		London One
2nd (Mustangs)	Dover II	A		Invicta I
3rd	Beckenham III	H		Invicta II
4th	Ashford III	A		Friendly
5th	Aylesford V	A		Mid Kent C
Vets	Tonbridge Judds Vets	H		Friendly

Click on a link below for previous weekly round ups

October 17th

October 10th

October 3rd

September 26th

September 19th

September 12th

September 5th