round-up 23rd Jan

Weekly Roundup 23rd jan 2010

RESULTS for 23rd Jan

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Chichester	H	Lost 5-30	London 1 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Ton Judds II	A	Lost 57 - 0	Invicta Division I
3rd	Thanet II	H	Won 6-0	Invicta Division II
4th	East Peckham	A	Lost 24-0	Mid Kent A
5th	Gravesend Moles	H	Won 19-0	Mid Kent C
Vets	Cranbrook Vets	A	Lost 13-12	Friendly

Following the recent wintry weather, saturday was a (comparatively) lovely day for a game of rugby and it was good to be back on the field - whatever the outcome.

For the Firsts and Mustangs the outcome was unfortunately not very good, lots of last minute changes undermining both sides in their efforts to compete with stiff opposition. Once again, the First Team were able to compete on level terms for large periods of the match but it takes only one or two lapses to be on the wrong end of another defeat. The Mustangs fronted up pretty well in the forwards but were ripped apart behind the scrum, with weak tackling being the major problem.

After the trials and tribulations of last week-end, which caused him to be detained by the boys in blue, it was another incident packed week-end for 1st team Fly-half Mike Molloy, who ended up in East Grinstead hospital following a nasty ear injury in saturday's match. I'm assured that they managed to sew his ear back on again and although he will be out of action for a couple of weeks, the good news is that his sun-glasses won't be lop-sided.

TheThirds had a full strength team for the long awaited return against Thanet 2nds, after having travelled to Thanet with a scratch team to go down by 30 odd points on a rock hard pitch at the start of the season.

This time, the boot was on the other foot and they were able to hand out a lesson to the League Leaders in how to win a close contest when it matters. Jezz Major picked up this week's man of the match award. (Pictures of the 1st and 3rd team matches are on the Gallery already, courtesy of Bob Hayton)

The 4ths travelled to East Peckham with two stand-in centres, after giving away players to other teams but were fortunate to pick up three useful volunteers from the 5th team ranks to swell their numbers to 16. In a very enjoyable game, East Peckham were curtailed to a mere 24 points, which compares very favourably with many of this year's east Peckham scorelines. Silly penalties gave Peckham half their points but to give them due credit, their ability to counter-attack at pace is a class better than anything else seen in Mid Kent A division. Olly Coomber picked up the man of the match award whilst Andrew Brown picked up concussion and a trip to hospital in an ambulance following a trade-mark crunching tackle that was long on commitment but rather short of technique.

The 5ths played their 1st match of the new year and pulled off a very pleasing win against Gravesend Moles in what is always a very well matched and sporting friendly fixture. There were tries for Tom Clarke, Mike Gillies and Rob Leedham and a promising debut for new recruit Mike Brown, who at 6'6" and 22 stone is without doubt, the biggest player we have had at the club for a number of years. It will be interesting to see what he can do, once he gets himself properly match-fit.

The Vets travelled to Cranbrook with a couple of youngsters on board playing their 1st senior rugby. This was just as well as, in a very tight match, the two 17 yr olds got both of Maidstone's tries but all to no avail, as Dad (Rich Weston) then got over excited and tried a quick line-out, only to concede a try when thethrow-in was smartly intercepted. thereby costing Maidstone the match. Lets hope that the U17 squad that he helps to coach, never get to hear about it !!

Court and Social

After a few anxious moments on thursday, The Quiz night went ahead as planned on saturday night and was a great success - thanks partly to the numbers that supported the event but also to the excellent preparation and planning that Wendy brought to the proceedings. She also made a very good job of compering the event and made very short-work of any dissenting voices, adhering to the trusted view that the question-master is always right - even if she is wrong. Modesty inhibits me from saying too much about the winners except to say that its nice to have a bottle of wine to open this evening once this piece is finished. In fairness though, I don't think that the 4th team would have stood a chance of winning had we had 4th team regulars George and Olly Coomber in our team instead of Keith and Christine, their Mum and Dad, who truly are the fount of all human knowledge - most of it completely useless but very handy in a quiz.

And finally, just a small note to say that Friday 29th is the 50th birthday of this writer, which will be celebrated in the White Horse on London Rd, Maidstone in the evening of that day and if any readers are passing by and attracted by the music of Men In Shortz coming from within, they are most welcome to drop by and raise a glass or two - in preference to lobbing a glass or two!! See you there.

Fixtures for 30th Jan

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	Chobham	A	Sat 2:15	London 1 South
2nd (Mustangs)	Sidcup II	H	Sat 2:15	Invicta League
3rd	Bromley II	A	Sat 2:15	Invicta II
4th	Gillingham II	H	Sat 2:15	Mid Kent A
5th	Aylesford V	H	Sat 2:15	Mid Kent C
Vets	TBA	?	Sat 2:15	Friendly