NEWS
Maidstone U18’s defeated Thanet U18’s by 34 points to 7 at the Mote. Maidstone have now won a place in the Grand Final of the Kent League Championship.
This
was a hard fought contest; with a mighty forward battle. Maidstone were
superior in the scrum and line-out and consequently had the majority of the
possession .The first try epitomised this effort, with a catch and drive
from a lineout on Thanet’s 5 metre line. T. Rogers rolled over to score à
la Neil Back.
The pace did not let up and Maidstone ran in 6 tries in total to Thanet’s I consolation try. M/stne try scorers: Rogers:2, Sedge:2, Houlihan:1,Ellis:1.
Press Release: 26 November 2002
Maidstone
U 13’s 22 Sittingbourne U 13’s 12
Maidstone overcame stiff opposition from local rival Sittingbourne, with two tries in the last 10minutes to seal the Bowl Final.
Maidstone
started strongly with the early pressure paying off and scoring two tries to
lead 12-0. Sittingbourne
came back strongly towards the end of the half and score a well-deserved try.
The second half started as the first had finished with Sittingbourne in control. The possession finally yielded another try to bring the scores level at 12-12. The Maidstone loose forwards started to take control of the game and surging runs started to created gaps in the Sittingbourne midfield as players were sucked into the frantic defence. The pressure told as Maidstone scored two unanswered tries.
Playing the Kent Champions for the last three years was always going to result in a close contest. Both teams were well prepared for the game. Maidstone came out with all guns blazing to try and mitigate the Beckenham wingers. Early dominance was finally rewarded with a try from Rory Maddocks after a surging run through the centre.
The
remainder of the half was an evenly balanced affair with both teams canceling
each other out in all departments.
Just on the stroke of half time Beckenham launched a strong assault on
the Maidstone line.
Despite being foiled on many occasions the Beckenham winger finally
grounded the ball in the corner.
After consultation with the touch judge a try was given.
Beckenham
started strongly in the second half although they never succeeded in putting
pressure on the Maidstone line.
After a passage of play in the middle of the park the Beckenham centre
put up an aimless chip into the Maidstone 22m.
Fullback William Ballard had the ball well covered.
On its third bounce the ball took a nasty jump to the side for a
grateful Beckenham back to pick up the ball and fall over for a try.
For
a while Maidstone’s frustration resulted in a number of silly penalties for
decent. Finally
the last five minutes was all Maidstone’s with assault after assault on
Beckenham's line.
The referee warned Beckenham for persistent failure to be 10 metres at
penalties. Despite all the pressure Maidstone just couldn’t find the pass to
bring the scores level.
A
keenly contested final was much appreciated by the neutral observer and the
Maidstone teams performance was equal to the Kent Champions, Beckenham
Maidstone FC had a successful day at the Kent Mini/Midi Rugby Festival. Entering in all age groups from Under 7’s through to Under12’s the teams enjoyed the excellent weather conditions. All teams had their chances to reach the semi-finals of the competitions but up against well-organised teams qualifying was always difficult. The Under 10’s were possibly the unluckiest side, when they lost out on a semi-final chance in the plate competition by 1 point. As a development side with many of the squad new to rugby this year this was a great achievement ranking with the successes of the Under 8’s and 12’s in the Festivals.
The
Under 8’s as predicted reached the last four of the cup competition, losing
out to Vigo by one try, in a tight match.
The
Under 12’s underlined their successes by easily winning the Cup to be Kent
Champions. In the four group matches Maidstone scored 30 tries and conceded none
on their way to the semi-finals with Sevenoaks.
Following Maidstone’s victory against Blackheath two weeks ago to bring
a 110 plus match winning sequence to an end, Sevenoaks were equal to the task by
beating Blackheath 5-0 in the group stage.
The
semi-final was a tougher fixture against a well drilled Sevenoaks team, but the
sheer commitment of Maidstone in defence and the swift attacks wore down the
opposition to secure a 15-0 score line.
The
final against Tunbridge Wells was another tough fixture with Wells holding out
Maidstone in the first half and occasionally springing the odd surprise.
Maidstone’s defence was equal to this and managed to score just before
the half time whistle.
Maidstone came out of the blocks quickly in the second half scoring two
tries in two minutes.
This effectively closed the door on Wells spirited
performance
and secured Maidstone the win.
In
all the Maidstone team scored 36 tries and conceded none in 80 minutes of play.
A number of the squad could not be selected for the festival.
It was pleasing to see that many of the unlucky players were happy to
help Edenbridge, in wins over Sittingbourne and Beccahamians.
Next
week it is up to the Under 13’s, 14’s and 17’s to add to the Youth Section
successes when they play in the SCA Packaging Finals
As
the rugby season heads for the festival weeks, Maidstone FC can look back on
another successful year both on and off the field.
With the Under7’s, 12’s and 13’s boasting squad numbers of
between 25 and 30 players and the Under14’s a massive 36 players there is
always strong competition for places.
Next
season starts at the beginning of September with training in Mote Park.
The club is making plans to introduce an Under18/Colts [under19] team
to develop the players into the senior club. The
Youth section would like to hear from anyone who would like to be part of this
development squad/academy.
Interested players should contact Frank Pritchard on 01622-763439 for a
chat about the project in the first instance
Any
interested mini and junior players [Under7’s to under17’s] should contact
john Wright 01622-201865 for more details
Following
on from their success at Medway earlier this season the under8’s traveled to Braintree to defend their crown. Against stiff competition Maidstone took
on the best that Essex could offer to regain their shield.
Maidstone
under 12’s who have been undefeated for
two
years added the Braintree trophy, to festival wins at Medway and Westcombe
Park. The defence of their title
included the whole squad and saw the team score 20 tries and concede only 2
scores in the whole festival.
At
the Westcombe park festival Maidstone came up against Blackheath A & B
teams who were undefeated for four years.
This statistic was left in tatters after a 30-0 drubbing of the B
string and in the final, Maidstone eased past a spirited A team to record a
15-0 score line.
The
Mini section travels to Aylesford this weekend to see if any of the age groups
can add the Kent title to the list of successes
The
Junior section will be hot on the trail to Aylesford the following week
following success at the SCA Packaging preliminaries last weekend.
The
under16’s were unlucky not to make the Plate Final following a narrow defeat
in the semi-finals.
However,
there was success at the under13’s who will compete in the Bowl Final after
spirited displays in the preliminaries.
The under17’s had an uncharacteristic loss to Westcombe Park before
returning to the winning trail to compete in the Plate Final.
A win here would add to the plate secured during the league campaign.
Maidstone
under 14’s had an awesome day conceding only two tries and scoring 15 on
their way to the Cup Final.
A
convincing win over Old Elthamians 39-0 in a 24minute match got their campaign
off to a good start with tries from Matt Iles, Andrew Harris, Andrew Houckham,
Ollie Jarman and Rory Maddocks. The
next game against local rivals Medway was a far closer affair With tries from
Andrew Houckham and Andrew Harris to secure a 10-0 win.
The
quarterfinal match against Bromley was always going to be a tight match
against one of the best teams in Kent.
Despite losing fly half Jamie Smith in the Medway match through injury,
the team fought back from a try down to win 12-10 with two tries through Ollie
Jarman. The
second try was remarkable for the team effort in sucking in the Bromley
defence before spinning the ball out wide for winger Ollie Jarman to score
The
semi-final against Blackheath saw an exhibition of total rugby with three
tries scored in the opening 12minutes through Ollie Jarman, Rory Maddocks and
William Ballard.
Playing
up the slope in the second half Maidstone defence worked hard to prevent
Blackheath from scoring.
William Ballard’s tackle on the dangerous Blackheath fly half, when
in full flight was a joy to watch.
An
outrageous score followed when winger Ollie Jarman tried a chip and run into
the strong breeze.
The ball came off the outside of his boot to banana into the hands of
winger Andrew Houckham who took the opportunity to run from the halfway line
to score. After
this Blackheath could not find a way back as Maidstone continued to close down
the limited opportunities.
In
two weeks time the Maidstone under 14’s [supported by Wilcon Homes] will
meet Beckenham, the Kent Champions for the past three seasons, in the Cup
Final.