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Weekly News Round-Up 23rd April 2016
posted: April 25 2016

Results  23rd  April 2016  

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Charlton Park

H

Won 80 - 21

London 1 South

1st (16th April)

Guildford

A

Lost 60- 22

London 1 South

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that's it for another season, aside from next week's Shepherd-Neame Kent Plate final vs Old Dunstonians, who will really fancy themselves after posting some impressive scores in London South East 2 during the second part of the season. It should make for a great final.

I didn't quite manage to publish a round-up last week, so no need to mention last week's heavy defeat to Guildford, the best side that our Firsts had faced all season, although there was still the satisfaction of having beaten Guildford at home before Christmas.

This week, the “points for and against column” was more than compensated in Maidstone's favour, as the division’s bottom side Charlton-Park were put to the sword.  Not that it was all one way traffic, as Charlton Park had certainly not come to the Mote to give in meekly and in fact they had a patch early in the second half when they had Maidstone under the cosh, thanks to their powerful scrum.  Opinion was divided on the touch-line around the inclusion of 60 year old Trev the Rev in the CP front-row.    Some thought it was magnificent, whilst others found it terribly sad that a club with the stature of Charlton Park could only fulfil its League commitments by this means, which is surely a symptom of a much wider problem facing the game of rugby union at all levels. Regardless of the wider picture however, fair play to him and let’s hope that he will still be plying his front-row trade for many years to come, albeit it not in the First Team.    

Meanwhile, lets be glad that we have had another terrific year of First Team rugby with which to entertain spectators at the Mote, with an influx of terrific players from elsewhere in Kent (and Sussex) who have come to Maidstone to play serious rugby and challenge themselves to play at level 6. Most recently, the team has been enhanced by some dynamic performances from just such a player, Will Massey at hooker, who took Saturday’s Biddenden Vineyards MotM award, following a typical swash-buckling rampage, although Craig Webb’s 3 try haul must have run him close.

Sad to see that Saturday was the last chance to see Jake Eaglesham and Harry Millar in action, as both provided great flair and entertainment, Harry for his flair and unpredictability (not to mention the cheeky top-knot) and Rob for his superb work at the back of the scrum, so often turning defensive scrums into an attacking platform from which the team could break forward.

Anyway, its not Twickenham this year to cap a great season but a trip to Aylesford to contest some silver-ware (albeit Europa League rather than Champions League, as Ben Williams would characterize it), so lets have plenty of Maidstone supporters at The Jack Williams Ground next Sunday to roar the boys home.

NEXT SEASON

It looks like we will be consolidating to 4 sides next year, which should make for a much more settled team structure with which individual players can identify.  In addition, we have four good skippers lined up to lead those teams in:

First Team – Ben Williams (naturally)

Mustangs – Alex Clark (who has been standing in week by week for Jack O’Connell, ever since Jack’s appointment!!)

Barbarians  - Craig Nicholas (again, following a great 15/16 Season)

Vets – Neil Cole (former Mustangs skipper, although that’s going back a bit)

The Development Team will take a break for a year until the 2017-18 season when the current U16s will be ready for senior rugby.

Meanwhile, The Vets will be playing in the East Kent League as well as playing their normal friendly fixtures, owing to the difficulty of finding enough fixtures for them otherwise, although they will be looking to recruit some younger oldies, as many of the older oldies are getting ridiculously old now, not to mention a bit smelly.

U15s Awards Night

It was an unexpected pleasure to be invited by Mark Fairway of the Under 15s squad management team, to present the U15s team awards at an end-of-season extravaganza at the Mughal Dynasty last night. The first pleasant surprise was that the room was rammed with 80 people, around half of whom were players and half of whom were parents and coaches and the second pleasant surprise was to see the enthusiasm, dedication and enjoyment that this group have obviously contributed to or derived from their time at Maidstone Rugby.  I was surprised to hear that there are players in the group who travel from as far afield as Cranbrook, Medway, Ashford and even Folkestone to play for this squad, not because they are elitist and want to play for a “winning-team” but because of its inclusivity, where all players are treated as individuals who can make a useful contribution to the team effort.  So powerful has this approach been that the numbers have swollen to around 45 and they are able to field two full teams whilst also achieving success on the playing field through team-work and team-spirit eg reaching the final of the Kent 7s yesterday.

One can only congratulate the players, the parents and the coaches, led by Jamie Williams, on their successful years to date and to hope that many of the boys will come through to play club rugby at Maidstone when they are older, not necessarily at First Team level, as all players are important and there is as much enjoyment to be obtained in 2nd, 3rd and 4th team rugby as at the top level.

Photos of the award winners can be found here, although I just want to mention that I don't hink that the lighting was very flattering for an old baldie, as I've ended up looking as though I've had botox injected into my eyebrows.

PLAYERS  DINNER AND AWARDS NIGHT

If you havent yet bought your tickets, they can no longer be bought at the bar (unless by cash or cheque) but can be bought on-line by following the link in club news.  The link will be taken down after Monday 2nd May and you will have missed the boat.

Likewise, don’t forget the Summer Ball, scheduled for 16th July.  Get it in your diary and get your tickets on-line or from Neil and Sharon Cole.  Tables of 10 are a good way to go, if you have that many friends.

See below for the Weekly Round up from 10 years ago, half of which appears to be missing sad

RE

Fixtures 1st May 2016

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Old Dunstonians

A

 

Kent Plate Final

Sunday 1st May

2nd(Mustangs)

       

Dev XV

       

B XV

       

Veterans

       
         

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round Up  24th April 2006

 

Three fixtures were scheduled for this final week of the season and all of them away from home owing to the hand over of the club-house to its summer occupants. In the event, there were sufficient players available at Wednesday selection to put out four sides –  as well as the Vets who were enjoying a 3 day tour to Amsterdam.

 

The First Team travelled to League Leaders Portsmouth, who needed to win to ensure promotion for themselves. The result was still in doubt with 10 minutes left on the clock and Maidstone pressing hard, so the eventual scoreline of 48 –11 to the home side was somewhat deceptive.  Whilst this result meant that Maidstone finished the season 4th from bottom instead of 4th from top (as looked plausible only 2 weeks ago) they were well clear of the bottom 3 in terms of points and only a couple of points adrift of a Mid Table finish. They had also proved themselves capable of competing with any team in the League on their day and their mid-season run of 6 consecutive wins provided some real excitement to the season.

 

The Mustangs went to Tunbridge Wells to play their final Invicta League Match and, in what appears to have been a highly competitive and enjoyable game, lost 17 –12 to the home side – despite having already beaten Wells twice this season.  I expect that the atmosphere over there was pretty good on the day that Wells 1sts achieved promotion back into L2S, where we look forward to playing them again next year at 1st team level.

 

The A suffered a cancelled fixture but picked up an away match versus Old Bec II, where they came a narrow second in a high scoring game

 



weekly Round up 9th & 10th April 2016.
posted: April 12 2016

Results 9th April 2016  

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Chobham

H

Won 39-24

London 1 South

2nd(Mustangs)

Old Colfes II

A

Lost 49-14

Invicta League

Dev XV

No Fixture

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

H&B III

H

Lost 33-39

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Canterbury Vets

H

Won 26-7

Late Red Veterans Trophy

         

 

 

 

 

 

What a terrific weekend of Rugby at The Mote

Saturday's League match vs Chobham was another home thriller, against a very competent looking Chobham team that was more than capable of dealing a blow to Maidstone's lengthening winning streak.  Yet, once again Maidstone showed the fire-power to be able to score tries, through backs or forwards, whilst Harry Millar kicked his goals from far and wide to leave Chobham trailing in their wake. 

The joy of watching this team this season, has been to see the improvement week by week and in particular, to see how quickly they re-group and counter-attack from defence.  Its no fun watching a team that can't get over the gain-line, but this one has a cutting edge and plenty of tries in the locker. Well done to Andy Petelo for his two tries and his Biddenden Vineyards MotM award this week.   Hopefully he drank it responsibly, as no-one would want to see him repeat his performance of the previous saturday night , when even our hardened bar-staff who have seen it all over the years, had to look away.

The Mustangs travelled to South-East London to play Old Colfeians, where they might have hoped for a win but where, as luck would have it, Colfes First Team had no fixture so were inevitably stronger than normal. However, the guys came back with smiles on their faces having played well and given a good account of themselves.  Well done to the coach, Mike Hebden, who finding the team short, collected his kit en-route and turned out to make up the numbers. 

The Babas had a cast of thousands (or 22) for their match vs Hastings & Bexhill and in a high-scoring match, they collected themselves a losing bonus point.  Maidstone's ranks were swollen (quite literally) by the inclusion of Dan Cummings and former Maidstone stalwart Dave Scanlan, who was visiting Dan for the weekend and it was good to see a number of other former Barbarians at the club for the day with their wives and families, including Simon Cripps, Dave Eiffert and the late Trevor Bradley's wife, Sarah.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kent Plate Semi-final vs Anchorians

After much angst and to-ing and fro-ing between ourselves, Anchs and Kent RFU, the tie was eventually conceded by Anchs, as they did not feel able to field a sufficiently strong team to play the fixture, except on saturday 9th when our First Team had a League game to play.  No-one likes a cup walk-over and unfortunately, this one arose from Kent RFU having named saturday 9th as the default date rather than sunday 10th, despite the fact that Kent Cup has traditionally been a sunday fixture.  This led Anchs to set all of their hopes on a day when we would have had no First Team players available, rather than gearing themselves up to play on Sunday 10th.    As things have panned out, we go on to play a rampant Old Dunstonians Team, that has recently signed some big names and has been racking up huge scores in London South East 2, so a good final is in prospect for May 1st at Aylesford.

Late Red Veterans Trophy

Much has been written elsewhere on this site re the LRVT, so I will confine myself here to thanking our wonderful bar-staff and all of the volunteers who helped so magnificently to make the day a success and a fitting climax to what has been a terrific competition once again this year. It was also great to see so many spectators from all sections of the club on the touch-line.  As for the match itself, you know you are watching (or playing in) a good team when there are 3 former 1st team captains on the field in the shape of John Sargent, Dave Charlton and Martin Arnold (who had to buy new boots following his ritual burning of his old boots after a previous LRVT match in which he snapped a ham-string). DC as usual, scored lots of Maidstone’s points in another stellar performance, the pick of his tries being where brother Sean made a 20 metre break and slipped a reverse pass to him as he cut a searing angle to beat the defence and score under the posts.  Well worth the admission money, just to see that.  Thanks to Canterbury for a very competitive and enjoyable game.

It was fantastic to see the full club-house, after the matches and presentations had finished, as the finalists gathered to drink beer and re-live their matches (or whole rugby careers) with full marks going to Tunbridge Wells Vets in their super-hero costumes, who had travelled to Maidstone by coach and most of whom had booked Monday off work.   That’s called doing it in style.

Pictures can be found here if you havent found your way to the gallery

 

PLAYERS  DINNER AND AWARDS NIGHT

If you havent yet bought your tickets, they can be bought at the bar or on-line by following the link in club news.  Numbers are limited, so get yours quickly at the bargain price of £25.

RE

Fixtures 9th April 2016   (NB 3pm Kick Offs)

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Guildford

A

 

London 1 South

2nd(Mustangs)

TBA

 

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Gravesend IV

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Ashford III

H

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

TBA

   

Friendly

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-up  10th April 2006.

 

 

With the end of the season rapidly approaching, this was the last week of home games at the Mote before we say good-bye to 2005/6.

 

The First Team were away at Lewes where fortunately they were playing, not to avoid relegation but to finish as high as possible in the league with a top 3 place still possible. After conceding 26 points in the first half, Maidstone made a great comeback to have a chance to win the game in the last minute, but a drop goal attempt hit the up-right and the game was lost 26-24.  

 

The Mustangs played away at Gravesend II where they were good enough to win 31-10 in their penultimate Invicta League match.

 

The A Team played at home against Hastings & Bexhill II in the Mid Kent A League. H&B turned up with only 13 players but since they were playing for the chance to finish 2nd in the League, they declined the offer of a player rather than concede potential League points. They then proceeded to give a pretty good account of themselves but ultimately went down by 50 points to 24 against a

Maidstone side that was certainly not firing on all cylinders.

 

The Extra A  were due to play Whitstable II at the Mote but it was decided that there werent enough players available to get a team together this week, which was a great shame as it would have been Tony Lee's last game in charge as Skipper (before he goes off to join the Navy) and the team were buzzing after the great win against TJ4 the week before. However, Maidstone Veterans agreed to give up their fixture with Lordswood Vets and play against Whitstable II instead. This was a decision that nearly back-fired as Whitstable were only able to muster 9 players in the end and it was only due to the vast pool of subs that Glyn was able to offer Whitstable, that a game took place at all. I gather that Maidstone won but since there were at least 6 Maidstone players on the Whitstable team, you could also argue that they (or some of them) lost.  It was a great shame to cry-off the Lordswood Vets fixture as the 2 sides have enjoyed some very competitive games in recent seasons but since this was only the 3rd scheduled fixture that we have failed to honour this season out of the 180 odd fixtures on the list, I think we should just be pleased that it doesnt happen more often. Lordswood didnt seem too bothered incidentally, as they were keen to get as much support down to Aylesford as possible where their 1st Team played Aylesford in the League and where, I gather, they won.

 

The B Team travelled down to Hastings to play H&B III in the last league game of the season and their last fixture with Trevor Bradley in charge. The team looked pretty good as it assembled before the game and it really needed to be as H&B trundled out a  huge and well-drilled team to confront them. In a hugely enjoyable game of rugby, Maidstone held off the H&B onslaught for 20 minutes before conceding and then hit back immediatley with a try from Mike Gillies. 10 - 5 down at half-time, Maidstone were unable to take advantage of the strong wind in the 2nd half and despite shoving the H&B scrum all over the park and a late try from Dave Corfield, lost 20-12. It was a shame not to win this "Battle of Hastings" and end the sequence of losses in 2006, but when rugby can be enjoyed as much as this game was, the result seems less relevant and certainly there is no sign that the spirit in the B team is anything other than buoyant. Sincere thanks are due to Trevor Bradley for his captaincy of this side over the last 3 seasons and good luck to Martin Carr who will be taking over the hallowed mantle next season.

 

 Next week, there are no games over the Easter week-end, but the following week sees the Firsts away to League leaders Portsmouth, The Mustangs away to T Wells II and the A team away to Sheppey II in the last games of the season, whilst the Vets go to Amsterdam to fulfill their tough annual touring schedule (well, someone has to do it !!)

 

Pleased to say that people seemed to enjoy the social evening on the 7th and it was good to see so many people turn out to enjoy the comedy, the music and the food. Thanks for all the complimentary comments about the band and thanks especially to the Capelins and Iles for their excellent catering on the night and of course during the course of the season where the quality and variety of their culinary endeavours have been superb.

 

RE

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly round up for 2nd April 2016
posted: April 05 2016

Results 2nd April 2016   (NB 3pm Kick Offs)

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Havant

A

Won 32-42

London 1 South

2nd(Mustangs)

Sevenoaks II

H

Lost 0-50

Invicta League

Dev XV

Old Wills II

A

HWO

Dragon Fire West

B XV

TBA

H

Won 15-14

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

TBA

 

No fixture

Friendly

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

With my wife and daughter out of the country, I treated myself to an away trip to Havant on Saturday, to partake of the marvellous hospitality and to watch the First Team play. It was an especially interesting trip for me, having been raised and schooled 5 miles from Havant RFC, so it was quite a thrill to discover that the Havant President was just two years below me at school and knew lots of the names that I remembered from over 35 years ago. That wasn’t the only thrill however, as the two teams served up an absolutely compelling match on Havant’s superb 1st Team Pitch (or No 1 pitch as they call it under their One Club ethos), culminating in what had looked for long periods of the game, a very unlikely Maidstone triumph – not least when Maidstone were trailing 32-23 with 14 players on the field and just 10 minutes to go.  Congratulations to the boys for sticking at it and snatching victory in such dramatic fashion after having defended a narrow lead against what had seemed an almost inevitable Havant equalizer when Maidstone conceded 3 successive penalties on their own try-line in the closing minutes, before breaking out from under the cosh to put the game out of sight.  Hugh Cowan deservedly took the MotM award but it was a close run thing with Richie Bowen’s heroics at open-side flanker once again catching the eye in defence and attack.

 

The Mustangs fared much less well at home, suffering from the drop-out of some key 1st Team squad players from the original line up as they faced a buoyant Sevenoaks 2nd team, who duly raced away to a big score as they sensed Maidstone’s vulnerability.

 

The B team enjoyed an epic, if somewhat feisty game vs Snowdown Colliery II, winning by the narrowest of margins, thanks in part to Snowdown missing a kick right in front of goal and to the big Snowdown winger allowing himself to be bundled into touch rather than running in- field where he would have been harder to stop.  Team spirit seems to get better and better week by week in this side, so lets hope that H&B make the trip to Maidstone this Saturday to give the B team boys another home match after their many weeks on the road in the early part of the season.

 

NEXT WEEK

 

Kent Plate Semi-final.  The default date for this match to be played vs Anchorians is Saturday 9th April, but bearing in mind that our 1sts will be playing Chobham on that date and that 5 front-row players are required for Kent Plate matches, it’s a little hard to work out how this game is going to get played, bearing in mind that we would need to find 9 front-row players capable of 1st-team rugby on the day.  However, Anchorians resisted all of our efforts to find a suitable alternative date and Kent RFU in their infinite wisdom decreed that the game must be played on the 9th, so it looks as though Anchorians may well be in line to reach a much discredited Plate Final without playing a single match. Make of that, what you will. 

 

Late Red Veterans Trophy

This year’s competition is approaching its climax as 8 teams converge on the Mote this Sunday, to battle it out for the Cup, Plate Bowl and Shield.   See the dedicated LRVT page for match times and contenders.

There will be some great contests and all the kick-offs have been staggered so that keen spectators can see the end at least, of every match.

 

Maidstone have already surrendered the Cup that they won last year, which will be taken by either Tunbridge Wells or Sevenoaks, but Maidstone will be determined to win the Plate in their 2:45 kick-off vs Canterbury.  Giles Hilton from sponsors Shepherd Neame, will be presenting the trophies, so Canterbury will not want to come 2nd in front of Giles, who is their club’s Commercial Manager as well as fulfilling his role for Shepherd-Neame as head of sales.

 

This is a big day for the club and a great deal of help will be needed with parking, catering etc, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Please let me or Carol know if you can provide assistance for some or all of the day.

 

See below for the Weekly Round Up from 10 years ago.

 

RE

Fixtures 9th April 2016   (NB 3pm Kick Offs)

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Chobham

H

 

London 1 South

2nd(Mustangs)

Old Colfes II

A

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

No Fixture

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

H&B III

H

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Canterbury Vets

H

2:45 Sunday

Late Red Veterans Trophy

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-Up  3rd April 2006

 

Despite the fact that 4 out of our 5 scheduled fixtures had changed by Saturday, we ended up with some pretty good fixtures and some pretty good results.

 

The Firsts went shopping this week as they had no game and needed a rest before next week’s match against Lewes.

 

The Mustangs had been due to play Medway I but ended up with an excellent home fixture against Sheppey I who are currently at the top end of Kent Division 2.  The Mustangs made hard work of a 5-3 win but it was pleasant to receive an email from Sheppey afterwards to say how much they had enjoyed the revival of this fixture and to request an early season warm-up against The Mustangs next season.

 

The A Team had what I thought would be the toughest assignment of the day in taking on Canterbury III – especially bearing in mind the playing strength of Canterbury I and II.  On top of that, Maidstone were fielding up to 10 U17 and U18 players in a side that is normally noted more for its wise old heads than for its development potential. In the event, Maidstone ran Canterbury ragged and chalked up an 86 – 5 win, although it should be mentioned that Canterbury had turned up short of a front row player and the game was played with un-contested scrums. (Full marks to Canterbury for turning up under those circumstances as many other sides would have simply cried-off)    Not a teenager but outstanding nonetheless, ‘Gus Parker scored the first 3 Maidstone tries and bagged one more before the end. 

 

The Fourths picked up TJ4 on the fixture exchange after TWells III were forced to play a re-arranged League Match. This was the second time the two sides had met this season, the first having been an epic League Match, which TJ won in the last few minutes. This time it was to be a different story, thanks largely to the virtuoso display (including 3 tries) contributed by Lee Arbuthnott at fly-half. It was certainly the best example of “fly-halfery” that I have played alongside in a long time and it was interesting to speculate on what Lee might achieve within the club next season when he gets himself fit and becomes regularly available.  Having lost an early lead in what was quite a high scoring game, Maidstone eventually triumphed by around 29 points  to 23 in what had been a most enjoyable game.

 

When Ashford IV were unable to field a side against The B, it seemed that pairing the B with Weavering, who had recently stuffed our 4ths in the League, was a strange decision. However, Weavering were struggling to put out there best side and Maidstone B certainly fancied an away fixture that only involved crossing our 1st team pitch. Maidstone were a very creditable 10-0 up at half time but then, true to 2006 form, the wheels fell off in the second half and Maidstone crashed to a 43-10 defeat – not helped by Trevor spilling pints of blood after his nose made contact with his own hooker’s knee. However, it was good to see Weavering and their extensive entourage drinking in our bar until well past 6 o’clock and the B team players seemed non the worse for their experience so clearly no lasting harm had been done by another loss. There is only one match to go now this season in order to stop the rot and notch up a win in 2006, so all hands on deck for next week.

 

The Veterans were greatly disappointed when Aylesford Vets cried off for the second time this season, but they took themselves off to Gravesend  to re-acquaint themselves with their old friends The Gravesend Moles.  I guess a good time was had by all and the Vets managed yet another win, so it was really just business as usual for the wrinkly old grey-beards of Maidstone as they draw to the close of their most successful season for years.

 

Next week sees 6 scheduled fixtures – not all of which have yet been confirmed by the opposition. The Firsts travel to Lewes and the Mustangs travel to Gravesend so top billing at home is with the 3rds against Hastings & Bexhill II.  The 4ths entertain Whitstable II, The B play their last league game away to Hastings & Bexhill and the Vets travel to Lordswood to tackle Lordswood Vets who will be keen to avenge their defeat earlier in the season.

 

There is now a small change to the planning for the End of Season Bash this Friday, the 7th April.  Enough advance tickets have now been sold to guarantee that the event will definitely go ahead as planned so it will now be possible to turn up and pay your £5 at the door on Friday night -  if you haven’t already bought a ticket. Doors open around 7.30; comedy from Quincy http://www.comedycv.co.uk/quincy/index.htm kicks off at 8.30, followed by hot food and a sizzling set from the living leg-ends “Menin Shortz”.      We cater for all tastes at Maidstone FC, so there’s something on the bill for everyone. Bring your friends if you can muster any and together we can see off the season in style.

 

RE

 

 



Weekly Round-up 19th March 2016
posted: March 22 2016

results 19th March 2016   

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Brighton

H

Won 24-20

London 1 South

2nd(Mustangs)

Canterbury II

A

Cancelled

Invicta League

Dev XV/ Vets

Tonbridge Judd IV

A

Won 0-61

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Folkestone III

H

Won 42-7

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Crawley

A

Lost 29-20

Friendly

         

 

 

 

 

 

It was the eternal dilemma again on saturday: Whether to stay and watch the First Team play Brighton or whether to go with the Vets to Crawley to play their Vets?   

In the end, loyalty to the Vets prevailed and as a result I missed a thriller at home.  The match was filmed though and although I have only had a chance to see Richie Bowen’s opening try, it almost made up for missing the rest of the match, it was so thrilling. Watching a good open-side in action is one of the finest sights in Rugby and Richie is just that – hence a second successive Biddenden Vineyards MotM award for him.

An away trip to Canterbury for the Mustangs with a12:30 kick-off proved to be so unappealing with only 6 or 7 regulars available, that the match was forfeited following Tuesday’s selection and we concentrated on getting the Development XV, B XV and Vets out instead.

This had the unfortunate but perhaps somewhat foreseeable consequence that the team we sent to Tonbridge was far too strong and won by more than 60 points – which is never good news.  TJs predictably, were none too pleased and because we didn’t field our 2nd team vs Canterbury, Tjs have been awarded a draw – which is some consolation for having had to face a team that was considerably stronger than it should have been.

The B team also recorded a biggish win, this time vs Folkestone III at home, although I don’t believe that any potential Mustangs found their way into the B team – although there were some useful sons home from Uni for the Easter hols.  Highlight of the B Team match was the refereeing debut of former Mustangs skipper Nathan Fitzpatrick, who completed his refs course last autumn but hadn’t yet reffed his first game.  By all accounts he did a very good job – and he seemed to have enjoyed it judging by the huge grins on his face afterwards – although with Nathan, it’s hard to picture him WITHOUT a huge grin on his face.

The Vets turned up at Crawley with 16 stalwarts and luckily for them, Matt Hayton (Bob’s son) who sneaked in at a mere 33 yrs old and who made a huge difference to Maidstone’s attacking potential.  Tony O’Mahoney twisted his knee in the warm up and 15 minutes in, Stuart Russell left the field with a head-injury.  When a rampant Kenny Murray was forced off by an injury, Maidstone were forced to bring on Super-sub Steve Pooley, who had made the trip from Devon to play and who held out in the 2nd row far better than a chap in his late 60s might have been expected to do.   

Anyway, Maidstone were soon 5-0 up thanks to strong running from Matt Hayton and a Simon Wright try.    Weak tackling then gifted Crawley 2 tries before getting one back through Marco Bauchiero.   Crawley started the 2nd half with intent, whilst Maidstone started without the injured Pete Gray but with 2 Crawley players in Maidstone colours.  2 quick scores from Crawley were answered by tries from Stu Bates and Phil White but it was not enough to close the gap on Crawley who had added another try and who had kicked most of their conversions.   It was however an excellent game of rugby against one of Maidstone’s favourite Vets teams.

OTHER MATTERS

MAIDSTONE WOMEN'S TEAM

Congratulations to our fledgling women's team and their dedicated coach Miles Tempan on not only playing their first fixture on saturday, but in winning by a good margin.  It was a very important day for our club.

KENT CUP (PLATE)

We have still not finalised a date for our Kent Plate fixture vs Anchorians but are hoping that Anchs will come back with a mid-week floodlit date so that more people can watch and because we have no free weekends before the default date, which is April 10th.

PLAYERS DINNER AND AWARDS NIGHT

Make sure you have paid for your ticket for the players dinner, which can be paid for at the bar or on-line in the cloub-news section on the front of the website

SUMMER BALL

I hope that everyone is aware that there is to be a summer ball in July this year, organized by Neil and Sharon Cole and with music provided by the Silver Fox himself, Gary Griffiths (Barbarians XV) and his excellent band Beats Workin’. 

Tickets can be obtained from the bar and there will shortly also be an on-line payment portal on club news but at the very least, mark the date (July 16th ) into your calendar without delay.

See below for the round-up from exactly 10 years ago, including more of the usual shameless self-promotion.

RE

Fixtures 2nd April 2016   

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Havant

A

 

London 1 South

2nd(Mustangs)

Sevenoaks II

H

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Old Wills II

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

TBA

H

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

TBA

   

Friendly

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-up 20th March 2006-03-21

 

Just about the quietest week-end of the season, with only 2 teams getting a game.

 

 The First Team had no scheduled fixture and took a week off.

 

 The Mustangs were scheduled to play Charlton Park II in what was originally an Invicta League game but which changed to a friendly when CPII scratched from the league earlier in the year.  Despite assurances earlier in the week, the call came on Thursday night that CP couldn’t raise a side and by Friday night when nothing had appeared on the fixture exchange, the Mustangs were disbanded.

 

The 3rds were due to play Medway I in a friendly but by mid-week, Medway hadn’t raised a side and so the fixture was switched to Anchorians II (Ironically, it transpires that Medway did get a team out in the end but had to trek up to Beckenham for a fixture instead of playing our 3s at home) This was the 4th encounter between Maidstone III and Anchs II this season and despite (maybe owing to) the fact that Anchs had lost the first 3, they turned up with real intent to secure a win and made a really enthralling game of it. Both sides fielded a blend of youth and experience (Anchs seemed to have some players older than ours!!!) and it was good to see 3 of the Maidstone under 17 side playing at this level for Maidstone.  In the end, Maidstone won it by one score, but both teams deserved great credit for sticking at it.

 

The 4ths were due to play Canterbury 4, but since at least half the 4ths went to Uckfield on Trevor’s charabanc outing, their fixture was passed to The Vets to play instead, as they didn’t have a fixture themselves. Regrettably, Canterbury then cried off late on Thursday night and the fixture exchange yielded nothing suitable for the Vets who ended up playing 7s amongst themselves again.

 

The B meanwhile, were enjoying a day trip to deepest Sussex to play against an Uckfield President’s XV (but hopefully not the strongest XV he could have chosen) and to sample the Harvey’s bitter.

Despite Maidstone making the early running, they contrived to lose a high scoring game 41-19 and even 2 tries from rookie 2nd row Steve Oakley, were not enough to secure a Barbarians victory.  An Irish victory against England sent the skipper home happy but the question now is whether The B can break this losing sequence before the end of the season, with only 3 games left to play.  Its almost worth opening a book on it.

 

There’s a big weekend ahead, with the visit of 2nd placed Guildford, who might just be feeling complacent after the cricket score they ran up against Maidstone earlier in the season. However, they have suddenly proved vulnerable themselves in the second half of the season and its certainly no foregone conclusion that they will leave Maidstone with the points that they need to keep pressure on top club Portsmouth. 

 

The Mustangs are away to Dartfordians in the Invicta League and as for the other 4 scheduled fixtures (all friendlies) anything could happen, depending on whether the opposition can muster teams for us to play.

 

Here’s a useful tip. As its Mother’s day on Sunday, a good suggestion would be to treat your mothers and/or wives to a slap-up lunch and then, to make their day really memorable, take them along to Aylesford RFC where the Maidstone Under 16s are playing Bromley in the final of the County Cup at 1.30.  If I’m any judge of the ladies (and I like to think I am) you will be on to a sure fire winner with this little expedition. In my experience, they always appreciate one’s efforts more if they can see that one has put a bit of thought into planning something beforehand, so this little treat really fits the bill. And once they catch sight of those fit young teenage boys pounding into one another, all thoughts of recrimination will soon be forgotten and you can settle down to enjoy the rugby in peace.  Don’t let on beforehand though, as the ladies do love a surprise.  Try it and see.

 

Lastly, but not leastly, I am pleased to be able to update some details concerning the end of season (ish)  Party Night at the club on Friday 7th April.  I am pleased to say that as well as music from the legendary Menin Shortz and a very tasty curry, we are now ready to confirm a professional support act provided for us by the Up The Creek comedy club in Union Street. A guitar based comedian is how he’s been described (could be talking about Menin Shortz again) and by Friday we should even be able to reveal his name.  So, for a fiver, you’re getting a night out at the club, with comedian, food and a live band thrown in.  Shame there are only a hundred tickets available, so make sure you get yours this weekend.

 

RE

 

PS If you search for Menin Shortz on google, don’t get distracted by “Gay Men in Shorts”. That’s a completely different form of entertainment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 12th March 2016
posted: March 16 2016

Fixtures 5th March 2016   

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Dartfordians

A

Won 12-53

Kent Cup (Plate)

2nd(Mustangs)

No Fixture

   

Invicta League

Dev XV/ Vets

Gravesend Moles

H

Won 27-12

Friendly

B XV

Tour

A

Lost both matches but didn’t care.

Dragon Fire East

LRVT Occasionals

Dover (South Coast Griffins)

H

HWO

Late Red Veterans Trophy

 

There were only two games on Saturday: the Kent Plate quarter-final match vs Dartfordians in Bexley and a club match at home vs Gravesend Moles.   I chose to watch the Dartfordians match, because cup-matches are inherently exciting and Dartfordians are a club that are coming up strongly, so a tough match was on the cards.

It proved in the end to be typical of a cup-match where a lower ranked team plays a higher ranked team.  Dartfordians defence and commitment, not to mention their scrummage, kept Maidstone at bay during the first-half, even taking a lead following two well worked tries before Maidstone retook a 2 point advantage just before half time.  In the second half however, there was only going to be one winner as the Maidstone team worked their way through the gears, to stretch away to a convincing final score-line.    There were some great performances from Maidstone players: Harry Millar has so much flair that it's always worth watching him for his scintillating touches, whilst open-side flanker Richie Bowen was deservedly named supporters MotM for a dynamic and creative shift in the Number 7 shirt.   Ben Williams showed lots of good leadership to rally a 2nd half-revival and even received a kiss from a Dartfordians prop at a point when it looked like a handbags session was a more likely outcome.  I've always found him irresistible myself, as it happens, but even more so since he has been sporting a manly and strangely homo-erotic beard.  The Darts match report can be found here

At home, Gravesend's ultra sociable subterranean squad, The Moles came to Maidstone, on the basis that they couldn't possibly go a whole season without playing us, and that their founder and spiritual leader, the late, great Gary Theobald, would turn in his grave if they didn't come.  The Moles have always been a Vets or Babas fixture, so we assembled as many Vets as we could muster to start with and then back-filled with anyone else who was available, hoping that the side would not be too strong to make for a competitive fixture.  In the end it seems to have been a well matched fixture, (The Moles having had the foresight to bring a few big guns with them) with the result going in Maidstone's favour and rather than give a blow by blow account, I have linked here to Gravesend's excellent match report.    As a post script, I sent a text of thanks to their skipper Graham afterwards, apologising if our team was different than expected and he texted back to say:


Objectives in order of priority: 1. Avoid Bluewater, 2. Play rugby, 3. no ambulances/defibrillators, 4. Win.   

3 out of 4 ain't bad !!

NEXT WEEK

With 5 fixtures on the card, one of them had to go and when it became clear that we had nothing like a credible Mustangs team available this week, it was the tough fixture vs Canterbury II that had to be dropped.   On the plus side, The Vets will get their first genuine outing as a vets team for quite a few weeks, making the trip to Crawley to play the very affable and friendly Crawley Veterans, which has become a favourite fixture in recent seasons and the only time we venture outside of the county.

Talking of Vets, the semi final stage of the Late Red Veterans Trophy took place at the weekend, where most of the matches played out as home walk-overs, (including ours vs Dover Vets) but where Tunbridge Wells pulled off an amazing 39-38 win away at Thanet Wanderers with a last minute penalty,  Canterbury beat Aylesford 25-20 with a last minute try and where Vigo fulfilled their last fixture of their first season in the competition, with a loss away to a strong Sittingbourne side.

This now sets up 4 good finals for Sunday 10th at Maidstone, where a good day of geriatric rugby is promised, culminating in the Cup Final between Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells, who have battled each other this season in parallel at First Team level.  For Maidstone, the only prize on offer is the Plate, although Canterbury will have other ideas.

See below for Weekly Round up from 10 years ago.  I notice that there is a reference in there to the now defunct “Meninshortz”, which is strangely topical as a request came flooding in just this very morning, for this legendary band to reform and play at a festival in Germany.  Sorely tempting to be sure. If only they could find a better Bass player.

RE

Fixtures 12th March 2016   (NB 3pm Kick Offs)

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Brighton

H

 

London 1 South

2nd(Mustangs)

Canterbury II

A

Cancelled

Invicta League

Dev XV/ Vets

Tonbridge Judd IV

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Folkestone III

H

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Crawley

A

 

Friendly

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-Up  13th March 2006

 

Not the best week of the year on the playing front, with only the Vets and the 3rds producing wins but still plenty of reasons to be cheerful.

 

The Firsts  lost 13-34 away to Sutton & Epsom after having beaten them at The Mote in the early part of the season. This leaves Maidstone 6th from bottom in a very tight mid-table with 3 games to go, but now safe from the threat of ending up in the bottom three, if my maths serves me correctly.

 

The Mustangs had no game this week, which was just as well really as so many players were away in Paris for the weekend.

 

The A Team were confronted by what appeared to be an enormous Sevenoaks 3rd team, containing no less than 8 South Africans, but Maidstone were still good enough to win this League Match 29 – 7. This means that Maidstone III have now won this League for a 5th time in the 8 years that the competition has been staged. Congratulations to Mike Laurenson and his “Dreamy Boys”.  Lets hope that they have enough life left in them to repeat the feat again next year as well as making a big impact on the Evergreen Cup if we are able to secure a place for the first time next season. (The competition for next year is full at the moment but it is apparently quite common for sides to drop out during the summer).

 

 

Champions

Runner up

Third place

League A

 

 

 

1998/99

Maidstone III

Sevenoaks III

Gillingham II

1999/00

Gillingham II

Lordswood II

Aylesford II

2000/01

Maidstone III

Lordswood II

Gillingham II

2001/02

Maidstone III

Aylesford II

Sevenoaks III

2002/03

Aylesford II

Maidstone III

Gillingham II

2003/04

Maidstone III

Gillingham II

Sevenoaks III

2004/05

Gillingham II

Maidstone III

Tonbridge Juddian III

 

 

The Extra A confronted Weavering in a must-win League game to make sure of the runners up spot in League C. Hit by around 5 or 6 changes in the club-house before the game started, the day was saved by Steve Norton agreeing to forfeit a half match in The Vets in order to prop for the 4s, and by Simon Cripps and Ian Davis showing up in the Club-house looking for a game. The team was also supplemented by the introduction of 3 players from this year’s U17 squad, who gave a good account of themselves in their first match of Senior Rugby (once they got used to the slower pace)  However, none of this was good enough to match a well-drilled Weavering side that ran hard and took advantage of weak tackling from Maidstone to run-up an embarrassingly high score. Maidstone’s only try came from Nick Gill who played his first game of rugby last week and scored his first try this week. At this rate of progress, its anyone’s guess what he will achieve next week !!

 

The B came close to ending their losing sequence in a well contested Division D match against Sevenoaks 5 but ended up on the wrong side of a 21-15 score line. Afterwards,Trevor B was partially consoled by being able to watch the second half of Ireland’s fine win against Scotland. (Apparently, Trevor is Irish, although you would never guess it)

 

The Vets found themselves without a fixture after Gravesend Moles found themselves otherwise engaged.  They agreed instead, to take on a combined Sheppey 2/3 down at the Ditch and prevailed magnificently, 12 points to 5 – and that’s all I’ve heard from Vets HQ.

 

Next week, The 1s have a rest, The Mustangs visit Charlton Park, The A take on Medway 1sts and the B disappear on a day trip to Uckfield as guests of the Uckfield President, to play Uckfield III, (taking half of the Extra A with them for the ride.) (It remains to be seen if there are enough spare players not going to Uckfield to get a 4th team out)  This leaves the Vets as the only side at home, entertaining Canterbury 4 for the second time this year.  However, everything is subject to change as not all fixtures have yet been confirmed.

 

After what happened to the 4th team this week, it seems appropriate to have a quick word about “no-shows”.  Its about the worst thing a player can do to a skipper and his team-mates and its particularly inexcusable to do it without even having the courtesy to phone. All players encounter unforeseen problems from time to time and are forced to cry off, but any player who makes a habit of failing to show without warning, just cannot be considered for selection: he is simply no use to the team. Fortunately, such occurrences are few and far between.

 

On a brighter note, get your diaries out for a couple of important events.

 

Maidstone U16s are playing the County Cup Final at Aylesford on Sunday 26th March. This Maidstone team is one of the finest sides in the country in their age group and with one of the best playing records at any level, so if you want to see some scintillating rugby, get along and give them some support. And it’s not even far to go.

 

On a different theme, there will be an end of season Club Party on Friday 7th April in the club-house, starting at 7:30 and going on till late.  Headlining the evening will be music from the legendary “Menin Shortz”, making their first appearance at The Mote – or nearly anywhere in fact.  This band are so exclusive that only a couple of hundred people have ever seen them play, but their first couple of gigs were so well received that they are already attracting a large following of groupies and fans. Demand for tickets is sure to be high and tickets are limited to 100, so at only £5 a head with an exotic curry thrown in, it would be sensible to buy your tickets early when they go on sale at the bar this week, to make sure that they don’t all get snaffled by the rent-a-crowd minor celebrities who follow this band everywhere. 

 

We are still in the process of booking a support act – eg comedian or novelty act, but other highlights of the evening will be an audience with Matt Plowman, where Matt will be reminiscing about his time in the First Team and answering questions about the difficulty of marketing himself to personal sponsors as a 3rd team flanker. Jon Sargent is going to entertain us with a blow by blow history of his most memorable career-threatening injuries entitled “The Day I Broke My Neck But Carried On Playing”. Jim Walker is talking about organizing a party game called “Has Anyone Seen Our Social Sec”, (although  we can’t be sure if he will have time as he’s still bogged down in the plans for last year’s New Year’s Eve Club Party) and lastly, Tony Dray is going to make an announcement explaining why we don’t get oranges at half time anymore and on a more personal level, where all the pies have gone and indeed, who ate them.

 

Parents of players in the junior section of the club are particularly welcome to come along and participate in this club event, so don’t be backward in coming forward.  More details and highlights to follow next week.  

 

RE

 

STOP PRESS.  The 3rds are now playing a friendly at home to Anchorians II on Saturday, in their 4th encounter of the season.  Kick off is at 2:30 to accommodate the England v Ireland game which kicks off at 5:30 and will be shown live in the club-house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 5th March 2016
posted: March 08 2016

Results 5th March 2016   (NB 3pm Kick Offs)

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Twickenham

  Won 23-10

London One

2nd(Mustangs)

Tonbridge Judds

  Lost 8-46

Invicta League

Dev XV

New Ash Green II

  Won 24-17

Dragon Fire West

B XV

No Fixture

   

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

     

Friendly

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are no easy games at First Team level and Twickenham proved to be no exception despite the Home club's lowly position in the league table.  However, from the excellent match report, it is clear that  our players played an intelligent and patient  game to close out a bonus point victory, despite having fallen behind in the early stages, Craig Webb taking the Biddenden Vineyards MotM award.

At home, a strong looking Mustangs team, enhanced by the return of Jason Smith and Luke Debnam, took to a very muddy First Team pitch vs a TJ II team that is in contention to win the Invicta League.   In the absence of a scrum-half, our Veteran DoR Sean Charlton pulled on the Number 9 shirt to come to the rescue, playing against many players less than half his age. At half time, having played with the wind and down the slope, the score was 8-7 to Maidstone but ominously Luke Debnam was headed for A&E with broken ribs owing to a deliberate butt from TJs huge Tongan prop, who had already been yellow carded for tackling dangerously.  

The second half started brightly enough for Maidstone, but once the dam was breached by strong TJ running, the tries kept coming, resulting in an eventual heavy defeat for Maidstone.   Meanwhile, having started the season in the First Team and having fought his way back from a long term elbow injury, Luke's season is now well and truly over.

A mixture of veterans, development and B team players under the leadership of Mick Walker and managed by Justin Evans, fared better at home to a dangerous New Ash Green 2nd team.  A searing break and a perfect offload from Veteran Irishman Brian Costello, sporting a black scrum-cap to shield a head cut received last week, led to a well executed unconverted try for Henry Buckland, that was soon snuffed out by a NAG try under the posts following strong running from NAG and weak tackling from Maidstone.  Jake Taylor restored the lead with a further unconverted try but a penalty for NAG levelled the half-time scores at 10-10.  Turning round to face uphill and into a strong wind, it seemed that the 2nd half prospects for the home team were poor – at which point I left to see how the Mustangs were faring – but surprisingly, the home team managed two second half tries from Denny Tyson and Lewis Fagg, who had caused problems all afternoon with his explosive running from No 8.   A late try from NAG earned them a well deserved bonus point and showed what might have been had they used their potent back-line more often.  It was a very good game between well matched teams and for newish player James Bicker, it was his first ever win in around 8 starts for Maidstone or his work’s team, so he was well chuffed.

NEXT WEEK

Its a non-league day next Saturday, although I believe there is a minor game going on at Twickenham but for Maidstone, it’s a Kent Plate match vs up and coming Dartfordians away at their ground (with its wonderful new clubhouse).

At home, Gravesend Moles are keen to come and play what is likely to be a mixed Vets, Barbarians Team (non-tourists) and Development team.

The Barbarians will be away on tour – God knows where? Do they care?

On Sunday, The Late Red Occasionals are due to host Dover vets in the semi-final of the Plate competition, depending on whether Dover can raise a side.  Watch this space for further news.

See below for weekly round-up from 10 years ago, including news of our then unbeatable U16s and U18s teams, the latter of which contained our illustrious club captain Ben Williams.

RE

Fixtures 5th March 2016   (NB 3pm Kick Offs)

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Dartfordians

A

 

Kent Cup (Plate)

2nd(Mustangs)

No Fixture

   

Invicta League

Dev XV/ Vets

Gravesend Moles

H

 

Friendly

B XV

Tour ?

   

Dragon Fire East

LRVT Occasionals

Dover (South Coast Griffins)

H

2:30 Sunday

Late Red Veterans Trophy

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Round-up 5th March 2005

 

Usually this column deals only with senior club matters owing to my lack of personal involvement with and knowledge of the youth and mini sections, but having spent the day today at the Kent U16 Festival at the club, it would be hard for me to start with any other subject.

 

The rugby played at this level is fantastic!!  Its fast, furious, full-on rugby, played with great skill and commitment and its hugely entertaining, particularly as Maidstone are privileged to have representing us one of the best U16 sides in the country. They did their stuff once again today, winning a place in the county final via a nail-biting 0-0 semi final win against an excellent Sidcup outfit.  The game was decided by drop goals from 25 yards and when Maidstone slotted their 3rd from 3 kicks and Sidcup missed for the 3rd time, the victory was Maidstone’s. 

 

Grateful thanks are due to Wendy Pound  and Steve Vickers for organizing such a good event and to the Club-house, Bar and Catering teams for their excellent work.  Thanks due especially to Tuggy, who came forward to volunteer for the scorer’s role that was vacated this year by Nic Cracknell. Thanks also to the referees who volunteered from around the county and to Paul Ehrhart and Alan Hayward who volunteered to referee from within the club. It was good also to see members of the 1st team squad helping out: Jon Sargent, Garret Hines and Scott McIlroy were the ones I saw. (I began to realize why every week in the match programme, Jon Sargent is so hard on the club’s resident Kiwis: Garret moaned non-stop about the cold but had omitted to wear any socks !!!) 

 

Once one starts thanking people, the danger is that one misses someone out and I nearly forgot to mention the Vets XV who were out at 7.30 in the morning manning the car-parks at a time when most elderly gentlemen are tucked up in bed.

 

Speaking of elderly gentlemen, I picked up a nice little chat-up line during the day which went something like: “I’m the President of Maidstone Football Club and if it’s a programme you need, why don’t you have mine” How could she resist?  Bill Clinton had nothing on our president!!! (RAY VALE)

 

Wendy, Steve and Trevor Marvin all disappeared around 2pm as they had to race down to Canterbury to see their sons playing for Maidstone in the final of the U18s Kent County League against Bromley.   Maidstone won a very clean match 26 –12, which means that they have now dominated the Kent County League and Cup Trophies for the last 3 or 4 seasons. A great achievement for all concerned.  We should look forward to seeing some of this highly successful squad making their mark on the club at senior level in the near future.

 

Talking of the senior club ( at last) the First Team finally hit the buffers after their excellent winning run came to a halt against Jersey. By popular consent, this particular Jersey side was probably the best team that Maidstone have faced all season and the result means that Maidstone have now slipped back several places in a very tight mid-table – although other Kent rivals fared equally badly.

 

Huge disappointment for The Mustangs too, who had a great chance to beat the unbeaten Invicta League leaders, Beckenham II.  Maidstone were 11 – 0 up at half-time but  went down by 11 points to 12.

 

The A  Team looked a bit more like their normal selves this week as they assembled an awesome side, just in time for the visit of a fairly chunky looking Aylesford III.  48 – 0 was the outcome in Maidstone’s favour and must just about seal top spot in the Mid Kent A League yet again (tbc).

 

Aylesford were unable to assemble a team to fulfil their Mid Kent C fixture against The Extra A, so the 4ths went to play Ashford 4, shored up by at least half of Trevor’s normal  B Team, including the great man himself. (Just as well really as Tony Lee (aka Captain Chaos) had forgotten the 4th team shirts so we played in the freshly laundered 5th team shirts courtesy of Trevor)   It was a really good team effort played in just the right spirit but it resulted in a deserved win for a much improved Ashford 4th team.  Simon Lee had an outstanding match in the back row and at hooker and salvaged the family honour – proving that an inability to pass the ball is not necessarily a genetic weakness shared by all the Lee cousins. J

 

Jersey Vets cried off on Wednesday morning, so in the end, Maidstone Vets agreed to play the 5th team League match instead.  Edenbridge II had already forfeited 4 games in the league and would have been deleted from the league if they had failed to fulfil this fixture, so they agreed to travel to Maidstone with just 9 or 10 players, with Glyn offering to give them some re-inforcements from his “cast of thousands” to make a game of it. As luck would have it, the “cast of thousands” was somewhat depleted this week and by the time he had shored up Edenbridge, Glyn found himself with fewer players than them!! This obvious anomaly was quickly rectified but then various players – Richard Weston especially, played out of their skins for the opposition, resulting in a very close game and a narrow win for the Vets on behalf of the B team.  (I got the feeling from the way in which he was puffing his chest out in the bar afterwards, that Paul Ehrhart might have scored one of Maidstone’s tries. Not bad for a 63-year-old hooker)(looks older).

 

There is further League action next week for the Ists, who are away to Sutton & Epsom and hoping to beat them for a second time this season.

 

No game for the Mustangs, which is just as well as loads of players are unavailable next week owing to a trip to see some rugby in Paris or some such excuse.

 

Top billing at home will be to see the A team against Sevenoaks 3 or alternatively, a short stroll into the park to see the Extra A in a tough derby match against Weavering Warriors.

 

RE

 

Jersey Match programme below.

 

 

 

Maidstone

v

Jersey

4th March 2006

KO. 2.15pm

London 2 South

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAIDSTONE                                                            JERSEY

(Black Shirts + Shorts)                                                               (Red Shirts with White Collar, White Shorts)

 

 

Eugene Moore                                                15                    Gareth Jeffreys

(Island Sports)                    

Alex Malejac                                      14                    Steve Mee

 

Tim Porter                                          13                    Ross Allan

(BioMedical Business Partners)

Martin Arnold                                     12                    Steve O’Brien

(College Road Dental Surgery)

Mark Ryan                                          11                    Ryan Morgan
(Howarth, Clark & Whitehill)

Dave Charlton                                    10                    Sam Cummins
 

James Ferris                                        9                      Dave Miles

 

 

Scott McIlroy                                      1                      Marcus Nobes
(Simon Wright Homes)

Tom Rogers                                        2                      Josh Chamier

(Mercantile Consultancy Services/ Glosrose)

Simon Hollister                                  3                      Jim Brimelow


Sam Johnston                                     4                      Roger Quirk

 

Steve Matthews                                  5                      Ian Henderson

(Blue Vinny Restaurant, Elham)        

Jon Sargent (capt)                               6                      John Allo

(Island Sports)

Ed Davis                                             7                      Latu Makaafi

 

Ben Court                                           8                      Nathan Kemp

(Handf Finance)

 

 

Rob Jeffrey                                         16                    Gareth Davies

 

Dan Cummings                                   17                    Paul Nayar

 

Nick Sargent                                       18                    Matt Howe

(NS Computing)

Cameron Anning                                19                    James Simpson

 

 

Players Sponsor Name in Brackets

 

REFEREE:     IAN MITCHELL

 

Touch Judges: Clare Warner (Maidstone)

John Gleave (Jersey)

                                               

 

If you are interested in Sponsoring any player in the 1st team squad, please see Jon Sargent.

Introduction

We would like to extend a warm to our visitors from Jersey today.  While both clubs are among the oldest in the South of England, (Jersey RFC was established one year before Maidstone in 1879) the League match in September was the first meeting at first team level we’ve been able to identify in our records.  As the only previous record of a fixture we have at any level between the two clubs was on last years Vets tour, this is the first time Jersey have visited the Mote.

Jersey are in their first year in London 2 South having been unbeaten London 3 South West champions last season.  With a good win over Beckenham in the last round of matches to follow up a great away victory over Thanet, in what has to be the furthest away fixture possible at Level 6, Jersey are currently in sixth place in the league.  Having won well at home at the end of September, Jersey will be looking to do the double and leapfrog Maidstone into fourth.

While we wish them well for the rest of the season, we hope they arrive to find a Maidstone side full of confidence on the back of six consecutive wins and keen to bury the memory of a poor second half performance back in September.

Captains Comments

While losing to the last kick of the match last week was disappointing, the reality of it was that we failed to secure enough quality first phase possession to really take the game to Blackheath.  While the spirit within the team and the work rate could not be faulted, we weren’t accurate enough in our skills, especially at the line-out, to build enough pressure to mount a serious challenge.

We will be looking to put that part of our game right this week, as it’s been strong all season and also brings our tight driving play into the game.  There is no question that the return of Steve Matthews after a week’s layoff with the ankle injury he picked up at Gosport will help in this area, and with a good unit session under our belt from training we’ll be looking for a massive improvement from last week.

Once again, we reach March and find that the size of the squad is being really stretched.  With Craig Whitehead, Glen Aukett, John Wilford and Neil Graves all unavailable, there’s a new look to the back line today, and for the second time in three matches, my brother is masquerading as the backs replacement.  Mustangs skipper James Ferris has the luxury of playing in position at scrum-half rather than on the wing, and Alex Malejac and Eugene Moore are both fit to come back into the team for the first time since before Christmas.

Scotty McIlroy is also able to take his place in the front row having missed training on Thursday due to an injury he picked up during the week when he was asked to count to five.  While everyone is impressed by the progress Scotty has made over the last couple of months, we’ve had to reign him back slightly as he’s obviously overstretching himself.  We’ve had to point out to him that it’s about taking it one step at a time, but we’re hopeful that by the beginning of next season he’ll have as firm a grasp of the 3x’s table as Sam ‘The Phantom’ Johnston.

Enjoy the game!
Jon

 

Upcoming Social Events

Thursday 13th April:     Annual Club Dinner & Awards @ The Grangemoor Hotel
Tickets £25 – Contact Jon Sargent

Friday 5th May:            Spring Ball @ The Ramada Hotel
Tickets £35 – Contact Wendy Pound

Friday 12th May:          Golf Day @ Bearsted Golf Club
Contact Bob Beney

 

 

PLAYER PROFILE

Name:

Dave Charlton

 

 

 

 

 

Nickname:

DC

 

 

 

 

Age:

34

 

 

 

 

Preferred Position:

Fly-Half

 

 

 

 

Sponsor:

 

 

 

 

 

First Team:

Eylesden Court School

 

 

 

 

Previous Clubs:

Liverpool Poly

 

 

 

 

Playing Honours:

Kent Schools

 

 

 

 

1st XV Debut:

1991

 

 

 

 

Tries Last Season:

0

 

 

 

 

Maidstone Rugby Hero:

Pete Mattinson

 

 

 

 

Least Deserving 2005 Lion:

One kick wonder Gavin Henson

 

 

 

 

Favourite Film:

The Shawshank Redemption

 

 

 

 

Favourite TV Show:

The Two Ronnies

 

 

 

 

Favourite Song:

You'll Never Walk Alone (my karaoke version)

 

 

 

 

Childhood Ambition:

To play cricket for England

 

 

 

 

4 Dream Dinnerparty Guests:

Jonathan Ross, Peter Kay, Dawn French + Sharon Stone

 

 

 

 

 

Club Shop

 

Don’t forget that the following items are available at the Club Shop!

 

SHIRT          RAIN JACKET                         FLEECE        POLO SHIRT

                  TRAINING TOP                          DRESS SHIRT                             CLUB TIE

 

Further details are available on the website and orders can also be placed over the bar. 

AVAILABLE NOW!

Limited Edition 125 L3SE League Champions Shirt

Just £25

See Jon Sargent for details or to order one

 

NEXT WEEK:      1st XV Away at SUTTON & EPSOM

3rd XV v SEVENOAKS 3’s

K.O.  3.00pm @ the MOTE

 

25th MARCH:        1st XV v GUILDFORD

K.O.  3.00pm @ the MOTE

 

 

LONDON 2 SOUTH

Team

P

W

D

L

For

Against

Diff

Pts

Portsmouth

17

14

1

2

543

248

295

29

 

Guildford

17

14

0

3

585

291

294

28

 

Sevenoaks

17

10

0

7

441

332

109

20

 

Maidstone

17

9

0

8

355

370

-15

18

 

Beckenham

17

8

1

8

396

329

67

17

 

Jersey

17

8

1

8

409

406

3

17

 

Thanet Wanderers

17

8

0

9

372

347

25

16

 

Sutton & Epsom

17

8

0

9

381

365

16

16

 

Lewes

17

7

1

9

411

452

-41

15

 

Old Mid-Whitgiftian

17

5

1

11

216

395

-179

9

2

Gosport and Fareham

17

4

1

12

222

540

-318

9

 

Sidcup

17

4

0

13

210

466

-256

8

 

 

Saturday, 18 February 2006

 Gosport and Fareham

7 - 33

  Maidstone

 

 Guildford

50 - 5

  Sidcup

 

 Jersey

22 - 8

  Beckenham

 

 Lewes

13 - 18

  Thanet Wanderers

 

 Old Mid-Whitgiftian

0 - 29

  Portsmouth

 

 Sutton & Epsom

37 - 22

  Sevenoaks

 

 

Saturday 25th February:

1st XV              17 – 20            Blackheath 2’s

Mustangs         34 - 5              Old Colfe’s 3’s

A XV               5 - 17               Cranbrook 2’s

B XV               0 – 86              Tunbridge Wells 4’s                          

Veterans XV    5 – 14              Medway 3’s               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 27th Feb 2016
posted: March 01 2016

Results 27th Feb 2016  

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Gosport & Fareham

H

Won 66-0

London One

2nd(Mustangs)

Sidcup II

A

Lost 31-5

Invicta League

Dev XV

tba

   

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Ashford III

A

Lost 40-0

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

tba

   

Friendly

 LRVT Occasionals

Tunbridge Wells

H

Won 27-10

 Late Red Veterans Trophy

 

 

 

 

 

On what was supposed to have been a rest weekend, G&F must have wished that they didn’t have to make the long away-trip to Maidstone and I’m sure that they wished it even more on their way home after suffering what was the biggest defeat recorded in London South 1 this season, although I doubt if they felt as disappointed as Maidstone did when travelling back from Gosport after losing the promotion play-off at the end of the 2013-14 season.   Despite being out-gunned by Maidstone all over the pitch, the G&F lads put up a spirited resistance to make Maidstone work hard for their points by all accounts, but it was always Maidstone’s day and a very good antidote to their previous home game. Congratulations to Rob Field on taking the MotM award and scoring his first hat-trick in Maidstone colours.

Some mid-week disruption to the 1st Team, left the Mustangs weakened for their tough trip to Sidcup on a day when Sidcup 1sts had no game, where it was pretty much a case of men against boys, and a score-line to match.

The B team fared little better either, travelling to Ashford on a day when Ashford 1sts and 2nds had no fixture, to play what was supposed to be their 3rd team.   Guess what ?   They lost – heavily.

On to better things then, where the LRVT Occasionals faced Tunbridge Wells Vets (who were the only team to beat Maidstone in last year’s competition).  Skipper Paul Massey had assembled a fairly decent team and then to put the icing on the cake, Dave Charlton and Rich Parker turned up just before kick-off, which would be enough to cheer up the most pessimistic of captains (not that Paul is anything but cheerful – most of the time), not to mention that former club captain Jon Sargent was also in the line-up.

Maidstone certainly knew that they had a game on their hands but also knew that they had a back-line sporting more pace and ingenuity than Wells could muster.  At half time, Maidstone led by 10 points to 5 thanks to tries from former Vets skipper Steve Vincent and our illustrious Director of Rugby, Sean Charlton.  Following the break, two outrageous body swerves from Dave Charlton at no 10 (the greedy b*st*rd) produced 2 more tries for Maidstone, with a penalty adding up to a substantial lead before Wells cut the deficit with a late unconverted try.  The whole thing was jolly good fun, ably reffed by Veteran kent Society stalwart, David Oliver.

Having lost two matches in the pool however, and having had their game vs Aylesford voided owing to lack of pitches, Maidstone would appear to have lost their chance to defend the cup, no matter how I cook the books, and seem destined for the plate, whilst Wells have earned themselves a semi-final vs Eastern Div champs Thanet Wanderers, ensuring that there will definitely be a TWRFC Vets team in the final.

RE

See below for weekly round up for 28th feb 2006, featuring a scary photo of old Snakey himself, Sam Johnston, in a rare photo with his trousers on, although you cant actually tell.

Fixtures 5th March 2016   (NB 3pm Kick Offs)

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Twickenham

   

London One

2nd(Mustangs)

Tonbridge Judds

   

Invicta League

Dev XV

New Ash Green II

   

Dragon Fire West

B XV

No Fixture

   

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

     

Friendly

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-up   28th feb 2006

 

A brief summary this week, partly so as not to intrude too far into private grief since only the Mustangs had a win to report. This might partly be explained by the fact that many of the clubs that were no longer in the cup had no 1st team fixtures and were consequently able to strengthen their lower teams. 

 

The Firsts went down to Blackheath in the Kent Cup quarter final by 17 points to 20, with Blackheath kicking the winning 3 points with the last kick of the game. Whilst a narrow loss of that nature is bound to leave a sense of disappointment, the Blackheath 2nd  string were probably around the standard of a London 1 first team and Maidstone did very well to run them that close. In soccer parlance, Maidstone can now concentrate on the League and forget about the glamour of the cup.

 

The Mustangs  recorded the only win of the week, beating Old Colfes III in the Invicta League by a convincing margin of 34-5. It will need to be even more convincing this coming week, when The Mustangs take on unbeaten Invicta League leaders, Beckenham II.

 

Meanwhile, a much weakened A Team recorded their 3rd league defeat out of the last 4 games, going down 17-5 to a powerful Cranbrook II. The A team must hope to return to winning ways next week in their quest to wrap up the Mid Kent A title.

 

A shortage of players at selection on Wednesday led to the immediate cancellation of the Extra A friendly against Gravesend 4. This was only the second time this season that we have been forced to cancel a scheduled fixture (out of 125 odd) owing to a lack of players, and it is vital that players continue to make themselves available over the last 7 weeks of what has been a great season.

 

The previous cancellation had been our B Team against Tunbridge Wells 4s before Christmas, which was one reason why we wanted to make sure that we honoured the corresponding fixture this week.  In the event, the game went ahead with Tunbridge Wells running out 86-0 winners.  A quick look at the Wells web-site shows them claiming victory against our 4s (when in fact it was our 5s) and it also reveals the faces of a number of their 2nd and even 1st team players who had been drafted into the 4s for the week as they had no fixtures of their own.  Not quite cricket somehow.

 

I predicted last week that The Vets would get a win at Medway III, despite the fact that Medway are unbeaten at the top of League C, that they beat Maidstone IV by 4 tries to 1 last week and that they had already beaten The Vets in the early part of the season. Until midway through the second half, with the score at 0 – 0, I still fancied our chances but then a fly-hack and chase let Medway in for 7 points and then another fly-hack and chase just before the end of an unbelievably short second half allowed them to win 14-5.  Frustrating but never mind, we’ll have them next year.

 

Next week (4th March) we have 6 fixtures, 5 of them scheduled for home as a result of the Vets hosting Jersey Vets who are making a long week-end of it to support their First Team. Most of the matches will be kicking off at 3pm, but the first team game kicks off at 2:15 to enable Jersey I to get their return flight in time. There will need to be at least one staggered Kick Off, so keep an eye on the team selections page.   Stop Press:

Jersey Vets have cried off, so probably only 4 games at home.

 

Major event on Sunday is the Kent U16s Festival at Maidstone, for which volunteers are still required to help make a success of this enormous undertaking. The Veterans XV have agreed to man the car-parks and many other volunteers have come forward but many of the youth section are involved in festivals elsewhere and cannot be there to help, so any spare hands will be welcomed. Make contact with our marvellous Youth Chair-Person, Wendy Pound, on wendy.pound@btinternet.com to pledge your assistance.  Good luck meanwhile, to the Under 18s who will be contesting the Kent League Final at Canterbury on the same day.

 

Major event on Friday night is Terry Lea’s farewell fancy dress party at The Bull at East Farleigh, before he sets off for Thailand and all points East. Many of the 4th team and the Lea entourage are sure to be there, preparing for their League Game against Aylesford on Saturday, so don’t miss out on this splendid team event. There is talk of going direct from The Bull to Aylesford on Saturday but I’m sure that its just bravado.??

 

Saturday’s match programme reproduced below.

 

RE

 

Cover Info

 

Maidstone

v

Blackheath

25th February 2006

KO. 2.00pm

Kent Cup Quarter Final

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAIDSTONE                                                            BLACKHEATH

(Red, White & Black Hoops)                                     (Black with Red Collar)

 

 

Tim Porter                                          15                    Johnnie Boyle

(BioMedical Business Partners)                        

Eugene Moore                                                14                    Dan Jones

(Island Sports)

Neil Graves                                         13                    Sean Moan

 

Martin Arnold                                     12                    Dave Foxwell

(College Road Dental Surgery)

Mark Ryan                                          11                    Prince Moyo
(Howarth, Clark & Whitehill)

Dave Charlton                                    10                    David Whitehead
 

Craig Whitehead                                9                      Nick Maurer

(Island Sports)

 

Scott McIlroy                                      1                      Steve Pope
(Simon Wright Homes)

Tom Rogers                                        2                      Tom Stansfield

(Mercantile Consultancy Services/ Glosrose)

Simon Hollister                                  3                      Nick Winwood


Sam Johnston                                     4                      Mark Colgate

 

Dan Cummings                                   5                      Will Thorpe

             

Jon Sargent (capt)                               6                      James Bull

(Island Sports)

Nick Sargent                                       7                      Tom Lawy

(NS Computing)

Ben Court                                           8                      A.N. Other

(Handf Finance)

 

 

Rob Jeffrey                                         16                    Sean Wiltshire

 

Cameron Anning                                17                    Jim Roques

 

James Ferris                                        18                    George Georgia

 

 

Players Sponsor Name in Brackets

 

REFEREE:     Michael Maple (Kent Soc)

 

Touch Judges: Andy Jordan (Kent Soc)

Barry Monk (Kent Soc)

                                               

 

If you are interested in Sponsoring any player in the 1st team squad, please see Jon Sargent.

 

 

Introduction

Blackheath Football Club has a unique place in the history of Rugby Football being the oldest open rugby club in the world. It was formed by Old Boys of Blackheath Proprietary School in 1858, and is now simply known as The Club, a name that has stuck from cheering ‘Up Club’ by their supporters in matches against the school.

A founder member of the Rugby Union, instigators of the first international match, and hosts for the first ever match against Wales in England, Blackheath was home for several international matches pre Twickenham. The Club still boasts of having more international players than any other club. Its members formed the Barbarians, the Army RFU and the London Referees Society.

Now back playing in National Division 2, and the leading club in Kent by some way, The Club have for a number of years tended to enter their Second team into the county competition.  While this has meant fewer overall successes in recent seasons, their convincing win over Canterbury in last years competition before they were disqualified for using an illegible player shows their strength.

Captains Comments

Six in a row and up to 4th.  We’ve had a great start to 2006 and it’s been down to hard work and a bit more consistency.  At the beginning of December we talked about what we had to do to get out of the relegation fight - everyone’s put in the work, played through the pain and put those words into action.

We’ve been lucky that while the size of the squad has been stretched with a large list of unavailabilities, the team has stayed pretty consistent since Christmas.  The pairing of Neil Graves in the centre with Marty has given us an extra attacking edge, and with Tim Porter back and looking sharp and Mark Ryan rediscovering the scoring habit, we’ve been taking advantage of the opportunities we’ve created.  It was a failure to do this before Christmas, combined with some weak defence that put us under pressure.  The fact we have conceded fewer points in the last 6 matches that we did in the 2 games we lost before that, speaks volumes.  

Pilkington Update:  We both started and finished the game at Gosport last week!

‘The Phantom’ Debate:  Amid rumours suggesting that at one point during the Gosport game Sam was seen supporting the outside shoulder of Mark Ryan out on the left wing, a number of team mates have come out in support of the Phantom.  No one who knows Scott McIlroy will be surprised that he made a highly eloquent speech in support of his fellow Kiwi on the bus on the way back from Gosport.  Unfortunately, no one heard it as it was lost amongst the rest of the drivel he was spouting and everyone was still marvelling at his inability to count beyond 3.  To provide another perspective on this hot debate, we phoned Jim Walker.  Jim had this to say:
“The mobile phone you are calling is switched off.  Please try again later”

Enjoy the game!
Jon

Upcoming Social Events

Thursday 13th April:     Annual Club Dinner & Awards @ The Grangemoor Hotel
Tickets £25 – Contact Jon Sargent

Friday 5th May:            Spring Ball @ The Ramada Hotel
Tickets £35 – Contact Wendy Pound

Friday 12th May:          Golf Day @ Bearsted Golf Club
Contact Bob Beney

 

 

 

 

 

PLAYER PROFILE

Name:

Sam Johnston

 

 

 

 

Nickname:

Snakey/ The Phantom

 

 

 

 

Age:

23

 

 

 

 

Preferred Position:

Second Row

 

 

 

 

Sponsor:

 

 

 

 

 

First Team:

Kirwee (NZ)

 

 

 

 

Previous Clubs:

Kirwee, Darfield

 

 

 

 

Playing Honours:

Canterbury Country U18

 

 

 

 

1st XV Debut:

2002

 

 

 

 

Tries Last Season:

2

 

 

 

 

Maidstone Rugby Hero:

Martin Arnold

 

 

 

 

Least Deserving 2005 Lion:

Gavin Henson

 

 

 

 

Favourite Film:

Blazing Saddles

 

 

 

 

Favourite TV Show:

Lost

 

 

 

 

Favourite Song:

Slice of Heaven (Dave Dobbyn)

 

 

 

 

Childhood Ambition:

To be an All Black of course!

 

 

 

 

4 Dream Dinnerparty Guests:

Jonah Lomu, Ben Court for his curry critique, Macho Man Randy Savage and current Page 3 stunner Keeley

 

 

 

 

Club Shop

 

Don’t forget that the following items are available at the Club Shop!

 

SHIRT          RAIN JACKET                         FLEECE        POLO SHIRT

                  TRAINING TOP                          DRESS SHIRT                             CLUB TIE

 

Further details are available on the website and orders can also be placed over the bar. 

AVAILABLE NOW!

Limited Edition 125 L3SE League Champions Shirt

Just £25

See Jon Sargent for details or to order one

 

NEXT WEEK:      1st XV v JERSEY in London 2 South

K.O.  2.30pm @ the MOTE

 

11th MARCH:        3rd XV v SEVENOAKS 3’s

K.O.  2.30pm @ the MOTE

 

 

LONDON 2 SOUTH

Team

P

W

D

L

For

Against

Diff

Pts

Portsmouth

17

14

1

2

543

248

295

29

 

Guildford

17

14

0

3

585

291

294

28

 

Sevenoaks

17

10

0

7

441

332

109

20

 

Maidstone

17

9

0

8

355

370

-15

18

 

Beckenham

17

8

1

8

396

329

67

17

 

Jersey

17

8

1

8

409

406

3

17

 

Thanet Wanderers

17

8

0

9

372

347

25

16

 

Sutton & Epsom

17

8

0

9

381

365

16

16

 

Lewes

17

7

1

9

411

452

-41

15

 

Old Mid-Whitgiftian

17

5

1

11

216

395

-179

9

2

Gosport and Fareham

17

4

1

12

222

540

-318

9

 

Sidcup

17

4

0

13

210

466

-256

8

 

 

Saturday, 18 February 2006

 Gosport and Fareham

7 - 33

  Maidstone

 

 Guildford

50 - 5

  Sidcup

 

 Jersey

22 - 8

  Beckenham

 

 Lewes

13 - 18

  Thanet Wanderers

 

 Old Mid-Whitgiftian

0 - 29

  Portsmouth

 

 Sutton & Epsom

37 - 22

  Sevenoaks

 

 

Other Results

Mustangs         15 – 14            Aylesford 2’s

Extra A XV     10 – 30            Medway 3’s

B XV               0 – 30              Crowborough 3’s

Veterans XV    37 – 5              Canterbury Vets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 20th Feb 2016
posted: February 23 2016

results 13th Feb 2016  

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Medway

H

Lost 12-20

London One

2nd(Mustangs)

Alleynians II

A

Won 14-12

Invicta League

Dev XV

No Fixture

   

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Canterbury V

A

Lost 47-17

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

No Fixture

     

 

     

 

A fairly quick round-up this week

If the First Team’s recent run of winning form had to come to an end, perhaps it’s a shame that it was in a local derby match.  Hind-sight says that Medway probably deserved their win but had Maidstone grounded the ball after a surging break-out by Jack O’Connaill, which was continued first by Harry Millar and then Andi Petalo, we would have probably won and come away saying that Maidstone were the better team.   Results have a major influence on people’s perceptions so, on this occasion, I guess that we can do nothing other than give Medway the plaudits and move on.  What should not be ignored however, is the fantastic defensive effort that went in, on a day when the team didn’t quite sparkle in attack in the way we have become used to.

At half time, I took a walk up to the Park to see how a somewhat patched up Mustangs team were getting on vs Alleynians II.  Last season, I thought that Alleynians were the best 2nd team that we saw at The Mote, so it was never going to be easy.  One feature of the Maidstone team, was that former Mustangs skipper Neil Cole (who skippered the Mustangs 20 years ago) stepped in to plug a gap and to play alongside his son Harry, who has come through the Youth teams, then through the Development squad and who is now looking good as a hooker in the 2nd team.  Neil’s day was made when Harry scored Maidstone’s first try in what Neil later described as the best game he had ever played in.  

Whilst somewhat short of backs, the Maidstone pack featured a number of regular First Team players in Adam Knight, Charlie Williams and Jake Johnson, whilst Will Massey made a rare appearance and made a major contribution in the loose. It was 7-7 when I arrived and I watched for 25 minutes as Maidstone launched attack after unsuccessful attack on the Alleynians try-line.  Soon after I left, Alleynians broke out and scored an unconverted try.  Maidstone hit back with a try of their own from stand-in centre Dan Fisher, wide out close to the touch-line.  Everyone held their breath as young 2nd row Jacob Taylor stepped up to take the kick, which duly soared through the posts to win the match.  Points are shared 3-3, as Maidstone couldn’t field a front-row but for the players it was a sweet victory.

The B Team were involved in yet another epic match down at Canterbury, aided and abetted by Vets Karl Fisher and Keith Newman, who at age 60 was only too willing to step into the breach when he heard that the B were short of players. (He was probably trying to avoid tending his garden or some such chore).   Very little news has emanated regarding scores or scorers but I saw lots of pictures on their face-book page that suggested that they were having good fun down there.

NEXT WEEK

On what was meant to be a non-league weekend, its actually re-arrangement city, as the Firsts, Mustangs and B Team play postponed fixtures.   On Sunday, the LRVT Occasionals have their last pool match in the Late Red Veterans Trophy, 2pm KO.  Sadly, their flood-lit match vs Aylesford, which was due to be played on 17th, had to be voided, when Aylesford’s pitch was withdrawn from service owing to an imminent women’s cup match vs Saracens.

In addition to the Vets game, the U15s have two big cup games to play on Sunday, so look for details and treat yourself to some thrilling spectating.

See below for the Weekly Round Up from 20th Feb 2006.  Also, I have published the notes for the after dinner speech given on saturday by former club captain Martin Sharp, who played for Maidstone in the 60’s, which gives a gentle insight into the world of rugby that former players knew at The Mote.

RE

Maidstone Rugby Lunch Sat 20th February 2016

Welcome to Medway in this seasons return match.

Jim kindly asked me to the talk after today’s lunch so I hope you won’t mind a few reminiscences.

 My back ground was that I played for the club very many times mainly in the sixties.

My main involvement off the pitch was in the social committee.

No drink and drive then. About once a month Bert or was it Fred’s trio provided in the bar here the dance music. No amplification –in fact no plug at that end of the room. It was raw violin, piano and rhythm

The club bar was smaller – just to the screen. We were often running seven teams and many players attended with their partners which filled up this area. It was great - you had to dance ever so close – if you could find your bird.

Eddie Dogget was the steward, usually pissed, and beer was at a club price of 1/8d per pint. That meant 12 pints for £1.00 .Very dangerous.

We had some quite smart dinners and I organized both the 100th and before that the 90th where Alan Firmin got the famous speaker Dickson- Wright Father of Clarissa the Chef. We packed 360 into the old Tudor House and the speaker got a standing ovation.

I remember the great Cliff Morgan as guest speaker here. The singing got underway as was usual in those days and he led the way standing on a chair so he could be seen. He was a great fly half and a lovely man.

Philip Haynes then was our President – and also Chairman of the Maidstone bench. He was a big and imposing man and he suddenly steps forward and sings word perfect 22 verses of ‘The Bastard King of England’.

The setting up of the 1st XV fixtures was negotiation. The match secretary’s job was to grant fixtures only to clubs who were considered to be on the same level or better.  There were no leagues and the knock out Kent cup came years later.

Transport was quite limited so if you were ambitious to play in a higher side buy as large a car as you could afford and advise the skipper above and offer to drive and take some of his team.

Although we only did circuits once a week in the Grammar School Gym we expected Madstone 1st XV to be in the top 3 or 4 Kent sides every year.

There was a strong confidence of success with a nucleus of talented Maidstone Grammar boys.

In my first Maidstone game for the first we had 5 or 6 county players on the pitch. The Stoop had just opened and Harlequin Wanderers with a few recent Internationals and host of county players were just too strong on that day.

There was no coaching as is paramount now. Much fell back onto the club skipper who had a dominant say at selection. He had to plan and organise the Training.

 Medical support was Des Payne with a bucket of cold water and a soggy sponge. If you couldn’t walk St Johns Ambulance might eventually ferry you to hospital.

 Sometimes the skipper got lumbered with writing write the match report – it was funny how in his report he had played a blinder.

It was less well organized or structured than today but there was some good rugby played and there was a great social life.

Martin Sharp

Fixtures 20th Feb 2016   (NB 2:30 Kick Offs)

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Gosport & Fareham

H

 

London One

2nd(Mustangs)

Sidcup II

A

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

tba

   

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Ashford III

A

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

tba

   

Friendly

 LRVT Occasionals

Tunbridge Wells

H

Sunday 2pm

 Late Red Veterans Trophy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-up 20th Feb 2006

 

Very quick round-up this week

 

Fabulous 6th straight win for The First Team this week, winning by a convincing margin away against a Gosport & Fareham side that had beaten Sevenoaks and drawn with Beckenham in their 2 previous matches.  This win takes Maidstone to 4th in the table, just 2 points behind Sevenoaks, (currently the top Kent side in this division), who face difficult opposition in Guildford,Lewes and Portsmouth in their next 3 fixtures and won’t like the sight of an in-form Maidstone breathing down their necks.

 

 The Mustangs held the fort at home and notched up another close win against Aylesford II in the Invicta League, although not quite as close as the result earlier in the season. This win was accomplished once again without skipper James Ferris, who was playing for the firsts at Gosport & Fareham.

 

The A Team league game against bottom side East Peckham, was abandoned after the villagers were forced to cry-off. In fact Peckham have now dropped right out of the Mid Kent A league, where they had not won a fixture all season and where they had sustained an unacceptable level of injuries from playing against sides that were just too strong. It’s a difficult situation for any club/team to deal with and we wish them well in their efforts to re-group and rebuild for the future and we look forward to welcoming them back to Maidstone for some friendly fixtures in the near future.

 

It was make or break for the Extra A in their match against unbeaten League leaders Medway III if Maidstone were to have any hope of winning the Mid Kent C league. It looked a pretty good side that ran out to confront Medway and in the first 5 minutes it seemed that an up-set could be on the cards as Maidstone crossed the try-line but failed to ground the ball. However, Medway then showed why they are top of this league as they ran in 4 unanswered tries to kill off the match, despite some determined attacks by Maidstone which helped to lessen the points deficit.   This result leaves Maidstone 4ths aspiring to be runners-up, which is a position that must now be firmly defended till the end of the season.  Dominic Baxter was outstanding for Maidstone, first at scrum-half and then as stand-in hooker when James Scott went off injured. I was just pleased that he didn’t get a chance to play in the second-row, as he might have made that look easy as well – despite some obvious shortcomings.

As a foot-note to the above, Medway III are at home to Maidstone Vets next week who will be looking for some serious revenge after sustaining one of their only two losses this season against them in October. My money is on Maidstone Vets.

 

Medway 4 cried-off late on Friday night, so it was a stroke of luck at 10pm to pick up a fixture with Crowborough III who were prepared to travel to Maidstone to play against The B, so desperate were they for a game after some recent cry-offs. There was some question as to whether this might prove to be a mis-match, but a 30-0 score-line to Crowboro is more indicative of another pitifully slow start for the B before they got into their stride and started to play some effective rugby. All too little and too late really, but surely this losing streak can’t continue much further.

 

The Veterans notched up a convincing score-line against Canterbury Vets to make up for a disappointing draw against them in the first match of the season. However, it was by no means easy and Canterbury made Maidstone fight every inch of the way: all the more satisfying for that.  NOTE TO ALL VETERANS Don’t forget to turn up on Friday night when the inimitable and unrepeatable Reg Dancer presents his annual quiz event, to which all are cordially invited. A good time is guaranteed and the entrance fee is sure to be reasonable.  Get yourselves along at 7.30 for an 8pm start and help to swell the coffers of the Veterans Amsterdam tour fund. More money means more beer – which can only be a good thing really.

Next week is the big Kent Cup Quarter Final tie against old rivals Blackheath at The Mote, which kicks off at 2 pm (to allow for extra-time to be played if required). Blackheath are in the habit of playing their 2nd team in the Kent Cup (although ominously, their first team have no fixture this week) and the result could go either way although Maidstone will fancy their chances of repeating their Kent Cup win over Blackheath last achieved in 2000.  Blackheath however, are able to draw upon support from unexpected quarters as this Gandalfian extract from their message board proves:

 No 1st team game this week.

The Heathens are playing Maidstone in the quarter finals of the cup away and need all the support that they can get. Maidstone are on a 6 game unbeaten run and feeling confident.

The Orcs still salivating from the weekend's serving of Welsh on toadt (sic) are up for this and something will give. I suspect Maidstone.

Come along and support and then watch the English orcs eat Scotland.

The Great White Wizard

This is the fifth out of five cup-ties this season in which Maidstone have been drawn at home and it should be a thriller, so make sure that you come and give your support to the Maidstone Team as they take on the worlds oldest Rugby Club with their hordes of travelling supporters. Don’t forget also that England v Scotland will be played out in the bar afterwards, hostilities commencing at 5:30, so make allowances for a great atmosphere and a long day at the club.

 

There are 4 home fixtures scheduled for Saturday so the place should be heaving.

 

RE

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 13th Feb 2016
posted: February 16 2016

Results 13th Feb 2016  

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Dover

A

 Won 7-12

London One

2nd

(Mustangs)

T Wells II

H

 Lost 17-26

Invicta League

Dev XV

Old Gravesendians III

H

 HWO

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Sittingbourne II

A

 Lost 47-7

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

TBA

   

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the absence of the incredibly productive and efficient Bob Hayton, who had taken his wife for a romantic week-end in Rome which just happened to coincide with England’s match there, little news has emerged from darkest East Kent except that it was very muddy at Dover and the First Team won.  I am not sure if Bob has returned yet or whether a match-report was written but I am sure that the lack of news will be swiftly rectified upon his return.

I know a bit more about the Mustangs, who played T Wells II in an Invicta league fixture and where a last minute try for Wells made the score-line look a lot more emphatic than it would otherwise have appeared.  Henry Buckland scored a fine try, which was his first in Senior rugby whilst it was the back-row of Lewis Stimpson, Will Lane and Rocky that really caught the eye, although Harry Cole also impressed at hooker with his throwing-in and with his hooking in a retreating scrum.   Well done to the guys who stepped up from the B team and Development team to fill the gaps and ensure that the game got played.

Those players who stepped up were sorely missed as a combined Vets and B team fulfilled the Dragon-Fire fixture vs Sittingbourne II, away at Sittingbourne. Sittingbourne II sit in 2nd position in the league and it was easy to see why, with strong runners throughout their ¾ line and a weighty pack that became weightier as the game progressed, each new substitute being bigger than the player they were replacing.  Try as they might, Maidstone could not stem the waves of attacks as a combination of strong-running and slick-handling overwhelmed the hapless defence.  Lee Morrison impressed with a good attacking run and later a try saving tackle, which sadly ended the day’s proceedings for him owing to an injury sustained in the process.  Highlight of the day for Maidstone was a typically bullocking solo try for Tom Clarke as he handed off multiple defenders to make the 25 metres to the try-line for a score under the posts. However, other than for a 15 minute spell at the start of the 2nd half, there were regular scores for the home-side, who must have scored a dozen or more tries but which, being a league game, counted for a maximum of a 40 point winning margin.   Oh well, some weeks its like that. One always hopes that next week will be better.

Fixture news

Breaking news for those who were looking forward to The LRVT Vets cup Match at Aylesford on Wednesday night, sadly its off.   Aylesford Ladies have a cup-match vs Saracens on Sunday and this has taken priority for the use of the pitch to make sure that its in good enough condition. It therefore looks as though this local derby match is not going to get played at all, as we are running out of dates to fit it into the fixture schedule, and the 4 points will have to be shared between the two teams.   The next (and last) LRVT pool fixture therefore is T Wells at home on 28th Feb.

Talking of 28th, Maidstone were due to play Cranbrook in the Kent Plate on that date, but Cranbrook have withdrawn owing to a lack of playing strength to step-up for this match.  Maidstone therefore progress to the next round and will play goodness knows whom (Bob Hayton is probably the only person in Kent who understands what is happening with Kent Cup and Plate this season and the County web-site seems to use HIS updates as their go-to source of information)

Don’t forget also that the 28th is a huge date for our U15 teams and any supporters would be very welcome. (see Club News)

See below for the Weekly round-up for 13th Feb 2006

Fixtures 13th Feb 2016   (NB 2:30 Kick Offs)

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Medway

H

 

London One

2nd(Mustangs)

Alleynians II

A

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

No Fixture

   

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Canterbury V

A

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Cranbrook Match

A

11am KO

Friendly

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-up   13th Feb 2006

 

Five consecutive wins for the First Team, following their convincing win against Midwives on Saturday, means that apart from Portsmouth, Maidstone are now the form side in London Two South.  This victory advances Maidstone up the League table from 7th to 5th at the expense of Lewes and Jersey who both lost. With every game that passes and with every win that’s notched up, the next game starts to look increasingly winnable and its hard to say where this winning streak might stop – except to say of course that there are no foregone conclusions in this League and no team from top to bottom can be sure of winning (or losing) their next fixture.  What was significant about this week’s result is that it was achieved despite the non-availability of significant numbers of the First Team squad and goes to show that the revival in the fortunes of the Mustangs under James Ferris and Andy Golding has boosted the strength in depth of the Firsts.

 

Playing numbers were seriously depleted from the top down this week which meant that the Mustangs team that travelled to TJ IIs had only about 5 regulars in the side, the rest being made up from the 3s, 4s and even (by substitution) the Vets. Whilst never seriously out-played (and greatly relieved at not having to lift Dave Scanlon in the line-outs after he went off injured), the team struggled somewhat in the scrum and paid the ultimate price for a lack of penetration against a committed and fired-up TJ side that took their own chances well. It was a shame that shortly before the end of what had never been an over-physical encounter, Nick East had his head and face badly raked by a TJ boot as he lay on the ground at a ruck. (It looked pretty unlikely to have been an accident but one sincerely hopes that it was just that).  One of Nick’s sympathetic team-mates later remarked that there was so much squealing that he thought a little girl on the touch-line had fallen off her tricycle but in fairness, there was plenty of blood to go with the squealing – and Nick did get up and play on once he found a bandage to wrap round his head. No lasting damage - one hopes.

 

The 3rds also travelled to Tonbridge for a league game – likewise depleted of regulars and boasting a motley collection of 3rd, 4th and 5th team players together with – in sheer desperation – a rookie back-row player who has only recently emerged from the First Team front-row and is slowly learning his new trade at number 8. (Plowman)  To make matters worse, Ian Wilkinson left his kit in Maidstone and disappeared up Tonbridge High Street  to buy new boots and kit  - but still managed to be out of the changing room ready to start before some of the side had even showed up. No wonder TJs were fired up by the time the game started, having been kept waiting for 25 minutes, and were able to run in an easy try from the off.  Following a poor start, Maidstone left themselves too much to do in the second half and despite fighting their way back into contention, lost by a score or two.  Sympathies to Steve Goodwin from the 5th team, who scored Maidstone’s first try but then had his nose broken by a Tonbridge knee just before the end. (I’m just glad I didn’t hear the crunch as it was said to be truly sickening)  Congratulations to James Benger on scoring his first ever try.  (One of the senior  members of the side later revealed that he himself hasn’t scored a try in 8 years – but that he gets a warm glow of satisfaction when he can help a team-mate to score – which just goes to show that there’s no “I” in “Team” – or in “Plowman” for that matter”)

 

The 4th  team players all played for the 3rds or 2nds (or went shopping) so, since TJ Vets had cried off against Maidstone Vets, Maidstone’s Vets turned out against TJ 4s in the scheduled League match in place of Maidstone 4ths. (confused?)   However, there was dismay amongst the assembled cast of wrinklies when Glyn announced in the car-park that as it was a league game, there could only be 3 substitutes and 6 of the Vets would not get even half a game. However, the TJ skipper generously volunteered to waive the rule in order to accommodate Maidstone’s multitudes. A fine game was played in good spirit; the Vets duly triumphed and the 4ths retained their chances of winning the Mid Kent C League thanks to the fine old gents of the Veterans XV. Maidstone’s grateful 4th team skipper promised a jug of foaming bitter, and I shall be checking next week to see if it ever materialised - even though none of it was for me, having played for the Mustangs.

 

As for the B XV, they stayed at the Mote to fulfil their League Fixture against Gravesend V but sadly, chalked up their 7th consecutive defeat thanks largely to a complete lack of aggression in the first half during which they conceded 3 quick tries.  Never known for his lack of aggression, the amazing one-man whirl-wind “Stumpy” Kinch, managed to earn himself 10 minutes in the sin-bin and although I wasn’t there, judging by his “previous” I would say that it was a fair cop and the ref got him ‘bang to rights’.

 

Next week, the Firsts travel the 100 odd miles down the A3 to Gosport & Fareham (I believe there might be some spare seats on the coach which leaves at 10-30 sharp. If any travelling supporters are interested, Tony Dray is probably the man to contact) Following a mid-season slump, G&F will hope that they have turned a bit of a corner having beaten Sevenoaks and drawn with Beckenham in their last two outings, so a feisty reception is sure to await a Maidstone side looking to do the double over them. 

 

The Mustangs are the star attraction at home as they take on Aylesford II, having beaten them only 6-5 in the away fixture in October.

 

The A team take on bottom side East Peckham, whilst the extra A have a must-win match away at unbeaten league leaders Medway III.

 

Lastly, I have once again pasted in Saturday’s match programme so that the wise and witty words of our revered First Team Captain can reach a wider audience. (see below)

 

RE

 

Cover Info

 

Maidstone

v

Old Mid-Whitgiftians

11th February 2006

KO. 2.30pm

London 2 South

 

 

MAIDSTONE                                                           OLD MID-WHITGIFTIANS

(Red, White & Black Hoops)                                     (Blue & Black with White Trim)

 

 

Dave Charlton                                     15                    James Butterworth

                               

Tim Porter                                           14                    Sam Mahama

(BioMedical Business Partners)

Neil Graves                                         13                    Paddy Garvey

 

Martin Arnold                                     12                    Mark Macaskill

(College Road Dental Surgery)

Mark Ryan                                          11                    James Grice
(Howarth, Clark & Whitehill)

Glenn Aukett                                      10                    James Orchard
(Island Sports)

Craig Whitehead                                 9                      David Stanton

(Island Sports)

 

Scott McIlroy                                      1                      Bryn Hodges
(Simon Wright Homes)

Rob Jeffrey                                         2                      Chris Shaw


Simon Hollister                                   3                      Nick Hamilton


Sam Johnston                                     4                      Steve Berry

 

Steve Matthews                                  5                      Ikay

(Blue Vinny Restaurant, Elham)             

Jon Sargent (capt)                               6                      Russell Jones

(Island Sports)

Ed Davis                                             7                      Joe O’Keefe

 

Ben Court                                           8                      Neil Taft

(Handf Finance)

 

 

Dan Cummings                                   16                   

 

Cameron Anning                                 17                   

 

James Ferris                                         18                   

 

 

Players Sponsor Name in Brackets

 

REFEREE:     John Price (Kent Soc)

 

Touch Judges: Dave Hughes (Maidstone)

Lee Macaskill (OM’s)

                                               

 

If you are interested in Sponsoring any player in the 1st team squad, please see Jon Sargent.

 

 

Introduction

We extend a warm welcome to our visitors from Surrey today for our second league meeting of the season.  Having won a close encounter at home in October, Old Mids will be looking to move themselves away from the relegation zone by bucking the trend that has developed between the two clubs where the home side wins.  With the league as tight as it is and with sides taking points off each other around them, both sides will be keen to move up the table. 

 

Since their formation in 1925, Old Mid-Whitgiftians have risen to be one of the top clubs in Surrey and can claim George Chuter, Shane Roiser and Alex Codling as recent alumni.  Following the decision to ‘go open’ in the mid-70’s, their success in the early 80’s saw them elected to London 2 South at the formation of the leagues having won the Surrey Cup three times.  Following promotion to London 1, they competed for 11 years (where they beat Maidstone 32-15 in 1994) before restructuring saw them return to London 2 South in 2000.

 

They arrive at the Mote today to find Maidstone keen not to let all the good work of four consecutive wins go to waste.  With both sides too close to the wrong end of the table for comfort, we’re in for a full bloodied encounter with both sides having everything to play for.

 

Captains Comments

With 4 wins on the bounce we have managed to move ourselves 5 points clear of the bottom three, but we know that we are nowhere near a position of safety.  With a difficult run in March and April, everyone focused on the need to continue the run of form in a tough February that includes a trip to Gosport.

 

With Ed Davis still available and Marty and myself just about staying in one piece, we have once again managed to keep a fairly stable side.  Scotty Mc is back from his Irish jaunt to bolster the pack, and while John Wilford has had a kidney stone removed and is out, it opens the door for DC to slot in at full-back and complete the set of having started a 1st team game in every position in the backs.  

 

This week’s ‘Jammy Bugger Award’ goes to our hooker Tommy Rogers.  Tom announced on Tuesday that he has won a trip for two to Rome this weekend for the England-Italy game including a couple of hundred quid spending money.  However, it’s not all gone according to plan, as Tom’s girlfriend Emma has not been allowed the time off work, so she can’t go with him.  We wish Tom a safe trip, and more importantly we hope that the £100 I gave Emma’s boss proves to be a wise investment, and that I can actually get some quality time with her while Tom’s away...

 

‘The Phantom’ Debate: *Update* While the ‘work-shy Kiwi shirker’ label has proved hard to shift, Sam has this week received the following glowing celebrity endorsement:

“Sam Johnston is the best gym instructor I ever had.  He never fails to put slightly more effort into a workout than me” – Rick Waller

The debate continues… 

 

Enjoy the game!

Jon

 

 

Upcoming Social Events

Thursday 13th April:    Annual Club Dinner & Awards @ The Grangemoor Hotel

Tickets £25 – Contact Jon Sargent

Friday 5th May:           Spring Ball @ The Ramada Hotel

                                    Tickets £35 – Contact Wendy Pound

Friday 12th May:         Golf Day @ Bearsted Golf Club

                                    Contact Bob Beney

 

NEXT WEEK:       MUSTANGS v AYLESFORD 2’s

K.O.  2.30pm @ the MOTE

25th FEB:                1st XV v BLACKHEATH

                                Kent Cup Quarter Final

K.O.  2.00pm @ the MOTE

 

PLAYER PROFILE

Name:

Jon Sargent

Nickname:

Jonny Bear / CSP

Age:

31

Preferred Position:

Hooker

Sponsor:

Island Sports

First Team:

Maidstone U8’s

Previous Clubs:

Sheffield Hallam Uni, Bloomsberg Uni (USA)

Playing Honours:

Kent Schools

1st XV Debut:

1993

Tries Last Season:

6

Maidstone Rugby Hero:

Ian Barnes & Matt Plowman

Least Deserving 2005 Lion:

John Hayes

Favourite Film:

Shawshank Redemption

Favourite TV Show:

Band of Brothers/ The Simpsons

Favourite Song:

God Only Knows (The Beachboys)

Childhood Ambition:

To become a Jedi Knight

4 Dream Dinnerparty Guests:

Major Richard Winters, Lance Armstrong, Eddie Izzard, Jim Griffiths

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Club Shop

 

Don’t forget that the following items are available at the Club Shop!

 

SHIRT         RAIN JACKET                     FLEECE       POLO SHIRT

                TRAINING TOP                      DRESS SHIRT                         CLUB TIE

 

Further details are available on the website and orders can also be placed over the bar. 

 

 

 

AVAILABLE NOW!

 

Limited Edition 125 L3SE League Champions Shirt

 

Just £25

See Jon Sargent for details or to order one

 

LONDON 2 SOUTH

Team

P

W

D

L

For

Against

Diff

Pts

Guildford

15

13

0

2

516

262

254

26

 

Portsmouth

15

12

1

2

480

228

252

25

 

Sevenoaks

15

9

0

6

406

285

121

18

 

Beckenham

15

8

0

7

366

285

81

16

 

Jersey

15

7

1

7

377

385

-8

15

 

Lewes

15

7

1

7

378

400

-22

15

 

Maidstone

15

7

0

8

286

363

-77

14

 

Thanet Wanderers

15

6

0

9

330

315

15

12

 

Sutton & Epsom

15

6

0

9

316

328

-12

12

 

Old Mid-Whitgiftian

15

5

1

9

216

330

-114

9

2

Sidcup

15

4

0

11

190

388

-198

8

 

Gosport and Fareham

15

4

0

11

193

485

-292

8

 

 

Results:

Saturday, 28 January 2006

 Gosport and Fareham

7 - 3

  Sevenoaks

 

 Guildford

17 - 43

  Portsmouth

 

 Jersey

31 - 21

  Sidcup

 

 Maidstone

17 - 13

  Beckenham

 

 Old Mid-Whitgiftian

22 - 20

  Lewes

 

 Sutton & Epsom

14 - 24

  Thanet Wanderers

 

 

Saturday, 4 February 2006

 Lewes

31 - 17

  Beckenham

 

 

A XV              40 – 17            Llanishen (Cardiff)                            

Ex A XV         12 – 25            Cranbrook 3’s             

B XV              12 – 20            Sheppey Vets             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round up for 6th Feb 2016
posted: February 09 2016

Results 6th Feb 2016

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Sidcup

H

 Won 25-17

London One

2nd

(Mustangs)

Sevenoaks II

A

 Lost 24-14

Invicta League

Dev XV

T Wells IV

A

 Postponed

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Deal & Betts III

H

 Lost 26-51

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

No fixture

   

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personally, I find professional and even International rugby, a very dull affair and if I had the chance to watch England playing or to watch Maidstone, I would choose Maidstone every time.  No such choice was necessary this week, with England kicking off late but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind as to which of the two games was more entertaining. 

Week by week, Maidstone get better and even without skipper Ben Williams, who was enjoying a well-earned break at Murrayfield, Maidstone outplayed Sidcup all over the park, except perhaps in the scrum, where Jake Eaglesham thoroughly earned his MotM award as he cleaned up scrappy ball from a scrum that was in retreat for much of the afternoon.

There was a point midway through the 2nd half, when Sidcup had engineered a scrum 15 metres out from the Maidstone try-line in the Somme corner, and it looked ominous for Maidstone as their scrum went backwards fast.  Suddenly, Jake had broken out, powered past the Sidcup scrum-half and back-row and Maidstone had made 10 yards, supported by his flankers to quickly recycle ball for a break-out that resulted in a line-out on the half-way line on the opposite side of the pitch.  The Sidcup supporters were left quite apoplectic and scratching their bobble-hatted heads at how such a promising situation had suddenly been snatched away from them.

All in all, it was a terrific win and another important scalp from the top half of the table, although frustratingly our own position in the table stays resolutely in the bottom half, despite recent successes.  Sidcup meanwhile, look like they are a long way from achieving promotion, especially as they have to play a full-strength Medway next week, whereas Guildford and Sutton&Epsom played Medway whilst key players were under suspension.

 

A good day at the office for the 1st Team was not emulated by the Mustangs, who lost their away fixture at Sevenoaks 24-14, although no further news has emerged regarding the team’s performance/scorers etc.

Up in Mote Park, Our B team were pleased that D&B III turned up for the re-scheduled League fixture but were under no illusions that they would have probably not come had their 1sts and 2nds not had a blank weekend. However, you can only play what’s in front of you and once again, Craig’s boys dug in hard and came off the field elated with a 2nd half fight-back that had seen them win the 2nd half and halve their deficit, proving that you can lose a match and yet still have a terrific afternoon’s rugby.

LATE RED VETERANS TROPHY

A number of matches were played at the weekend, and in our own group, T Wells beat Aylesford quite comprehensively, whilst Sevenoaks won their local derby vs fierce rivals Tonbridge Judds. 

We have now arranged to play our postponed fixture vs Aylesford on Wednesday 17th at 7:45pm at Aylesford’s ground under flood-lights.  It would have been nice to have hosted the game on the Somme but the chances of its being playable were too slim to risk.   Please mark the date in your diary as it would be great to have lots of Red, Black and White support down there in this local derby.

RE

Fixtures 13th Feb 2016   (NB 2:30 Kick Offs)

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Dover

A

 

London One

2nd

(Mustangs)

T Wells II

H

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Old Gravesendians III

H

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Sittingbourne II

A

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

TBA

   

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-Up 5th Feb 2006

 

This was a relatively quiet week on the playing front, as all attention seemed to be on the E v W fixture, and there were consequently no League fixtures being played.

 

The First Team had a rare week off, but dropped one place in the League Table on account of Lewes beating Beckenham in a re-arranged fixture.

 

 The Mustangs game against Medway I was shelved when Medway cried off on Wednesday.

 

The A Team rattled up a fairly comfortable win against the tourists from Llanishen,

who took their defeat in good part and spent the afternoon drowning their sorrows – which multiplied as the afternoon wore on.

 

The Extra A played a friendly against Cranbrook 3rds/2nds.  This was a well-matched fixture which could have gone either way but was won by Cranbrook despite a late Maidstone fight back. So honours are even, as Maidstone won the corresponding fixture against Cranbrook in the first half of the season.

 

The B found themselves changing at the Leisure Centre and playing in the park again this week. Despite being a comfortable 12 – 0 up after 20 minutes, the B were unfortunate to lose again, going down 12-20 to Sheppey Vets in what descended into a pretty punchy affair by all accounts.

 

The Veterans turned up to find themselves without a game after a disappointing cry-off from Aylesford Vets. However, instead of settling down in the bar with a beer to watch the internationals, the daft old sods donned their kit and ran out on the Somme to play 9 a side “sevens” against each-other. It quickly became apparent that a rule was needed to prevent any one player scoring more than 3 tries and then, once Chris Linley had scored his three, the game turned into a more even affair in which both sides were equally knackered but still managed to play some surprisingly good rugby.

It also enabled them to work up a sufficiently powerful thirst to see off Llanishen and Maidstone A in a 3 way 8-man boat race event later that day.   There’s life in ‘em old Dogs yet (although not much in some of them) !!

 

Looking ahead to next week, The Firsts are at home to Old Midwives, who despite a bright start to the season have looked to be struggling lately. It is therefore vital that Maidstone make the most of this opportunity to move up the table – but of course Midwives will have other ideas. The VPs have a pre-match lunch on Saturday and will no doubt contribute vociferous support.

 

There is also the rarity next week of what is almost a “block –fixture” with 4 of our sides playing TJs, the exception being the Bs who are scheduled to play Gravesend 5.

TJs have recently opened a £750,000 extension to their clubhouse, so it will be good to visit and experience their new facilities.

 

Subscriptions All players should now be paid up for the season or have signed a standing order mandate for the very reasonable sum of £10 per month. If you havent, you are free-loading at the expense of your team-mates and should no longer expect to be selected.

 

On the subject of subscriptions, I witnessed on Saturday, a rather vociferous club-member, demanding to know what he gets for his annual subs.  Bearing in mind the number of free physio sessions this character has received, I was surprised that he needed to ask. However, it must be obvious to most members that running and maintaining the club-house and pitches and paying for the infrastructure of such a large organization, does not come cheap.

 

A quick look in the club accounts would quickly reveal where the income goes and how difficult it is for the club to operate if subscriptions aren’t paid. It should also be apparent to anyone who stops to think about it that the club could not function at all but for the vast amounts of unpaid time contributed by a small army of volunteers so in fact, members are getting vastly more than they are actually paying for.  J  Luckily, most members recognize a good deal when they see one.

 

QUIZ NIGHT  is on Friday 10th feb at 7.30 in the club-house.  Tickets are priced at £10 per head (which includes a plated ploughman’s supper) and teams of 6 per table are invited to book.  Graham Norton is organiser in chief, so further details about entering a team can be obtained from him on 01622 738924 or by emailing him at  graham.norton@emerson.co.uk   Competition will be fierce as the First Team will be keen to prove that their “surprise” win last time, was not just a flash in the pan.

 

RE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round up for 30th Jan 2016
posted: February 02 2016

Results 30th January 2016

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Gosport & Fareham

H

 Postponed to 27th Feb

London One

2nd

(Mustangs)

Sidcup II

A

 Forfeited

Invicta League

Dev XV

Lordswood II

H

 64-10

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Dover IV

A

 Lost

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Battersea Ironsides Vets

A

 cancelled

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Your humble correspondent was away in Cardiff at the weekend and therefore has precious little to report about events at home.  Cardiff was good though.  It must be absolutely crazy on match-days.

At home, rain put paid to the First Team match.  The Mustangs game was forfeited owing to injuries and drop-outs.   The Development Team notched up a big score vs Lordswood II on the park pitch, but I can’t find anyone to tell me the B Team score v Dover.  (That’s not actually true.  I know that the B team scored 7 but I have no idea what Dover got.  More than “7” I suspect)

I get the impression that Mayhem’s evening with Keith Kent may have been a very good night, but I have not been able to ascertain any detail about that either.

Not much of a news round-up really.  Luckily, the one from 29th Jan 2006 is a good deal more interesting, so make sure you read that (below next week’s fixtures.)

6th Feb should have been a rest weekend but 4 of our sides have re-arranged League games to play, so make sure you don’t go shopping when you should be playing.

RE

Fixtures 6th Feb 2016

 Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Sidcup

H

 

London One

2nd

(Mustangs)

Sevenoaks II

A

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

T Wells IV

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Deal & Betts III

H

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

No fixture

   

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Weekly News Round Up  Jan 29th 2006

 

A pretty good week for the senior club this week, all things considered although it would be nice to see The B XV get back into winning ways before too long.

 

The First XV move into the top half of the table by virtue of their home win against Beckenham and that means Maidstone have now won their last 4 league matches. That’s the sort of form that will give cause for concern to any opposition between now and the end of the season. As someone from another L2S club wrote to me recently about Maidstone “the giant is starting to stir”. There is no team in this league that is unbeatable, as Guildford have found in consecutive weeks but by the same token, there are no games that can be taken for granted, as bottom club Gosport & Fareham proved against Sevenoaks this week. 

 

A draw never feels like a good result in a rugby match (its like kissing your sister, a New Zealander once told me – and he should know) but that’s what The Mustangs had to settle for down at Thanet Wanderers in the Invicta League.  In truth however, it was probably a better result for Maidstone than for Thanet who have performed very well in the League this year and who beat The Mustangs 27-12 back in October.

 

The A Team travelled to Cranbrook, to take on Cranbrook II in the Mid Kent League.

Despite the number of grizzled old die-hards available down at Cranbrook, they actually put out quite a young side on the day, so it was up to our grizzled old die-hards in the A team to do the business – which they duly did, winning 22-5.

 

The Extra A travelled to Gravesend to take on OG IIIs in a Mid Kent C League match. Two of the Maidstone side, Matt Ruffle and James Benger, had never played rugby before and James Scott, the hooker had never been in a scrum before. All three of them acquitted themselves extremely well as Maidstone romped to a fairly comfortable win, but debutant Matt Ruffle looked somewhat limp-wristed for two-thirds of the match. He later discovered that he had broken his wrist in his first ever match but one hopes that he will be back for his second match before the end of the season. James Benger is “Mein Host” at the Bull at East Farleigh and has been lured into playing rugby for the first time by mixing with the some of the First-Team Kiwis who frequent that particular hostelry. Its amazing what can happen after you get chatting to someone in a pub!!.

Once again, skipper Tony Lea had an outstanding game in loose and line-out and really led from the front.

 

The B XV fielded “a pack of mighty orcs” this week against Cranbrook III but owing to the fact that Cranbrook had no front-row, the game was played with uncontested scrums and Maidstone’s Orcs were given the run around by Cranbrook’s spritely elves to the tune of a 20-5 defeat.  Under Mid Kent Rules, the points are shared so each side comes away with 2 league points.  (If Maidstone had won, they would have gained all three points and Cranbrook would have got a point for turning up) A cynic might say that these rules are open to exploitation but others would say it’s an imaginative and fair formula to tackle the problem of games being abandoned for the lack of a front row. The fact is that a game went ahead that would otherwise have been abandoned. Both sides had the same chance to win and to get something from the game so that just has to be good news (unless your side has a bigger, slower pack perhaps but then they might have lost anyway).  As a foot-note, there is a discussion going on within the Mid-Kent and Invicta Leagues as to whether such games should be re-started with line-outs instead of uncontested scrums.  Watch this space for further detail.

 

Not much to report about The Veterans except that they won at home  by a comfortable margin, this time against Lordswood Vets. I gather that plaudits are due to Centre Richard Weston, who stepped in to play hooker for the first time ever and took a number of balls against the head. As a result, one feels that a certain elderly gentleman “with a foot like a lizard’s tongue” and a comedy moustache had better look to his laurels. (I won’t describe any other parts of his anatomy on the grounds of decency and taste).

 

Next week’s fixtures are all friendlies and are all likely to be at 1pm or 1:30 to enable players to watch the England v Wales game afterwards. The Firsts have no game whilst the Mustangs travel to Medway to play Medway I.  Top billing at home will be the A team who are playing a return fixture against Welsh side Llanishen, (for whom former Maidstone player Trevor McCloud disports himself.), so a fantastic atmosphere in the clubhouse is guaranteed as Welshmen will be outnumbered only 5 to 1 instead of the usual 50 to 1. The 4s,5s and Vets are also at home so there should be a  feast of running rugby especially for the least discerning spectator to enjoy. (One side will need to change and play at the leisure centre. TBA)

 

Don’t forget that subs must be paid this week to qualify for selection next week. £10 per month is fantastic value compared with gym membership or with any other sporting club, but the subs must be paid or the club cannot function and a greater burden falls upon your team mates. Make sure that your skipper or other club official has received your payment or standing order form.

 

Finally, you will find below, the match programme from Saturday’s home fixture. It seems a shame to me that our great Club Captain’s witty and epigrammatic programme notes do not reach a wider audience amongst the playing membership so it is my intention to reproduce the programme notes from home matches here in this section.   (NB the info regarding Maidstone A v Blackheath is wrong. The A are playing Llanishen)

 

RE

 

Cover Info

 

Maidstone

v

Beckenham

28th January 2006

KO. 2.15pm

London 2 South

 

MAIDSTONE                                                           BECKENHAM

(Red, White & Black Hoops)                                     (Blue & Gold Stripes)

 

 

John Wilford                                       15                    Peter Benham

                               

Tim Porter                                           14                    Chris Hay

(BioMedical Business Partners)

Neil Graves                                         13                    Alex Morrill

 

Martin Arnold                                     12                    Brendan Moore

(College Road Dental Surgery)

Mark Ryan                                          11                    Reggie Rayner
(Howarth, Clark & Whitehill)

Glenn Aukett                                      10                    Pat Wright
(Island Sports)

Craig Whitehead                                 9                      Ben Wood

(Island Sports)

 

Rob Jeffrey                                         1                      Phil Burns
 

Tom Rogers                                         2                      Ed Redding

(Mercantile Consultancy Services/ Glosrose)
Simon Hollister                                   3                      Simon Dunford


Sam Johnston                                     4                      Seb Rose

 

Steve Matthews                                  5                      Pat Markey

(Blue Vinny Restaurant, Elham)             

Jon Sargent (capt)                               6                      Jamie Pinn

(Island Sports)

Ed Davis                                             7                      Ludovic Ardouin

 

Ben Court                                           8                      Jared Tipene (capt)

(Handf Finance)

 

 

Dan Cummings                                   16                    Glyn Roberts

 

Cameron Anning                                 17                    Paul Roumph

 

Eugene Moore                                     18                    Neil Dipple

(Island Sports)

 

Players Sponsor Name in Brackets

 

REFEREE:     David Robertshaw (Kent)

 

Touch Judges: Dave Hughes (Maidstone)

                        Laurie Pinn (Beckenham)                  

 

If you are interested in Sponsoring any player in the 1st team squad, please see Jon Sargent.

Introduction

We extend a warm welcome today to our visitors from Beckenham in our second meeting in the League this season.   Formed in 1894, Beckenham is one of the oldest clubs in the county and has continued to maintain its position as one of Kent’s leading sides since the formation of the leagues.  Having consistently finished well in London 2 South now for a number of years, the opening of their fantastic new clubhouse in 2004 has provided them with the facilities to support their status.

 

Currently lying in 4th place following a convincing win over Old MidWhitgiftians last weekend, and on the back of an Intermediate Cup run where they made it to the last 16, Beckenham arrive at the Mote today full of confidence.  While we obviously wish them all the best for the rest of the season, we hope that they arrive to find a resurgent Maidstone side keen to reverse the 2 point defeat they suffered in South London in October.

 

 

Captains Comments

With 3 good wins on the road in the last 3 games, we’ve managed to pull ourselves a couple of points clear of the relegation places, but with teams still taking points off each other and only 5 points between 5th and 11th, we know there is still a long way to go before we’re out of the trouble we put ourselves in during October and November.

 

While there are still a large number of unavailability’s and injuries, we have at least managed to get some consistency in the team over the last month, and confidence has increased as a result of the familiarity this has created.  With the likes of John Wilford, Tim Porter and Neil Graves back and getting game time, and with Ed Davis providing the spark at open-side, we are starting to put together more consistent performances and looking more solid in defence.  With key games in the next couple of weeks against Midwives and Gosport, we have a good opportunity to pull ourselves right up the table and away from the relegation fight. 

 

One to watch:  Video analysis of last weeks game highlighted the fact that second-row Sam ‘the Phantom’ Johnston seems to be spending a significant amount of time ‘supporting the back line’.  Rugby visionary, or work-shy Kiwi shirker?  You decide!

 

Pilkington Update:  While yours truly managed a whole 80 minutes last week (granted, there’s little more than white tape holding me together at this stage of the season, but it was 80 minutes none the less), Nick is threatening to be playing again in the next couple of weeks (that is if he manages to avoid breaking anything else while he’s away skiing this week).

Enjoy the game
Jon

 

 

 

NEXT WEEK:       3rd XV v BLACKHEATH

K.O.  2.15pm @ the MOTE

(Plus ENGLAND v WALES in the Club House)

11th FEB:                1st XV v OLD MID-WHITGIFTIAN

                                K.O.  2.15pm @ the MOTE

 

PLAYER PROFILE

Name:

Ben Court

Nickname:

Big Ben'; (definitely not The Cable Guy)

Age:

29

Preferred Position:

No 8

Sponsor:

Handf Finance Limited

First Team:

King's School Rochester Under 11

Previous Clubs:

Medway, Loughborough Students

Playing Honours:

Kent U21

1st XV Debut:

1999

Tries Last Season:

6

Maidstone Rugby Hero:

Paul Essenhigh

Least Deserving 2005 Lion:

Alistair Campbell

Favourite Film:

Cannonball Run

Favourite TV Show:

Lost

Favourite Song:

Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison)

Childhood Ambition:

to see England win the rugby world cup

4 Dream Dinnerparty Guests:

the lovely Shannon, Homer Simpson, Elvis Presley, Lawrence Dallaglio

 

 

 

 

Club Shop

 

Don’t forget that the following items are available at the Club Shop!

 

SHIRT         RAIN JACKET                     FLEECE       POLO SHIRT

                TRAINING TOP                      DRESS SHIRT                         CLUB TIE

 

Further details are available on the website and orders can also be placed over the bar. 

 

 

 

AVAILABLE NOW!

 

Limited Edition 125 L3SE League Champions Shirt

 

Just £25

See Jon Sargent for details or to order one

 

LONDON 2 SOUTH

Team

P

W

D

L

For

Against

Diff

Pts

Guildford

14

13

0

1

499

219

280

26

 

Portsmouth

14

11

1

2

437

211

226

23

 

Sevenoaks

14

9

0

5

403

278

125

18

 

Beckenham

13

8

0

5

336

237

99

16

 

Jersey

14

6

1

7

346

364

-18

13

 

Lewes

13

6

1

6

327

361

-34

13

 

Sutton & Epsom

14

6

0

8

302

304

-2

12

 

Maidstone

14

6

0

8

269

350

-81

12

 

Thanet Wanderers

14

5

0

9

306

301

5

10

 

Old Mid-Whitgiftian

14

4

1

9

194

310

-116

9

 

Sidcup

14

4

0

10

169

357

-188

8

 

Gosport and Fareham

14

3

0

11

186

482

-296

6

 

 

 

 

Results:

Saturday, 21 January 2006

 Beckenham

42 - 3

  Old Mid-Whitgiftian

 

 Lewes

32 - 27

  Guildford

 

 Portsmouth

57 - 0

  Sutton & Epsom

 

 Sevenoaks

15 - 29

  Maidstone

 

 Sidcup

21 - 19

  Gosport and Fareham

 

 Thanet Wanderers

20 - 31

  Jersey

 

 

Other Results

Mustangs         15 – 18            Sidcup 2’s      

A XV              16 – 17            Lordswood 2’s                       

Ex A XV         Walk over        New Ash Green 2’s

B XV              5 – 21              Lordswood 3’s

Vets                 27 – 5              TJ’s Trojans                            

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 23rd Jan 2016
posted: January 26 2016

 

Fixtures 23rd January

 

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Tottonians

A

Won 7-21

London One

2nd

(Mustangs)

Medway II

A

Lost 12-16

Invicta League

Dev XV

Canterbury V

A

Lost 29-19

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Ashford Barbarians

H

Lost 0-15

Dragon Fire West

Veterans

Faversham II

H

Cancelled

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The First Team march on week by week, turning in performances that are consistently better than achieved in the first half of the season - as was the case with this latest win over Tottonians, although in terms of League position, it seems to be slow progress to get into the top half of the table and even now, we remain in 8th position out of 14. However, I know that Ben Williams and the team are determined that they will not lose to anyone twice this season, which presents them with 3 really big home matches in the coming weeks, in order to achieve that  goal.  Time will tell.   Meanwhile, back to Saturday and its pleasing to see that Rory Beech was awarded the Biddenden Vineyards bubbly for taking the supporters MotM award whilst Josh Pankhurst snaffled two out of of the team's three tries.   No doubt, the home journey in the team bus was an enjoyable affair.

At home, lots of people turned out to watch a patched up  Mustangs bare XV take on Medway's 2nd team and when all was over, most home and away supporters felt that Maidstone had been the better side whilst managing to record a bonus point loss after leading for most of the game. Indeed had it not been for an unfortunate slip behind the scrum which allowed the grateful Medway scrum-half to pounce and scamper in from 25 metres out, the winning points would surely have been Maidstone's, especially if Rob Field's first-half try had not been adjudged held-up by the unsighted ref.  As it was Charlie Williams and Richie Bowen capped fine displays with tries of their own whilst in the back-row, Rob Field and Will Lane really caught the eye in defence and attack.  Mention must be made of Matt Cooper, who put in a terrific shift standing in at Prop whilst Veteran Rich Gray showed his metal in coping with the powerful Medway front-row, their hooker being nearly twice the width of our hooker Josh McKenzie (although only half as handsome of course)


Veteran half-back Mick Walker, led the Development team to  East Kent, where they lost 29-19 to a very good Canterbury side.  He writes: "The boys where excellent in both spirit and endeavour.  The opposition played a fast rucking game through their "Vet Like" forwards and had the better of us for the first half. Half time we agreed a new strategy and comfortably won the second half clashes and had it not been for our Veteran scrumhalf fumbling a pass the score should have read 22-19. My congratulations to Canterbury and my respect to the Maidstone team a much improved performance"   Thanks Mick and various other Vets for stepping into the breach when needed.

Back to the home front and a continuously improving B Team were faced with their toughest challenge of the season as they faced Ashford Barbarians on the bottom pitch, which resembles a ploughed field at the moment.  In contrast with the 75 point thrashing they received at Ashford, this game was lost by 15 points to nil but it was a battle to the death (almost) with neither side taking a step backward in their determination and desire to get a win.  Massive respect to Craig Tuffrey for the way he continues to lead the team in their collective endeavours week after week, in the best traditions of Barbarians rugby.

 

Sadly, by the time Veterans had been utilized for starring roles in the B team, Development team and Mustangs, there were insufficient players left over to fulfil a lately arranged away fixture vs Edenbridge Vets. Apologies to them for the late cry off.

 

Once again, there is good news re our U15s teams, well written by Jamie Mills, which I have pasted below, but prior to that, can I remind you of Martin Maytum’s social evening on Friday, “An Evening with Keith Kent”.  It promises to be an excellent affair and it really deserves the support of all members (excluding me sadly, as my wife has arranged a citybreak to Cardiff for the weekend, despite my warning that its full of Welsh people).

 

Kent Cup Update

The U15 A squad hosted Bromley in the last of their group matches in a top of the table clash.  Both teams were unbeaten and with a Kent match on, missing a few regular players.

 

Pitch 2, despite Mayhems efforts, definitely suited the longer stud.  One Bromley wag pointed out that the Garden of England appeared to have been ploughed.    Regular training on the Somme and a greater tolerance to “that” smell meant the Stones simply called this “home advantage”.  With Bromley still thinking of their manicured lawns, the Stones’ Scrum Half showed great awareness and footballing skills to out fox Bromley’s defence for the opening try in the opening minute.

 

This was the wake-up call Bromley needed and their rucking game and ball retention were impressive and effective.  Fortunately the Stones defence matched Bromley’s attack but their own usually potent attack seemed to falter due to over eagerness.  The Stone’s forwards upped their game in the rucks with the introduction of some clean shirted subs and nicked a few against the head in the scrum for good measure to provide a better supply of ball.  The backs rewarded the efforts with two tries late in the first half; the first down to great finishing by the Wing and the second (with thanks to Steve Millward’s work) a fine catch and drive from the line out finished off by the Stones’ omnipresent Scrum Half. 

 

The second half started with another well worked backs try, neatly converted but was followed by another “quiet period” for the scoreboard.  But for the odd knock on or forward pass it would have been have been ticking over nicely for the Stones but Bromley’s defence battled bravely in the backs and frustrated the Stones in the loose with fine tradecraft on the floor.  Against the run of play Bromley’s centre broke free from their 22m to score a converted try.  The game was far from won and this stung the Stones to redouble their efforts.  A series of surging runs from the back row combined with herculean ruck clearing from the front five quelled the Bromley revival and set up the backs up for a well deserved, well executed late try wide on the left.  A 27-7 bonus point win meant the Stones topped the group with maximum points.

Impossible to find a player of the week; a well fought team win.

 

 

The A’s match was of course only the curtain raiser.  The Bs were hosting Ash up at Mote Park.  A David and Goliath or was it Japan vs South Africa encounter.  Ash’s massive pack had a clear pick and go game plan but were surprised at the outstanding tackling and stubborn resistance from the Stone’s smaller pack.  As the Stones grew accustomed to the strange, green, springy stuff under their feet they realised it was grippy and they could run fast on it.  The Stones backs are quick and their more mobile pack gave them support.  Sixteen minutes in and the ball finally got to a Stones Winger with half a yard of space and away he went, 5-0.

 

Ash stuck to their game plan and were rewarded with a classic front row try as the Stones simply ran out of bodies to throw under the wheels of the Ash juggernaut.  Trailing 5-7 at half time, the Stones knew the game was there for the taking; so did Ash.

 

A full 20 minutes passed before the scoreboard was coaxed back in to life.  The Stones’ backs had gone close a few times, stopped by great Ash defence but the mobility of the Stones’ forwards  eventually paid off with the hard working lock touching down under the posts for a converted try.  The Stones’ best try of the day came next, with the blindside flanker showing suspiciously back like skills drawing the last defender before sending the eagerly following Winger over the line. Needless to say Ash fought back; marching their forwards up the park before releasing the scrum half for a try 5 minutes later.  With 5 minutes to go the Stones won a penalty in front of the post 20m out. With their kicker on fine form 3 points were in the bag surely – except they ran it, were held up short, recycled and the ball and powered over for a converted try.  Huge Ash pressure for the next 5 minutes resulted in A) an Ash front row try and then B) lots of people trying to work out the correct score. Once they worked out they were still winning, the Stones retained possession from the kick off and ran out with a 24-17 bonus point win.

 

Player of the Week: on behalf of the forwards goes to Liam for his tackling with special mention to Harry for his work in the loose; and Man of the Match for brave fly half play goes to Archie.

 

The bonus point win opens the group up nicely with everything to play for against OE B on 14 Feb.

 

 

 

See below the Fixtures table for the Weekly Round-up from 10 years ago.

 


Fixtures 23rd January 2016

 

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Gosport & Fareham

H

 

London One

2nd

(Mustangs)

Sidcup II

A

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Lordswood II

H

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Dover IV

A

 

Dragon Fire West

Veterans

Battersea Ironsides Vets

A

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-up   22nd Jan 2006

 

It was by no means a perfect week for Maidstone but when the First Team result hit the club-house, it certainly felt like one.  29-15 was an emphatic away win against Sevenoaks, who still lie 3rd in the table even after this result, and it proved that Maidstone are quite capable of beating any side in this division.  Even runaway leaders Guildford can be beaten, as demonstrated by Lewes this week, and there must be quite a few sides who won’t now fancy their chances against a resurgent and confident Maidstone.

 

Elsewhere in the club, the results weren’t so good, as playing resources were stretched to the limits.

 

The Mustangs went down to Sidcup II in the Invicta League by 18 points to 15. This week it was the Mustangs turn to score in the last 5 minutes, but there just wasn’t time to go on and claim victory.  It was a good performance however, considering how many 3rd team and even 4th team players had stepped up for the day to fill gaps. New 4th team skipper, Tony Lee, came on and played in the back-row and acquitted himself well, by all accounts. Not bad for someone who played his first game of rugby only a year ago.  The latest league table shows the Mustangs in 4th place and whilst there doesn’t appear to be much hope of catching unbeaten leaders Beckenham, 2nd place would still appear to be a realistic aim.

 

 The A team went off to Lordswood II without their skipper Mike Laurenson, (who was on Mustangs duty) and with around half of the regular side missing. They gave a good account of themselves but lost by one point with the last play of the match to record their first loss in the league this year. Disappointing – but even Chelsea have the odd slip-up and its hard to see this denting Maidstone’s chances of winning the Mid Kent A League title this year.

 

The Extra A were due for a hard league match at New Ash Green II but were surprised and disappointed when NAG conceded the match (and League points) on Friday. As no replacement fixture could be found, the side was disbanded and some players found gainful employment in the 2s, 3s, 5s and Vets and some went shopping.

 

The B visited Lordswood III, who are unbeaten at the top of Mid Kent D. Suffice to say that Lordswood are still unbeaten but it was a good game and I’m told that Maidstone won the second half. If only it were not a game of two halves, Trevor would now be over the moon instead of feeling as sick as a parrot.

 

The Veterans, still without their greatly revered skipper, were pleased to pick up a re-arranged fixture against their great and powerful rivals, TJ Vets. Played in the usual friendly spirit, Maidstone looked too strong throughout for a TJ side that lacked one or two regulars and they were never going to let the chance for victory escape them. In the end Maidstone won comfortably and celebrated another noteworthy win in an unusually good season.

 

Next weeks fixtures include 5 League matches again, with the first team hosting Beckenham and the Mustangs travelling to Thanet.  Beckenham are always going to provide stiff opposition at any level but Maidstone must be confident of reversing the result at Beckenham in October when the game was lost 29-27, despite Maidstone having any number of chances to win.  The Beckenham website said after that match “Maidstone are good enough to stay in this league but must learn to take their chances”  Good  advice that I’m sure  Maidstone will follow in what is now a mid-table clash.

 

It should be great entertainment so come and give the team some support.

 

RE

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 16th Jan 2016
posted: January 19 2016

 

Results 16th jan 2016

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Sutton & Epsom

H

Drew 17-17

London One South

2nd

(Mustangs)

Charlton Park II

A

Won 46-7

Invicta league

Dev XV

Vigo III

H

Lost 19-22

Dragon Fire West

B XV

H&B III

Played Aylesford III

H

H

Postponed

Won 29-0

Dragon Fire East

Friendly

Veterans

Canterbury V

A

Cancelled

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deprived of any rugby since before Christmas ,  players, coaches and supporters were eagerly awaiting Saturday's fixtures vs league leaders, Sutton & Epsom, who had won their previous 13 games and who had been beaten only once this season.  As the weekend approached, the threat of water-logged pitches faded whilst the threat of deep-frozen turf posed a more likely problem.  In the end, the weather, though brisk, was unexpectedly kind to us and all games were on, including 3 home fixtures.

To play, or to watch the First Team - the eternal dilemma - was neatly solved this week when Canterbury couldn't raise a team to play our Vets and we found ourselves with plenty of players to fulfil our 4 remaining fixtures, giving your humble correspondent carte blanche to don a warm coat and enjoy the battle on the FIrst Team pitch.

The game itself followed a very similar pattern to the Guildford match in the first 20 minutes.  Maidstone scored after around 10 minutes during which period Sutton had only touched the ball once.  The backlash then followed as Maidstone defended resolutely in the corner nearest the Somme, but just when it seemed as though they had successfully weathered the storm and broken out, Sutton scored to level the scores at 7-7.

The game pattern then departed from the Guildford model, with the Sutton defence proving to be much more resolute but even when Sutton took a 14-7 lead,  Maidstone looked as though they had the credentials to win the match. Having deservedly come back to a 17-14 winning position with 5 minutes left to play, the eventual result of 17-17 felt somewhat disappointing for the players and home supporters, rather like for Arsenal supporters at Liverpool mid-week, though had we been offered a draw prior to kick-off, I guess that most would have taken it gratefully.

There was some surprise amongst home and away supporters that Lucian's equalising try under the posts (following a long period of Maidstone pressure) was awarded, as the ball appeared to have been spilled forward prior to him gathering and going over but the referee confirmed afterwards that it was knocked backwards by a Sutton hand and had Lucian not scored, a penalty try would have been awarded, so hopefully, that sets the record straight.   Meanwhile, onwards and upwards for a Team that seems to get better by the week.  Congrats to Mustangs skipper and crowd favourite Sean O'Connail for taking the Biddenden Vineyards MotM award and also winning the  Bushiest Beard contest.  S&E Match Report available here

Whilst all of this was happening, the Mustangs were away at Charlton Park, aided and abetted by Rich Gray and Adrian Clark from The Vets,  where they recorded an excellent away win as they shape up for a strong second half of the season.  A popular returnee was Ian Antwi, who was such a big part of The Mustangs team and social scene last year, so it's great to see him back in action.  Playing at inside Centre alongside his son Alex who was playing at 10, Vets Skipper Adrian Clark put in a good shift but found out afterwards that he had broken his hand, which will slow him down for a few weeks and create a bit of a hole in the Veterans back-ine.

Meanwhile, at home, Vets stalwart Mick Walker skippered the development team to a bonus point narrow loss to a very robust looking Vigo III in the  Dragon Fire West league.

Predictably, Hastings and Bexhill 3rd team failed to travel to Maidstone to fulfil their League Fixture vs our B team, but fortunately, Aylesford III came back for a return friendly after hacking won here against the B just 5 or 6 weeks ago.  In a measure of how Craig's team is advancing week by week, they pulled off a 29-0 win this time around and must now be looking forward to testing themselves against Ashford Barbarians at home again next week.

 

NEXT WEEK
 

There is a coach trip to Tottonians (on the far side of Southampton) to which supporters can add their names (details on front of website), whilst the Vets and B Team hold centre stage at home. 

 

In case you have managed to miss it, our indefatigable Ground Chairman Mayhem has used his connections in the world of top groundsmen, to secure the attendance of Keith Kent, groundsman at Twickenham and Old Trafford amongst his many appointments, for what promises to be a very entertaining evening.  Please support the club and Martin, who has gone out of his way to arrange this social and fund-raiser, to make it a successful and enjoyable event.  Get your tickets asap before they are all gone.

 

See below for the Weekly round-up from 10 years ago.  How times change!!  Medway 2nd  team wouldn’t play our 3rds after losing to them by 80 points a few weeks previously and our 3rd team were good enough to beat a mixture of East Grinstead 2nds and 1sts. 

 

RE

Fixtures 23rd January

 

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Tottonians

A

 

London One

2nd

(Mustangs)

Medway II

H

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Canterbury V

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Ashford Barbarians

H

 

Dragon Fire West

Veterans

Faversham II

H

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round Up  15th Jan 2006

 

Well, from the point of view of a fixture secretary, this was the week from hell with only 1 out of 6 fixtures going according to plan.

 

The biggest casualty of the week was the Kent Cup Tie with Lordswood, which had promised to be a terrific encounter but which ended up as a walk-over to Maidstone.

As a result, the first team didn’t get a game at all but ended up benefiting from a useful squad session instead. Apologies to anyone who turned up to see the match but the circumstances were completely beyond the control of anyone at Maidstone.

 

The Mustangs fixture with Sevenoaks was the only one that proceeded as scheduled and its good to report that The Mustangs held out for a 12- 7 win despite conceding a try in the last 5 minutes. Nail-biting  stuff – especially after what had happened against Dunstonians the previous week.

 

The A Team had been scheduled to play Medway II but having already beaten them by 80 points back in October, it was agreed that it would be best to look for something else.  It was agreed that East Grinstead should send their 2nd team with a few first teamers on board  and  we must give credit to them for agreeing the fixture and making the trip to Maidstone when they had been expecting a home fixture. (Hope we can play a return some time). I’m reliably informed that Maidstone should never have won this one, but thanks to some amazing resolute defence, win they did, despite being somewhat understrength this week.

 

The Extra A  had no fixture scheduled so when we received a call from Old Williamsonians I/II on a non-league weekend, it seemed like a reasonable idea.

On the day, it didn’t help Maidstone’s cause that they were 2 short owing to some no-shows, but shortages notwithstanding, it was I believe a complete mis-match. However, Tony Lee was full of praise for the way Old Wills played the game and felt that they had learnt a lot from the experience (like don’t trust your fixture secretary).

 

I hope that Trevor will be equally philosophical following the fixture I got him for The B XV against Rye RFC after Old Brocks IV cried off. “Around Cranbrook III sort of standard” I was told but impartial observers felt that Rye would have been a good match for Maidstone A and they duly chalked up a 60 odd point winning margin.

The only member of the B I found in the bar afterwards was Steve Pooley and he told me that “it was a great game” but somehow I’m still dreading Trevor’s email in the morning.  The 2 plus points were that it wasn’t played at Rye and that Hippo (Simon Hollister) played the second half for the B against his former club.

 

All winning runs must finish somewhere and The Veterans crashed and burned at Sevenoaks without their Talismanic skipper Glyn Richards to lead them on the field of play. When NAG Vets cried off, the Vets  jumped at the chance to test their mettle against Sevenoaks Vets ( who now play as Sevenoaks 4th team and who are ominously unbeaten at the top of Mid Kent B). In fairness to Maidstone Vets, they were probably conceding an average of between 5 and 10 years per man (and at least 25 years in Paul Ehrhart’s case) so despite turning around only 5 points down, they were unable to contain a second half onslaught of straight running that saw them lose 34-0. Sevenoaks were magnanimous enough to concede that they had been under enormous pressure in the 1st half and that had Maidstone managed to score at that stage, the final score would have looked very different - like 34-7.    Cheers fellas. J

 

So ends a difficult week but it could have been worse.

 

Next week’s fixtures should all go according to plan but it’s a mighty tough week for Maidstone. 

 

The 1sts have a tough trip to 3rd placed Sevenoaks where, despite winning by 50 points last season, they will do extremely well to come away with a win.

 

The Mustangs face Sidcup in the league and will be keen to get a convincing win after sharing the points in the away match. The A are away in the league to a very good Lordswood II side that cried off the home fixture and will be keen to test themselves against the league leaders . The Extra A are away to NAG II who were unbeaten in the league until they came to Maidstone earlier in the season and will be seeking to reverse that result. The B are away to unbeaten league leaders Lordswood III. The Vets face Vigo III.

 

So its all hands on deck please. Your club needs you.

 

RE

 

Stop Press: Maidstone have a home draw against Blackheath in the quarter finals of the Kent Cup.

 

 



Weekly Round up for 9th Jan 2016
posted: January 12 2016

 

Results 9th January

 

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Sidcup

H

postponed 

London One

2nd

(Mustangs)

Gravesend II

A

Won 7-46

Invicta League

Dev XV

T Wells IV

A

Postponed

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Deal & Betts III

H

Postponed

Dragon Fire West

Veterans

Anchs III

A

Won 7-24

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a very short round-up this week, as your humble correspondent was away and somewhat out of the loop.

However, I gather that the rain was rather heavy during the week,, which resulted in all of the home games being postponed, despite our best endeavours.

The only games to survive were the Mustangs match vs Gravesend II and the Vets match vs Anchorians III, both of which resulted in wins for Maidstone, though no other details have reached me.

 

Meanwhile, there is really good news to report concerning our new U14 section under Lead Coach Gavin Allwright.

 

Under Gavin’s guidance the  team has grown from none to 14 players, with some also playing in the u15’s. It is great to see all his hard work paying off with being able to arrange fixtures. He is also running a mid- week after schools training (recruitment!!) club. Great to see a gap in the age groups being so successfully filled.   The match report follows from their latest game:

 

For our second run out this year, the U14’s were on the road again with an away fixture at Canterbury. With rather depleted numbers the spare Maidstone shirts were handed around the Canterbury squad and with a brief warm up we launched straight into the training game.

 

The first kick off went long and was hoovered up by the Canterbury full back, and although deep in their half, they were able to bring it home for the games first try. This could have set the tone for the rest of the game but the mixed Stones/Canterbury squad slowly warmed to the game and along with some restrictions placed on the faster Canterbury players, we started to offer up more resistance, especially in the backs. The forwards lacked enough go forward and were rather polite at the breakdown which led to limited possession and slow ball when we did secure it. Canterbury remained camped in the Stones half for the majority of the first half.

 

Even though having conceded a number of tries in the first half, heads didn’t go down and in the second half, with renewed commitment from the Stones players and the bolstering of the Canterbury contingent in Maidstone shirts, the team in red and black went on the offensive. Darting runs from the back row, stronger tackling, more coordinated rucking, a stable scrum and a back line receiving much more ball led to an increasingly balanced score sheet with the Stones going over the line four times, converting three of those. Final score Canterbury 42 Maidstone/Canterbury 25

 

As a training game for the developing U14’s game, every player on the pitch took a lot away from the afternoon. Playing alongside and against such an experienced and good natured bunch of lads was excellent and a big thank you goes out to the players and Tony the coach – we look forward to playing again next season.       

Man of the Match went to Adam for commitment and being at the bottom of a high percentage of the rucks. Player of the Week went to Lucas, strong running, not getting sucked into every breakdown and general all round focus
.

RE

(Weekly news from Jan 9th 2006 posted below)

Fixtures 16th January

 

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Sutton & Epsom

H

 

London One

2nd

(Mustangs)

Charlton Park

A

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Vigo III

H

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Hastings and Bexhill III

H

 

Dragon Fire West

Veterans

Canterbury V

A

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-up  9th Jan 2006

 

 The New Year started well for Maidstone, with a valuable 20-5 win for The 1st Team away to Sidcup (see match report) and all six senior sides in action for the first time since 29th October.

 

The interesting thing about that is that in all but one of the last eight weeks, we have selected 6 sides but have been let down by late cry-offs from various opponents, so despite our best endeavours, its frustrating that it is not always possible to provide matches for all our teams.

 

 The Mustangs played Old Dunstonians II at home in the Invicta League. I caught the last few minutes of the game which was just long enough to see O Ds score a try to bring the score to 10-12. They then converted from wide out to level the scores at 12-12 and deny the Mustangs a valuable League win against the third placed side. It must have been deeply frustrating for the players, for the Mustangs coach Andy Golding and for skipper James Ferris who was away with the 1sts at Sidcup.

 

The A Team took on Gillingham Anchorians II at The Mote and produced another convincing display to post a score of 36 – 5 in the League.

 

The Extra A with new skipper Tony Lee in charge for the first time played Anchorians 4ths in the League and emerged with a 45 – 0 league victory.  Anchorians did well to get a team out bearing in mind that they had lost 8 players since the previous day but they were never going to be strong enough to cope with the fire-power that the 4ths could muster, with Matt Hayton scoring 2 solo tries in the first 15 minutes. A certain Matt Plowman featured in the back-row and showed some promise. If he trains hard and works at his game, he could eventually make it into the 3rd team perhaps.

 

Meanwhile, The B hosted Leigh up at the Mote Leisure Centre as Leigh village green was deemed to be unplayable. The B Team hospitality extended far enough to provide Leigh with their first ever League win but, since they were a good bunch of blokes who thoroughly deserved the win, no one could begrudge them their hard fought victory at Maidstone.

 

The Vets travelled to Ashford to play Ashford 4 in what was something of a foregone conclusion having beaten Ashford 3 quite convincingly in recent weeks. However, Ashford stuck at it and gave a better account of themselves than the 40 odd point margin of victory would suggest. Iconic skipper, Glyn Richards, was injured in the process of scoring a try (he should know better) and having popped a rib there were tears in his eyes as he tried to sink the odd pint (medicinal purposes) back in the bar at Maidstone afterwards. Surely he wont be able to lead his troops onto the field next week with such a painful injury – but if he misses, will he ever be able to regain his place in the back-row? The pressures of captaining a winning team with 25 regular players!!       It’s Sevenoaks Acorns next week in a re-arranged fixture, so all hands needed on deck for what should be the match of the season.

 

The Firsts have got Lordswood at the Mote in the Kent Cup next week (2PM start) and the Mustangs are in League action at Sevenoaks. Plenty of support required at home for the Firsts please.

 

Final word of the week is about catering. If you have noticed the excellent standard of cuisine in the club in recent weeks, please make sure that you support it with your custom and that you express your appreciation to those providing it. That way, I am sure they will be more inclined to go on expending their time and effort on our behalf in what can be a truly thankless task.

 

RE

 

Ps Congratulations to Monty on giving birth to a daughter – (although I gather that Mrs Monty is also claiming some of the credit).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round up for 2nd Jan 2016
posted: January 04 2016

 

Results 19th December  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

 

 

 

 

2nd

(Mustangs)

 

 

 

 

Dev XV

 

 

 

 

B XV

 

 

 

 

Veterans

Aylesford

H

Postponed

Late Red Vets Trophy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to 2016.

 

Nothing to report as you can see from the picture below. Instead, I have published the Weekly Round-up from 10 years ago.  (see below Next Weeks Fixtures)

 

You might also be interested in an old Newspaper that I found in my garage from October 1981, when Maidstone were fielding 8 sides – and just one replacement between them !!

 

Amongst the 121 names, there are many well known names from around the club, but perhaps only 1 (Steve Pooley) that is still playing regularly, although Steve Norton is still Refereeing and David Hughes still runs touch for the First Team every week, not to mention Dominic Baxter who still turns out in the LRVT matches (just).

 

RE

 

 

Fixtures 9th January

 

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Sidcup

H

 

London One

2nd

(Mustangs)

Gravesend II

A

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

T Wells IV

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Deal & Betts III

H

 

Dragon Fire West

Veterans

Anchs III

A

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-up 3rd Jan 2006

 

Well, that’s another year over with: onto the next.

 

The decision to hold New Years Eve Matches this year (in contrast to most clubs in Kent) looked like a dodgy one right up until the last minute but was vindicated in the end by the numbers who turned out and played their last rugby of 2005.

 

On Thursday, it seemed inconceivable that any games would be played on Saturday owing to the weather. However, a pitch inspection by Simon Knight on Friday revealed that 2 out of three pitches looked playable and he confirmed this early on Saturday morning.

 

The next problem was the opposition.   Ashford 1 had cried off, leaving the Mustangs without a fixture for the 4th time in 6 weeks.  However, Old Gravesendians had confirmed that they were sending a Club XV to play the 3rds.   (For once, a further cry-off would actually have been welcome as this would have enabled Maidstone to play 2 internal fixtures, giving 60 players a game) 

 

In the event, Old Gravesendians turned up with an excellent side made up from their 1s, 2s and 3s.  Their backs were particularly impressive in a display that saw them win 25 – 5 against a Maidstone XV made up of 4ths, 5ths and Veterans.  To call Maidstone a XV is poetic licence as around 25 players participated, necessitating wholesale changes at half time. It was a desperately difficult day for Tony Lee in his 1st match as a skipper, in that it was hard to know who should be on the pitch at any one time and in what position. In fact, it was only at the first scrum that it was realized that Maidstone were playing without a fly-half !!.  But the game was played in a good spirit and OGs acquitted themselves well and were deserving winners.  Apologies to those players – Vets in particular – that didn’t get a game.

 

The above arrangement enabled the Mustangs to get a badly needed game under their belts and to give a run-out to one or two players returning from injury. The Mustangs played against what looked like a fairly decent A team on the first team pitch and established their credentials as the club’s 2nd best side by racking up a surprisingly substantial score. Well done to Michael Laurenson for accepting the fixture, although in fact he and the “Dream Team” are well known for being willing to take on anyone, anywhere, anytime.

 

There is a return to League action for all 5 of the Maidstone teams involved in Leagues next week, whilst the Vets aim to continue their winning form away to Ashford IV in a friendly.

 

The Firsts must aim to continue the form they showed at Thanet before Christmas to put daylight between themselves and the bottom sides.  Meanwhile, The Mustangs must start the second half of the season well to compensate for their slow start back in September and to show that they are one of the major powers in the Invicta League.

 

Good luck to the 4th team in particular who now embark upon the second half of the season with a highly enthusiastic new skipper at the helm.  Lets give Tony Lee all the support that we can.

RE

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 19th December 2015
posted: December 22 2015

Results 19th December  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Chiswick

A

Lost 20-12

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Aylesford II

A

Lost 32-31

Invicta League

Dev XV

Gravesend IV

H

Cancelled

Friendly

B XV

Maidstone Vets

H

Won 14-14

Memorial match

Veterans

Maidstone B XV

H

Drew 14-14

Memorial match

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 pre-Christmas matches and not one win to show for our troubles, although the Barbarians celebrated as though they had won the Rugby World Cup...

 

Commiserations to the Firsts, who made the long trip to Chiswick and, bereft of the dynamism that emanates from the skipper week after week, not to mention a handful of other regulars, they surrendered a winning position to come away from West London without so much as a single bonus point to show for their efforts.  Recent weeks have shown that there are no push-overs in this League whilst also indicating that we have a team good enough to beat the best on our day.  If we had been offered our current League position prior to the start of the season, I suspect that we might have hoped for more after last season’s stellar achievements but I think we can take a lot of pride and comfort from proving that we can mix it with the best at this level.

 

The Mustangs headed off to Aylesford , with what should have been around 20 players but turned out to be a bare 15. reduced to 14 for the last quarter, when what should have been a comfortable win was squandered in the last minute to lose by a single point.  Well done to Aylesford for hosting an ideal pre-Christmas friendly and for securing the win. Well done to the Maidstone faithfulrbarians  who made the short trip: not so well done to the drop-outs who let down the other players.

 

Enough about these trivial matters. Let's move on to the main event of the day ie the annual Vets vs Barbarians Memorial game, played in front of large and cheerful crowd on a benignly warm and bright day.

The omens had looked poor for the “B” until a few weeks ago when they started to dog out a couple of wins and with the likes of Simon Seal back in the ranks, Louis Frost back from Uni and their stand-out player, Gary Griffiths at open-side flanker, it was a determined Barbarians XV that took to the field.  Early exchanges and a try from Simon Wright suggested that the Vets would be able grind their way remorselessly to a heavy-weight win but once the Baba’s half-back pair of Gillies and Seal got within sniffing distance of the Veterans line, the response was quick and inevitable. 

A 7-7 score-line at half-time seemed quite equitable and Port was drunk and words were spoken by the venerable Paul Ehrhart in memory of our mourned team-mates and then battle swiftly recommenced with a host of changes on both sides.

Paul Massey soon skipped in for a 2nd half try that could have sealed victory for the Vets, especially if it had been followed up by a push-over try that was somehow denied when Gillies grabbed the ball in a move that amazingly failed to attract the disapproval of the eagle-eyed ref.   Will Fox, returning to action after a lay-off from 1st team duty, then broke out of his 22 in a rampage that made the ground shake and trampled tacklers under-foot, until Massey caught him from behind like a Cheetah bringing down a Hippo.  There was always a danger that the fleet footed “kids” in the B would eventually run round the outside of the Veterans to score again, and sure enough it came to pass when a kick and chase and a highly dubious obstruction allowed Jamie Martin in for a score under the posts, which ended the scoring for the day, at which point it became clear that although a draw usually signifies honours even, on this occasion the fact that the Vets had failed to win meant that the “B” retained the Peter McCabe Memorial Trophy, re-presented to Craig Tuffrey, the proud Barbarians skipper by Sally McCabe and Brenda Sharples.

All over for another year then, except that the result lingers on in the collective consciousness, rather like a bad-smell.

Whilst there was a lively atmosphere in the club-house afterwards, stimulated by the generous spread of cheeses and pates provided by Neil and Sharon Cole, the Carols never got going as the main musician David Ruaux never turned up, much to everyone’s surprise (not).   I wonder if we could recruit some reliable players for next season with at least grade 6 piano on their CVs..

Anyway, enough of all this.

The U15s march on(see below in italics) whilst everyone is also reminded to turn out on the 3rd January to see Maidstone’s veterans play Aylesford Vets in the third match of their Title defence in the Late Red Vets Trophy.   See you all there in 2016.  

Subject: U15 Kent Cup Round 2

 

The Stones arrived at Beckenham to interrupt their mini section Christmas Fun Day.  Once the jingling antlered tutu wearing coaches had been ushered of the pitch (Becks, not Stones) the real festivities began.

The Stones started well tackling fiercely and keeping Becks under pressure.  The urgency the forwards showed at Thanet was not quite there, but the backs looked sharp and no one was surprised to see the left wing nip in for an early try.  Becks were soon back in their 22 and a 10m (40m in later stories)  charge from the 2nd row saw the Stones 12-0 up. Tries from the next two re-starts and the Stones though Christmas had come early.  Becks were however having none of it and put great pressure on the next re-start.  No support for the catcher, a panicked pass was intercepted and Becks were away.  The Stones had plenty of defenders, but all ushered the attacker through as if he was delivering Xboxes.  24-7 at half time.

 

Against the wind in the second half, the Stones were pinned back with good tactical kicking but were able to run the ball back and some extremely robust tackling took the edge off the Becks attack.  Both sides became overly familiar with the ref’s whistle for handling in the ruck and not releasing the ball or tackled player.  Stones dominance in the loose and scrum grew with the forwards motivated by the full bench bursting to get on as soon as the work rate dropped.  Break away tries and powerful forward drives kept the scoreboard ticking over for the Stones, with a well worked but solitary try for Becks scant reward for their endeavours.  Stones’ the final pass cost a few tries with the wingers crossing a few names off their Christmas Card lists but a bonus point 48-12 win was certainly high up on the coaches’ list for Santa.

 

Man of the Match: Henry for his massive work rate in the back row and Player of the Week goes to his back row partner Myles for his colossal defensive hits.

 

Next up:  Round 3  Aylesford at home 10 Jan.

 

 

RE

See below for Weekly Round-up from December 20th 2005

 

Fixtures 3rd January

 

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

 

 

 

 

2nd

(Mustangs)

 

 

 

 

Dev XV

 

 

 

 

B XV

 

 

 

 

Veterans

Aylesford Vets

 

2pm KO Sunday 3rd

Late Red Vets Trophy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-Up  December 20th 2005

 

Fantastic win for The First Team, away at Thanet Wanderers, to kick off the second half of their League Campaign. This result lifts the club to 3rd from bottom, on equal points with Thanet and within 1 point of a further 2 sides.  A win on January 7th at Sidcup would really start to consolidate Maidstone’s return to form and help to move the club away from the threat of relegation.  On the evidence of the Thanet game, Maidstone are surely too good to go down.

 

Once again, The Mustangs were let down by a late-ish cry-off, this time from Old Colfeians III, who couldn’t raise a side at home to face Maidstone. In fairness, Colfes look heavily over-stretched with their 1s playing in London 1, Their IIs playing in the Canterbury Shield, their IIIs in Invicta League and their IVs playing in Mid Kent A, so it was not entirely surprising.  Once again, the Mustangs move up the table without playing a match. At least the Mustangs should get a good run–out on New Year’s Eve when they are scheduled to play as a Maidstone XV against an Ashford XV.

 

Maidstone III despatched Aylesford 3rds 24-10 in the Mid Kent A division, a result that wasn’t too unexpected after having nearly accounted for Aylesford II in a friendly, the week before. The Dream Team head into the second half of the season unbeaten in their League.

 

Maidstone IV took the field under the captaincy of Monty for the last time, in a Mid- Kent C League match against a pretty good Aylesford 5th side who have been victims of their own success in previous seasons by gaining promotion and having now to play some pretty tough opponents in the League. With the brothers Yates in the second row and the brothers Lee in the back row (not to mention cousin Simon Lee scoring 2 tries) Maidstone never looked like losing. Man of the match though was hooker Peter Gray, who not only did all the place kicking but also pulled of and converted an amazing try after hoisting a highly implausible Garryowen  to by-pass the Aylesford defence and to then touch-down the fumbled catch.  Didn’t know he had it in him !!   The 4s have played some great rugby this year despite the changes in Leadership they have experienced and under the highly enthusiastic new leadership of Tony Lee can now look forward to an exciting 2nd half of the season, (especially if the Lee family fan-club continues to turn up every week to cheer them on.)

 

Meanwhile, down on the bottom pitch, shielded from the view of all but the most partisan supporters, a war of attrition took place between the B XV and Maidstone Vets for the annual Peter McCabe Memorial Trophy.  Not much news has escaped regarding the events of the afternoon except to report that age and experience triumphed over energy and endeavour to enable the Veterans to prevail once again. However, watch this space as it could be a different story when the fresh legs of the 4th team are added to those of the 5ths to confront the Vets on New Year’s Eve.  Will this be a bridge too far for Glyn’s old soldiers ?   Don’t miss the next exciting episode at the Mote.

 

Speaking of Veterans, the idea has been suggested that Maidstone should enter a team into next year’s Evergreen Cup Competition, (for players over 35).  One thing we are not short of at Maidstone is players over 35 and bearing in mind how dominant our 3rd team have been in recent years, stuffed as it is with grizzled old die-hards from Maidstone’s illustrious past, it would be fascinating to see if they could re-capture some of the pre-eminence of former years by excelling in this competition.  

 

 Meanwhile, best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all at Maidstone FC. 

 

RE

 



Weekly Round-up 12th December 2015
posted: December 15 2015

Results 12th December  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Guildford

H

Won 36-14

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Colfeians II

H

HWO

Invicta League

Dev XV

Old Wills II

H

HWO

Friendly

B XV

Snowdown II

A

Won 12-13

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

No fixture

 

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the assembled multitudes, including most of the Veterans who had enjoyed a sumptuous pre-match Christmas lunch, a visual feast of entertainment was laid in by the First Team as they took apart their visitors from Surrey in a clash of two County Town Clubs, upsetting the form book in the process as the visitors had arrived at the Mote occupying 2nd place in the League.

Even after Maidstone had scored first, breaking out of their own half in what was to be the first of several sumptuous tries from the three-quarters, the omens looked ominous (as omens often do) when Guildford kicked to the corner and scored from a routine catch and drive; ominous because the Guildford pack seemed to be pushing the Maidstone pack around with relative ease and looked as though they intended to camp in the Maidstone 22 for the whole of the 1st half - especially as they had the wind at their backs and were playing down the slope. There then followed 15 minutes of brutal defence, which won the game for Maidstone as much as the eye catching tries that were to follow. It was a fabulous game to watch and a sign that Maidstone have the players and the game to match the best in the league on their day, especially as one can see an improvement in the side week by week.

 

Jake Johnson took the Biddenden Vineyards MotM  award (he's the better looking one of the two of us in the picture on the Home page) but there were so many who caught the eye, not least Alfie Paea who showed an attacking prowess to match the formidable  defensive array he clearly has at his disposal.   We take it for granted that Ben Williams will ways deliver a skipper's performance and this week was no exception, getting onto the scoresheet as usual but matched for ball carrying heroics by his front row pals, Josh Pankhurst and Jack O'Connell.  Once one starts mentioning individuals it become difficult to stop without mentioning the whole team, but maybe there isn't time here to run through the whole pantheon of excellence.

Instead, I will turn my attention to the touch line where there were a number of celebrity guests, including Hugh Cowan's parents who are visiting from Canberra; Harry Millar's parents who are over from New Zealand; former first team scrum-half Dave Heads, who is on leave from the army and last but not least, Florence Pitkin, who only arrived in the world a few days ago but was there to enjoy the game with her mum and her dad Ben, who was excused from playing duties this week.

I had the pleasure of lunching with Hugh Cowan's parents and was pleased to hear that Paul wants a run out with our Vets before returning home in January. He plays on a veterans circuit in Australia where all the games are drawn 9-9, regardless of what happens on the pitch and where if anyone gets a little too excitable or scores a try, they have to go off and have a beer before rejoining the field of play. How jolly civilised!!

After the game it was seasonal turkey and chips for the player’s dinners and Christmas jumpers, before the evening descended into drinking games and karaoke.   I returned to the club around 10:30 to find the hardcore were still there and still hard at it; Lucian, Hugh Cowan, Alfie and Andi “Rapper” Petelo and not forgetting Jack O'Potato, who ran through his repertoire of Karaoke favourites, "You've Lost that Loving Peeling" by the Walker(s) Brothers, "Eye of the Potato by Survivor " and “Tiger Feet“ by Spud.  I’m sure that there are many more that could be included in his personal potato mash-up.

 

Nearly forgot to mention that the B team made another long trip this week but came back from darkest East Kent (Snowdown) with a satisfying 1 point win, to set them up for their match vs The Vets next week.

 

It wasn’t just senior rugby that was played at the weekend. Here’s news of another trip, even further into East Kent, this time by our fabulous Under 15s.

 

Kent Cup Round 1 – Thanet Wanders.

Previous trips to Thanet Wanders had taught the Stones to prepare for driving rain, howling wind and tight knit opposition used to the conditions with a well rehearsed kicking game, low scrum and a wiley backrow.  A side that came 3rd in the Kent Cup last season and had not lost to the Stones and not lost at home for several years.

 

The Stones arrived to an unseasonably mild breeze and only light drizzle.  Good omens? The opening 10 mins saw Thanet boss the first few scrums and relieve pressure with their familiar kicking game.  Most of the kicks were however finding the Velcro like fingers of the Stones’ back three, or resulting in lineouts that the Stones won comfortably.  The Stones had territory, they had possession and after 10 mins they had 5 points.  With the forwards gaining parity in the scrum and dominance in the loose and lineouts; creative kicking allowed the backs in for 3 more unconverted tries before half time, without reply.

 

The second half saw Thanet’s kicking game gain them more territory and an eagled eyed ref punished a wide variety of Stones infringements resulting in much of the game being played in the Stones 22.  A Thanet score had to come: the big Thanet forward crashed over the line to great applause and a blast from the Ref’s whistle.  Everyone thought he’s scored.  Then the ref noticed he did not actually have the ball, having been dispossessed on his way over the line.  The 5m scrum was the first indication to most observers that there had been no score – not an indication picked by the Maidstone coach; jogging on with the water bottles and a few words of encouragement who had to be shoo’d off the pitch.

 

Once order was restored the Stones won the scrum against the head, remembered what they’d been doing well in the first half and ran in a few more tries and even popped over a conversion for a fine 39-0 bonus point win.  All credit to Thanet for playing the game in great spirit.  On to Beckenham for round 2 next week.

 

Player of the Week: Luke.  Man of the Match: Sean.  With a performance like the lads put in today those two awards were hard won.

 



NEXT WEEK

We have arranged a friendly for The Mustangs vs an Aylesford Uni-boys team and there is of course The Memorial Game to be played at home, followed by Christmas Carols in the clubhouse and mince-pies/mulled wine etc afterwards.  It should be a day to remember.

 

See below for the Weekly Round-up from 11th Dec 2005.
 

RE

 

Fixtures 19th December  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Chiswick

A

 

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Aylesford II

A

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Gravesend IV

H

 

Friendly

B XV

Maidstone Vets

H

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Maidstone B XV

H

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round Up   11th December 2005

 

This was the weekend of the well-matched fixture as all of the senior sides won or lost by the margin of just one score.

 

The First Team lost to Lewes in the league by just one score and remain third from bottom of L2S. Having last won in the league against Thanet Wanderers on the 19th November, Maidstone must aim to repeat that feat when playing away at Thanet next week. Thanet themselves have not won in the League since November 12th and will be desperate to end their losing streak so it will be a formidable encounter at St Peters.

 

The Mustangs,  also at home, beat Tunbridge Wells II for the second time this season, despite the absence of skipper James Ferris who was playing for the 1sts. The game was refereed by Rebecca Patrick who is one of the few female referees in the Kent Society. She is also the Society re-appointments officer and has the unenviable task of re-appointing referees to matches when last minute changes are necessary, so her phone is red-hot every Thursday and Friday evening.  I hope she enjoyed her visit to Maidstone and will continue to look favourably on our last minute requests for Society Refs.

 

The Thirds warmed up for their League Match next week against Aylesford IIIs by taking on Aylesford IIs at Aylesford in a friendly, and came within a minute of winning before losing 10-7 at the death. A great performance.

 

The 4th Team, ably assisted by a number of regular B team players, went away to Vigo IIs in a friendly and came away from a very well matched fixture with a satisfying – if tight – win. (Editors Note: I seem to remember that a slim young Ben Williams played in the back-row for Maidstone in this game.  Whatever happened to him?)

 

The Veterans travelled to Canterbury to play Canterbury Vets, having drawn earlier in the season with Canterbury 5s. Although the team that awaited them appeared to be Canterbury 4s, Maidstone Vets produced perhaps their best performance of the season to win 12-10. (Notwithstanding a second-half front-row of Dunster, Ehrhart and Schooledge that had a combined age of 168) (which means that, judging by the look of Ehrhart,  Dunster and Schooledge must both be well under 40)

 

The B XV fixture against Tunbridge Wells 4 was abandoned at selection on Wednesday, when it became apparent that owing to Christmas Shopping or some other important activities, there would be insufficient players to get 6 teams out. This was the first time this season that Maidstone have cried-off a senior side and, bearing in mind the experience of recent weeks where other clubs have let us down so often, we can take great pride in the team-spirit and support that has been forthcoming from the players and team captains during the first half of the season.  Keep it up.

 

Talking of Team Captains, there is an exciting development with regard to the 4th team vacancy and hopefully a new skipper can be announced next week to take over the reins from Monty, who has been standing in for the past few weeks and to whom sincere thanks are due.

 

The big match of next week-end is the annual epic between the B and the Veterans, with the B hoping to dislodge the stranglehold that The Vets have maintained in recent seasons. The Vets however, look in no mood to be dislodged this year so a classic should ensue with Kent Society Ref Claire Warner scheduled to adjudicate once again.

 

Christmas Party follows, with Christmas Carols and raffle and The Drippin’ Taps jazz band providing entertainment for all the family. Carols are scheduled to kick off at 5:30 with raffle etc around 6:30 and music thereafter.

 

Don’t forget that we have some matches planned for 31st December, with a Club XV lined up to play Ashford 1, Old Gravesendians II coming to play the 3s and 4s/5s lining up to play against Maidstone Vets. There should be a game there for anyone who wants to see out 2005, our 125th year, on the pitch.

 

New Year’s Eve party kicks-off at 8pm (nominal charge on the door to cover costs) Its best to come “In Disguise”, as you wouldn’t want to be recognized getting up to any of the silly things that Jon Sargent has got planned, never mind the karaoke. Should be a great night amongst friends. Miss it at your peril.

 

RE

 



Weekly Round-up for 5th December 2015
posted: December 08 2015

Results 5th December  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Chobham

A

Won 31-34

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Sevenoaks II

A

Postponed

Invicta League

Dev XV

TJ IV

H

Won 36-18

Friendly

B XV

Folkestone III

A

Won 15-17

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Crawley Vets

H

Won 40-5

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having reported in these pages that the First Team, whilst not having lost to any lower-placed teams, had not yet beaten any higher-placed teams this season, the stats were turned upside down this week and in some style.  Oh to have been an away supporter – although my nerves would have been shattered by the end of the game had I been there – but the excitement must have been tremendous for the players and spectators alike, whilst for the hapless Chobham Twitterati following the game on Twitter, their jaws must have dropped with every new tweet. Tom Waring deservedly took the MotM award for his best game yet in a Maidstone shirt, although by some accounts it was the amazing dynamism of Lewis Stimpson at No 7 that set the team alight, once he was introduced from the subs bench in the 2nd half.

 

A stiff test faces the team next week at home vs 2nd placed Guildford but with the pack going strongly and the back-line starting to really gel, anything could happen. It would be good also to avenge the last match vs Guildford, which was away in the Intermediate Cup 2 or 3 seasons ago when Maidstone contrived to butcher a 29-5 lead and lose 31-29.

 

Talking of butchering, we managed to totally butcher the selection process this week owing to a variety of unusual factors, which meant that by Friday, no Mustangs team had been selected and no players had been contacted, which resulted in the ignominity of calling Sevenoaks on Friday evening to tell them we couldn’t send a team.  It was very embarrassing and apologies are due to Sevenoaks and to our 2nd team players who didn’t get a game.

 

The Development Team were inevitably stronger as a result and with the addition of some new faces, were too strong for a good TJ IV team. The only try scorers I know of for Maidstone were Jake Taylor (who’s mum and dad missed it as they were stuck in retail traffic in town) and Finn Warner, (grand-son of our proud president Jim Tinsley) who scored two tries on his debut in senior rugby and in his first match for Maidstone (having played all his youth rugby for a club in the outer suburbs of Maidstone, aka Aylesford)

 

Meanwhile, as though the results weren’t already looking good, the B team came back from Folkestone with broad grins and renewed vigour, having pulled off only their 2nd win of the season in what was an all too rare, well-matched fixture against a very friendly Folkestone team. Well done to Craig and his fellow enthusiasts and good luck for next week’s trip to Snowdown II.

 

At home, The Vets entertained their friends from Crawley, who are the only Sussex side on their fixture list and with whom a good rapport has been built up over previous seasons, Crawley having once turned up at Maidstone with only 8 players - but turned up.  This time they arrived with 13 players and skipper Adrian generously gave them 69 year old utility forward Steve Pooley to play on the wing for them, who to be fair, has lost a little pace since he turned 60, and also John Brooker to play in the back-row, who is also rumoured to be over 60 although he doesn’t look a day over 59.  It was a game that Maidstone were always going to win, despite spirited resistance from Crawley and their Maidstone subs, with former Vets Skipper Steve Vincent making a long-awaited return to action and looking as though he had never been away.  In the 2nd half, in an effort to even up the teams, Steve Pooley was returned to the Maidstone ranks at No 8 where on the back of a mighty shove he scored a push-over try and his first try of the 21st Century, which bearing in mind that the century is nearly 16 years old and Steve nearly 70, was leaving things a bit late.  Steve was completely insufferable after the game because apparently he also scored a try in the previous century and now all he wants to talk about is how many tries he’s scored.  Its like having Jacques Vrey back in the team!!

 

No fixture for the Vets next week as they have wisely opted to take a lunch table and watch the First XV vs Guildford, which should set them up nicely for a few drinks and an impromptu social that has been planned for the evening, complete with karaoke, which was being promoted by our lovely First Team physio Gemma on Facebook thus:

Hi Guys 
Christmas themed social next sat after the home game... Baileys hot choc, wine and cheese, dodgy Xmas jumpers etc etc (and if we get enough people karaoke £2 to cover costs) 
We need to know rough numbers but whole club plus partners welcome. Then whoever wants to go into town after. Should be a good laugh and opportunity for the whole club to get together. 
If you are around and planning on sticking around please can you let me or
Carol know. See you next week.

 

Looking ahead to the 19th, there will be the biggest match of the Maidstone calendar, the annual Memorial Match between the B XV and the Vets in which we honour and remember our former players, who have departed the field of play early. Don’t forget that there are other fixtures to be played on the day and the game has traditionally been played between current and former regulars of the B team or the Vets. Afterwards, there will be Carols and Mince-pies/ Mulled wine etc in the club-house and I am pleased to say that we have secured the services of a proper musician this year in club virtuoso David Ruaux.  Who’s to say that we won’t also get another impromptu solo sing-along set from Gary Silver-Fox Griffiths afterwards, supported by a few bars of Wonderwall from Tom Clarke, before he remembers that he can’t actually remember how to play it.

 

See below for the roundup from 5th December 2005.

 

RE

 

Fixtures 12th December  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Guildford

H

 

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Colfeians II

H

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Old Wills II

H

 

Friendly

B XV

Snowdown II

A

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

No fixture

 

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Senior News Round-Up   5th December 2005

 

Not such a successful week for the club as last week – but still some good results to report.

 

Sadly, the 1st Team lost to a pretty good Portsmouth side after managing to lead for much of the match and then losing it to 2 hotly disputed Portsmouth tries. Steve Matthews was absolutely outstanding once again, not only in the line-out where he is simply awesome but also in open play whether attacking or defending. The Maidstone try that came after about 10 minutes, was so well executed (from a quick catch and off-load at the back of a line out) that the defenders were left rooted to the spot as the try was scored under the posts. It was text-book stuff. 

 

However, this result means that Maidstone have slipped one place in the table and really need to gain wins against fellow strugglers Lewes at home next week and away against out-of -form Thanet Wanderers the following week.

 

It was hugely frustrating for The Mustangs to gain a walk-over against Gravesend II in the Invicta League following Gravesend’s Friday night cry-off as they were all revved up and ready to play but there was absolutely nothing available on the Fixture Exchange. Still, not quite as frustrating as for The 4th Team, many of whom had actually set off for Sheppey before Sheppey called to say that they couldn’t field a side. Had we known a couple of hours earlier, the Mustangs and 4s could have mixed and matched 2 teams and played a match at home.  Apologies to all the players who didn’t get a game. Obviously we do everything possible to avoid this kind of occurrence but it still happens.  Glad to say that next week’s fixtures look a little more secure.

 

The 3rds had a long trek down to Hastings to face a very good Hastings & Bexhill II.

Hastings were winning with 5 minutes to go but the Dream Team managed to pull off another League Victory in winning 20-15.

 

The B, playing in Mote Park were less fortunate against Hastings & Bexhill III, going

down 14-7 in a well contested League match.

 

The Veterans meanwhile, took to the field against Gravesend’s excellent Moles team, with 24 players – not all of whom were allowed on the field at once. The game was wrapped up in Maidstone’s favour by half time, allowing the 2nd half crew to play as though they didn’t need to cross the try line at all, which was just as well really because they hardly did. However, it was another victory to chalk up in what has been the Veteran’s most successful season for years (so far).

 

It seems to be getting very dark by the time the final whistle comes these days but fortunately there are only 2 more weeks before the solstice and the days start getting longer again. Hurrah !!

 

A message from Trevor Marvin: There are bins in all of the changing rooms so can we please make use of them –especially for bloody plasters and dressings etc. as unfortunately the changing rooms don’t clean themselves.

 

Don’t forget Christmas Carols and jazz band after the games on the 17th to get us into the mood for Christmas.   New Years Eve party follows the games on the 31st.

 

Many subs are still outstanding. Make sure you have paid yours.

 

RE

 

 



Weekly Round-up 28th November 2015
posted: December 01 2015

Results  28th Nov  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Havant

H

Won 42-22

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

No Fixture

 

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Medway V

H

Won 22-17

Friendly

B XV

Whitstable II

A

Lost 37-20

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Gravesend Moles

A

cancelled

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hearing the unfamiliar Hampshire accents from the Havant supporters on the touch-line, reminded one that with promotion comes more travelling, to the extent that the opposition even have different accents (leaving aside the Southern Hemisphere cast, who are scattered liberally throughout the Leagues)

 

It was good to see Havant back at the Mote for the first time since 1993, when their fortunes would have been on the rise, whilst Maidstone’s were already on the slide. Bob Hayton has surprisingly managed to find a match programme from that match on Ebay, which lists the respective teams and bearing in mind that Havant won by around 30 points, they must have been a pretty strong outfit, because the quality listed in the Maidstone line-up was certainly impressive.  

 

Saturday’s game was great entertainment for the spectators and the Maidstone faithful were rewarded with some terrific attacking play from the backs of a quality not yet often seen this season, with Craig Webb catching the eye in the two best tries.  Not that the forwards were uninvolved, scoring 4 tries themselves whilst putting in a huge defensive shift, especially when embattled defending the try-line in the corner nearest The Somme whilst Havant’s big runners launched wave after wave of attack.  (Its lucky that Havant’s biggest specimen was only running touch, as he dwarfed our own Steve Matthews when seen together in the club-house afterwards.

 

On the bottom pitch, the development team played Medway V (on a day when neither Medway 2nds or Maidstone 2nds had a match of their own), so its fair to say that the quality on display was a good deal higher than one might expect for the scheduled fixture.  Luckily, this made for a very well matched game, where neither side could gain the ascendancy for long. Unfortunately, the game took its toll and Mark Thurgood and Tom Chandler both limped off with injuries that are likely to keep them out for a few weeks.   Considerable thanks are due to Paul Ehrhart for agreeing to referee, (after I had exhausted all the younger options available to me, as Paul was a little reluctant), but younger does not necessarily mean better and I am pleased to say that the players agreed afterwards that he had done a very good job – as usual.

 

Craig came back from Whitstable showing a little despondency as they were winning with 10 minutes to go and then lost by a 17 point margin.  It’s a little dispiriting to lose matches week after week and for Craig, who has done such a good job in this, his first season as captain of The B, its much less than his efforts deserve, although I am quite confident that a corner will soon be turned.

 

As if all this excitement on Saturday wasn’t enough, on Sunday there were more thrills from our fabulous U15s and U16s, showing(in case there was any doubt) that the future of the club is in good hands.

 


U16 Kent Cup

 

After winning the Kent Plate last year the U16’s face stiff competition in the Cup this season. A very solid team performance against Thanet last week saw a 17 – 43 win and this week they faced a tough encounter against Ashford.

 

Maidstone started well, with their forwards controlling the game picking, driving and showing good technique. Skill, pace and space was available in the backs and when used 2 unconverted tries were scored. To Ashford’s credit they never took a backward step and with strong direct runners, the pressure finally told with a try in the corner. 10 – 5 Half time.

 

Maidstone’s game plan in the second half was to take the ball up a couple of times and then release the backs who were looking sharp despite the opposition being constantly offside. However getting a forward to stick to any sort of plan seems an impossible dream irrelevant of how old they are!

So Maidstone put themselves under pressure just as Ashford raised their game and 30 minutes of scintillating rugby ensued. Ashford found a number of gaps and two missed tackles saw them take a 10 – 15 lead, with the clock running down fast.

Maidstone however were not to be beaten and pride and passion came to fore as they pushed Ashford hard but simple mistakes kept undermining them.

Then with Ashford pushed back into their 22 and a clearing kick put under pressure, Maidstone had a line out on the Ashford line. A catch and drive was the right decision and just as Maidstone looked like they would not make the line, the backs joined in to showing how the ‘pushy’ stuff is done and with the extra power Maidstone scored.

Lex was left to kick into the gale of a wind with a kick that needed a right angle bend if it was going to make it…..well it did, a brilliant kick to take the lead 17 – 15. A few more tense minutes and then the welcomed final whistle – brilliant result well done and well deserved.  

 

U15 B Kent Cup

 

This year the U15 are fortunate to be strong enough to put two teams in the Kent Cup and the Stones’ Bs took on Dartfordians at a windswept Mote Park.  Facing a strong headwind, a pedestrian start from the forwards allowed Darts to gain the upper hand in the opening exchanges.  It was no surprise when Darts crashed over to open the scoring nor that they doubled their lead a few minutes later.  Fierce tackling from the backs and hard work by the back row kept the Stones in the game; that and a full back 100% solid under the high ball.  Spirited breaks down both wings showed the danger that the Stones could pose but a couple of missed tackles let the Darts in for two late tries and saw the Stone’s turnaround 20-0 down.

 

The real Stones turned up for the second half. Rucking their way down the pitch to open their account with a converted try.  A mazy run from deep in his own half saw the Stones’ inside centre score the try of the match.  Could the Stones sneak it? More of the forwards switched out of snooze mode but injury enforced changes disrupted the shape of the backs so despite the Stones being more formidable they were ultimately less dangerous.  Fantastic home support urged the boys on and for the want of one more support runner or a dive for the line the Stones would have been ahead.  Darts hung on though and even scored a late converted try to run out 27-12 winners.

 

Darts are a good side and deserved their victory but the Bs showed enough passion and quality that we’ll be expecting a victory in two weeks’ time.

 

See below for the Weekly Round up for Nov 28th 2005

RCE

 

Fixtures 28th Nov  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Chobham

A

 

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Sevenoaks II

A

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

TJ IV

H

 

Friendly

B XV

Folkestone III

A

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Crawley Vets

H

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senior Club News Round Up 27th November 2005

 

 Its pleasing to note that the club achieved its first clean sweep of the season, with 5 senior sides achieving wins.  The only disappointment was that the Veteran’s home fixture against Tonbridge Judds  Vets did not proceed owing to a late cry off from TJs, so there was never a chance to record 6 wins from 6.  Instead the Vets had to content themselves with playing a 10 a side match amongst themselves as there was nothing available on the fixture exchange to replace the TJ game.

 

The Ist Team made fairly hard work of notching up 50 points odd against Folkestone today in the Kent Cup. In fairness, anyone who missed the first half (like me) would have missed the best part as the game was over as a contest by half-time and the two scores that came in the second half were scant reward for the number of attacks that were mounted on Folkestone’s well defended try line.  For anyone who found this rather dull fare, I gather that there was some attractive alternative entertainment on offer for spectators on the lower pitch where Maidstone Under 18s were despatching a pretty good Eastbourne side by 33 points to nil.

 

The Mustangs result against Dartfordians II in the Invicta League was probably the highlight of the weekend.  Dartfordians are never a push-over and yet the Mustangs racked up an impressive 44-15 win.

 

More predictably, The A Team achieved a 48- 0 victory over East Peckham to consolidate their position at the top of the Mid Kent A League, including a hat-trick of tries for winger, Stuart Bates.

 

The Extra A, under the leadership of Monty and bolstered by a couple of stray Veterans, played a friendly  against Cranbrook IIIs (and possibly a few from higher up the club) which made for a very competitive fixture, edged by Maidstone 20-17.  This was followed by some competitive drinking in the Cranbrook Club-House, which is undoubtedly one of the best places to visit on the Kent circuit.

 

The B meanwhile, in the absence of their iconic skipper Trevor, went to Sittingbourne under the leadership of trusty stand-in Paul Arthurs to play a friendly against Sittingbourne IIIs.  The game was won by Maidstone 14 – 7, thanks to excellent solo tries from Stumpy and from international man of mystery AN Other, who enjoyed his day out amongst his old mates in the B team for the day.

 

Not much else to report this week. Now that the Autumn Internationals have finished we can hope that there will be fewer cry offs in the coming weeks.  (It was a treat to see Wales kick off against Australia at 5:00 pm on Saturday, enabling rugby players up and down the country to watch the match. Shame they don’t all kick off at this time)

 

Kick off times are all 2:15 from now until February.

 

Next week, Maidstone host Portsmouth who are currently 2nd in the table, having won 6 out of 9 games to date (a somewhat better record than their round-ball counterparts at Fratton Park). One of the games they lost however was an 18-0 defeat to Sutton & Epsom who were themselves beaten by Maidstone, so if Maidstone can show the sort of form they displayed in beating Thanet last week, anything could happen.

 

Any Subs not yet paid are now well over-due. Sign a standing Order form this week and make our Treasurer smile.

 

RE 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 21st November 2015
posted: November 24 2015

Results 21st Nov  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Brighton

A

Lost 33-22

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Canterbury II

H

Postponed

Invicta League

Dev XV

New Ash Green

A

Won 19-45

Dragon Fire West

B XV

No fixture

 

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Bexley II

H

Won 24-19

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A mixed bag of results this week but disappointingly, the Firsts came away from Brighton with nothing to show for a performance that had kept the home side under pressure until shortly before the final whistle.  It’s a long way to go and a lot of hard work on the pitch to then come away with nothing but the fact that Maidstone were in the game rather than just blown away is of course of huge significance as the season progresses.  Well done to the big bear Joel Byford for another Biddenden Vineyards MotM performance, and of course to his front-row partner in grime, Ben Williams, who also got onto the score-sheet.

 

It was clearly a good day for front-row tries, as all of the Vets tries were scored by their front-row in a an exciting and well-matched game vs Bexley II, where Mayhem got the first two, John McIntyre bagged two of his own and Karl the hooker scored one to secure victory against a Bexley Team that had some very strong runners, two of home had just been dropped from their 1sts and clearly had a point to prove. The Vets were aided and abetted this week by several regular Barbarians, who acquitted themselves very well, 17 year old Henry Buckland catching the eye in particular, whilst Bob Wilton from the U12s (he’s a coach, not a player) turned out for his First game in 12 years and looked like a very useful addition at centre, bearing in mind that I initially thought he was going to be a prop.

 

The Development side went to New Ash Green for their league game, with some of last year’s development players back in the side for one week only, and scored a number of good tries with young giant Jacob Taylor emerging as man of the match, having been roused to play closer to his potential this week.  

 

Next week

The Mustangs have no scheduled fixture this week, which will provide a further week to recover from the injuries that forced the postponement of their League game vs Canterbury II last week.

 

Despite having played very few fixtures, Medway seem confident that their 5th team will be coming to the Mote for their game vs the Dev team, whilst The Vets and B are both playing away.  Plenty of rugby for all.

 

At home, the Firsts entertain Havant for the first time in perhaps 15 years and a pre-match lunch is available for the discerning diner who enjoys the social side of spectating as much as the spectacle itself.

 

See below for the weekly round-up from 21st Nov 2005

 

RE

 

Fixtures 28th Nov  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Havant

H

 

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

No Fixture

 

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Medway V

H

 

Friendly

B XV

Whitstable II

A

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Gravesend Moles

A

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SENIOR NEWS ROUND-UP 21ST NOVEMBER 2005

 

Faced with a choice between enjoying the warmth and atmosphere in front of the TV in the club-house on Saturday and venturing out to watch the 1st Team playing Thanet Wanderers in the League, many made the wrong choice and endured the agony of England’s defeat when they could have enjoyed the ecstacy of Maidstone’s thrilling 32 – 23 victory instead.

 

This was a vital game for Maidstone, as defeat would have dropped Maidstone well into the relegation zone, whereas victory has moved us to 4 places off  the bottom of the table. It also showed that Maidstone have all the attributes needed to hold their own at this level.

 

 Maidstone’s win owed more than a little to the return of Fly-half David Charlton (44) who seems to have aged considerably according to the Match Day programme. It must have been dis-heartening for Thanet’s numerous supporters to see a veteran playing so well against them but it could be good news for Maidstone’s Vets: Glyn would do well to get him signed up before anyone notices the error.

 

Not that the Vets need much strengthening at the moment. Regrettably, they were unable to test themselves against Sevenoaks Acorns, who are usually one of the best sides on the circuit, as Sevenoaks cried off early in the week.  This left plenty of time to arrange a fixture away to Ashford 3s where a further win was notched up to the tune of 24 – 10.

 

Maidstone B were also away at Ashford, where they drew 10-10 in a friendly against Ashford IV. No further information has emanated from B head-quarters.

 

Maidstone A  kicked off at 12:30 against Sevenoaks 3rds in a Mid Kent A League Match and won 24 – 0 with three converted tries and a penalty.  Maidstone are now comfortably top of this Division and it is hard to imagine the Mid Kent A League title going anywhere but back to Maidstone this year if Michael can keep his (ageing) troops mustered.   

 

England’s game against NZ may well have had an unfortunate impact on the remaining scheduled fixtures.  The Mustangs agreed to an early Kick-off at the request of Charlton Park, only to have them cry off late on wednesday night (just after our selectors had wasted 2 hours assembling 6 sides). Since that gave Maidstone the League points, it was decided to rest the Mustangs this week and concentrate resources on the remaining 5 sides.  It was therefore hugely frustrating to get a call from Gravesend at 12:30 on Saturday to say that they weren’t coming to play our 4th Team .  Had the call come even 2 hours earlier, we could have probably arranged a fixture with another club but at such short notice there wasn’t even time to call the players and tell them not to come. This caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth in one household in particular as father and son combination Keith & George Coomber were scheduled to play their first game together in front of a vast rent-a-crowd of family supporters. They had to content themselves with a nice family outing to Brixton to see Motorhead instead. All that head-banging and not a scrum-cap between them!!     Apologies to all those players who didn’t get a game and special thanks to Monty for getting the team together as stand-in skipper for the week. Better luck next week. 

 

If you didn’t get a game at the week-end, please let your skipper and/or Jerry Sargent know your availability for next week. Its jemsargent@aol.com

 

It was really cold at training on Thursday night – I was reliably informed, so it was a nice surprise to find that a cauldron of steaming hot food had been prepared by Trevor and Noel for all the hardy souls who had been freezing their nuts off out on The Somme.  Not sure if this is to be a regular feature but it might entice the discerning gourmets amongst us to turn up more often.  Nice idea.

 

Also in the club-house on Thursday night was Bob-Beney, selling off  125 merchandise at cost price to clear it out before the end of this anniversary year. The bargains were astounding. A 125 fleece and hat for £20 !!!!   I got mine and very warm they are too – not to mention stylish.  Arouse envy in all your friends and buy these iconic items whilst they are still available. It’s a long time to wait for the 150 year edition.

 

There are 5 matches to look forward to on Saturday (26th)– with the Mustangs headlining at home against Dartfordians in the Invicta League. Then there is the chance to watch Maidstone First Team in Kent Cup Action against Folkestone at 2:00 on Sunday 27th.  Miss it and miss out !!

 

RE

 

Stop Press.

1)      The posters are now up in the club-house for the Carols at Christmas (or 17th December to be more precise).  Carols at 5:30 will be followed by the Christmas Draw and  then musical entertainment will be provided by George Chilcott and his Drippin’ Taps.   What better way to get into the Christmas mood. Make sure you invite the whole family.

2)      I’ve heard that its “pie and beans” after training on Thursday this week.  A perfect way to replenish some of those lost calories before you have even noticed that they’re missing !!

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 14th November 2015
posted: November 16 2015

Results 14th Nov  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Twickenham

H

Won 23-10

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Tonbridge Judds II

A

Lost 36-16

Invicta League

Dev XV

Aylesford III

A

Won 12-24

Friendly

B XV

Canterbury IV

H

Lost 12-38

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Anchorians III

 

Won 7-28

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes it seems that the weather gods are just waiting for people to run onto a rugby pitch  so that they can p*ss all over them..   Saturday's weather supported this theory handsomely.   Even for those of us in with brollies and wellies, the afternoon was rather spoiled but a win for the First Team in rotten conditions helped to dispel the gloom of the weather.  Misery returned pretty quickly when the Teams returned to the club-house only to find out that there was once again, no water left in the showers after the earlier teams had finished with them.  I use the term misery cautiously given the wider context of the week-end’s events but we certainly need to discover why the tanks are emptying so quickly for no apparent reason as its not much fun to come off the field and find that not only is there no hot water but no water of any description.

 

Anyway, well done to the First Team and to Hugh Cowan in particular, for taking the Biddenden Vineyards MotM award this week for a commanding display in the line-out in difficult conditions.

 

The Mustangs faced Invicta League leaders TJs and were winning at half-time but went down by 20 points in the end, although a late penalty and interception flattered the home side somewhat.

 

The Development team went to Aylesford III to play a friendly and avenged the Barbarians recent defeat to the same outfit by coming away with a useful win. Matt Cooper deserved some praise for completing the whole 80 minutes at Loose-head, despite only ever having played in the front-row for short periods in the past.  Steve Millward’s scrum-machine sessions are clearly paying dividends.

 

Craig Nicholas’s Barbarians took on Canterbury 4ths at home and played a good deal better by all accounts than last week but still succumbed eventually to a Canterbury Team with 3 or 4 really strong runners.

 

The Veterans went to Anchorians with only 13 players but managed to dig Craig Bowden (who lives almost opposite) out of retirement and helped themselves to a tasty win, which made a nice change after having been done by “young legs” on their last two or three outings.

 

NEXT WEEK

At this stage, the Barbarians and Vets have no fixtures tabled but we are looking for at least one, if not two, fixtures to play, so make sure that if you are available, someone, somewhere has been made aware before Tuesday.

 

See below for the Weekly Round –up from 10 years ago.

 

 

Fixtures 21st Nov  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Brighton

A

 

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Canterbury II

H

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

New Ash Green II

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

TBA

 

 

Friendly

Veterans

TBA

 

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News Round-Up   14th November 2005.

 

Big news of the week. Trevor Marvin has obtained a very attractive deal so that we now have Sky TV in the club-house.  No more having to watch Italy v Scotland on a wet week-end in Rome when we could be watching England thrash all comers at Twickenham.  Of course there is still the small inconvenience that most internationals kick off when rugby players all over the country are busy playing – but it’s the thought that counts.

 

Anyone who sat in the Club-House and watched England beat Australia on Saturday, missed seeing the 1sts go down by one agonizing point to Sidcup in an 8-7 home defeat. (But at least Maidstone still retain their position above Sidcup in the League Table – if only on points difference).  Last season, The 1s gained promotion with the aid of some very narrow wins: lets hope that this year they don’t accomplish the reverse. However, there is still a long way to go yet, with surprising results in the League every week, so anything could happen when Thanet Wanderers turn up next Saturday – even after their big home win against Gosport and Fareham last week.

 

The Mustangs  came off second best in an away friendly at Blackheath 3, losing 10-14, whilst the A XV were left without a match after Lordswood II cried off their League Fixture on Friday morning, thereby conceding the points. Since it was by then impossible to obtain a fixture on the exchange, this became the first time this season that a Maidstone fixture has been lost altogether, which is not bad going after 12 weeks of play and 57 matches.

 

Fortunately, a few of the A’s were able to find gainful employment elsewhere. 2 or 3 of them helped out in the Extra A, together with a couple of call-ups from the Veterans  XV. New Ash Green II were unbeaten in the League when they arrived, with a points tally of 130 for and 10 against. They went home with a 20-6 defeat to savour, in which some of Maidstone’s new recruits from the youth section had been outstanding, (not to mention some of the older heads as well). Major thanks are due to Simon Cripps for getting the side together this week, even though he couldn’t actually play himself owing to his impending charity car-rally to Dakar - all in aid of Demelza House Hospice.

 

A communication break-down saw the B XV changing in the Leisure Centre, fully prepared for a match on the pitch in the park whilst Lordswood III were busily entrenching themselves in The Somme.  Lordswood also arrived as unbeaten league leaders but sadly they left Maidstone that way too after winning 10-0, despite the presence of Dominic Baxter, guesting at fly-half. Maybe it was the long march back from the park to The Somme that did for the B; it certainly can’t have helped their pre-match preparations.

 

The Veterans XV also lost their scheduled fixture but the Fixture Exchange was kinder to them as they picked up a short trip to Medway IV. Having beaten Maidstone B 25-12 last week, Medway IV might have fancied their chances against the old men of the Vets, but despite stiff resistance throughout, they were beaten 53-7. It now remains to be seen if the Vets can continue their winning ways when they take on Sevenoaks Acorns next week and TJs Vets the week after – both of which sides have proved to be too strong for Maidstone in recent seasons.

 

Regarding subscriptions, a few more were collected this week, but there are still a significant number of players who have not yet paid for the season. Don’t be a free-loader. Support the club and sign a standing order form. There are forms available behind the bar: it’s the best value you will ever get for £10 per month –unless you buy your groceries at Lidl.

 

RE

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 7th November 2015
posted: November 10 2015

Results 7th Nov  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Medway

A

Lost 27-23

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Old Alleynians II

H

Lost 27-29

Invicta League

Dev XV

Old Gravesendian III

A

Lost 27-7

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Sittingbourne II

H

Lost  7-24

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Canterbury VI

H

Lost 15-55

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh  dear.   A clean sweep of losses this week, with two agonizingly close results for the First Team and for the Mustangs, with both sides having probably played the better rugby whilst failing to win.

 

Fair play to Medway.  Maidstone held the whip-hand in this local derby in league and cup last season, but first blood has gone to Medway in this season’s tussle.  Maidstone will relish the opportunity to redress the balance at the Mote after Christmas.

 

Alleynians II stayed quite late in the club-house after their unlikely win over the Mustangs, presumably to savour their victory (unless they were waiting for the water tanks to refill so that they could have a shower). They told me that they hadn’t won a set piece during 80 minutes and yet had still emerged with a narrow win, with which they were of course delighted, whilst our own 2nd team were inevitably gutted at letting a game that they had dominated, escape from their grasp. In fact, I saw our resident celebrity bearded Irishman, Jack O’Potato consoling himself in the bar afterwards with a nice bowl of potatoes, which cheered him up no end.

 

The Development team headed off to play Old Gravesendians III, to find that Old Gs had postponed their 2nd team away-match and that their opponents had 10 subs.  Whilst this was annoying enough, the performance of the “home” referee left the normally placid Lauro fuming.

However, all is not lost as, where a club fails to play its higher ranked fixtures, their lower teams can only gain a draw in their League match, so it looks as though the score will be recorded as 7-7 with 3 league points to each side.

 

The B team entertained Sittingbourne II on the lower pitch where they conceded 24 first-half points but won the 2nd half with a convincing 7-0 performance, which unfortunately added up to a somewhat less convincing 7-24 loss.  Were they down-hearted ?   Of course not. They’ll be back for more of the same next week.

 

The Vets meanwhile were banished to the far reaches of Mote Park, where the pitch behind the leisure centre was in great condition and ideal for free-running rugby, which suited our opponents from Canterbury down to the ground. In fact, it suited them so much that they scored 55 points by running faster than us, whilst Rich Gray was claiming a 1-0 victory owing to our push-over try.  In fact, Rich had to swap from back-row to front-row after Pete Grey had caught an interception in the middle of the park and tried to run it in. He made 20 yards before chipping ahead, only to be out-run to the try-line by a 10 stone whippet, after which he needed a lie-down to recover.  In fact, our president received a rather nice email from one of the Canterbury Team after the game:

 

Dear Jim,
 
Today a very special life moment occurred for me at Maidstone RFC. I
fulfilled a long held wish to play a game of rugby with my eldest of 4
sons Woody (17).  I was the proudest man on the pitch and to his credit
Woody scored a hatrick for Canterbury Cardinals.

I thought I'd share a picture of Woody and myself surrounded by the
Maidstone team who all played their role in making it such a special day
for Father and Son.

Thank you Maidstone  RFC.

Justin Lello.

 

No problem Justin, always happy to oblige but when the other 3 sons are also playing, I hope I will have retired !!

NEXT WEEK

 

Twickenham are making what might be their first ever visit to the Mote. I’m sure someone will soon correct me if I’m wrong.

 

The Development Team were scheduled to play Sevenoaks IV in the League but since Sevenoaks dropped their 4th team out of the leg, this was due to be a bye.  However, Aylesford have managed to revive their 3rd team and have taken over the Sevenoaks IV fixture slots, to be played as friendlies.  Having played for Aylesford III myself 3 weeks ago, I’m sure that it will be an excellent fixture.

 

Talking of Aylesford, at least 3 Maidstone Vets will be playing there vs the British Army Vets on Wednesday evening (12th Nov).   Sadly this clashes with the important development meeting scheduled at our club for the same evening, when news of our proposed new ground and club-house will be discussed.

 

See below for the Weekly Round-up from 10 years ago.

 

 

Fixtures 14th Nov  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Twickenham

H

 

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Tonbridge Judds II

A

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Aylesford III

A

 

Friendly

B XV

Canterbury IV

H

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

TBA

 

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News Round-Up w/c 7th Nov 05

 

Congratulations to the Youth Section on the success of their festival on Sunday and to all their helpers and organizers.

 

Apologies to anyone who turned up to see the Mustangs play Cranbrook 1 at the Mote on Saturday: Cranbrook cried off on Friday evening and the only fixture that could be obtained at such short notice was away (Tunbridge Wells II).  Well done to the Mustangs for agreeing to play away at such short notice and for winning the game 22-7.  Hope the feat can be repeated when they play TWII in the league on December 10th.

 

As a result, the large crowd that had assembled to watch the Mustangs v Cranbrook (including some from Cranbrook) were treated to The Dream Team on the 1st team pitch against Tonbridge Judds III.  (Has the 1st team pitch ever looked so wide) Although TJs were still in contention at half-time, the final score was 43-7 to the dreamy boys and another good League victory to continue the assault on Mid Kent A Division.

 

Meanwhile, The Extra A took on Tunbridge Wells III in a home friendly and rattled

 up their best win of the season, rumoured to be 35- 0 (but yet to be confirmed).  With Simon Cripps assembling the team this week and Darren Yeats leading them on the field, it is clear that losing Ian Davis as skipper has obviously not brought The Extra A to its knees yet.

 

The B XV emerged as the only casualty of the week-end, going down 29-12 in an away friendly to a fit young Medway IV after losing one or two key players (to the 4s and to an untimely stomach bug). Lying second in the table, The B will need all hands on deck next week to take on League leaders Lordswood III who have won all of their first 5 league games.

 

With Chelsea losing at the weekend and The Vets notching up a win, their playing records are now once again spookily similar ie lost one, drawn one and won the rest.

Having given up a 10 -0 first half lead against Vigo III, the Vets did well to claw back the lead before the end of the game. Amazingly for a game at Vigo, it didn’t snow!!

 

After one week off, The 1st XV are back in action next weekend (12th Nov), at home to Sidcup 1 in another vital league game. Sidcup are one of the two teams currently lying below Maidstone in the table and it is to be hoped that those respective League positions will be maintained after the game. NB The game is being played at Maidstone as Sidcup could not host the game (as originally scheduled), owing to the annual ball at their club-house.  

 

Do go and support the 1st Team at The Mote if you possibly can. There will certainly be lots of home action to choose from as there are 4 home fixtures this Saturday so the Club-House should be buzzing. Don’t forget to allow for extra drinking time as there are sure to be at least one of the weekend’s big matches on the big-screen after the home matches have finished  and possibly two.

 

Don’t forget that all subs not yet paid are now overdue and non-payers are not covered by the RFU insurance scheme. Get a standing order mandate from the bar-staff.

 

RE

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 1st November 2015
posted: November 03 2015

Results 1st Nov  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

none

 

 

 

2nd

(Mustangs)

none

 

 

 

Dev XV

none

 

 

 

B XV

none

 

 

 

Late Red Veterans

Tonbridge Judds Veterans

A

Lost 17-20

Late Red Veterans Trophy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No games this week on Saturday, as everyone was ready for a break after an intense few weeks and there was also the small matter of the RWC 2015 Final to watch.  I gather it was quite good although I was in Barcelona and it didn’t seem to feature in any of the local bars I happened to be passing at the time.  There was plenty of football though.

 

If there was no rugby on Saturday, Sunday compensated for it more than adequately, with Maidstone’s second outing of the season in defence of their Late Red Veterans Trophy, which they worked so hard to secure last season.

 

The team travelled to Tonbridge, where TJs had been supposedly struggling to raise a team, only to find a cast of thousands waiting for them (or 25 at least), including a decent proportion of whom were pretty good players.

 

TJs opened the scoring with a try but Maidstone soon responded with a push-over try touched down by scrum-half Sean Charlton. 

 

A TJ penalty took the half-time score to 10-7 although an interception soon after the break gave the hosts a 17-7 cushion. 

 

Maidstone came back into it with another try from Sean Charlton (greedy bastard) and then a powerful run from Dane Smith created space for Adrian Clark to skip over out wide to level the scores.

 

A penalty on the half-way line in the 80th minute, gave TJs the opportunity for a shot at goal, which they gratefully slotted for the win, whilst Maidstone had to content themselves with another bonus-point loss.  All is not lost however, as the team moves on to its next fixture, a tasty home game vs Aylesford Vets on the 3rd Jan 2016.

 

Elsewhere, in the LRVT, Sevenoaks beat Aylesford, Dover and Ashford played their first matches in the competition, with a good win for Ashford and Vigo, also new entrants, lost to Old Gravesendians.  Other results awaited.

 

NEXT WEEK

 

On to next  week, when the Firsts take on their nearest rivals Medway, in what should prove to be a very good benchmark of our side’s credentials, as they set out to record a win over higher-placed opposition for the first time this season.

 

The Mustangs entertain Old Alleynians II, who impressed me as the best 2nd-team we saw at the Mote last season, although their results have not been so good this year.

 

The B team and Dev XV have what appear to be winnable games and the Vets are at home to a Canterbury 6th team.  Fair-play to Canterbury for  getting so many teams out.

 

See below for the Weekly round up from 10 years ago.

 

 

Fixtures 7th Nov  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Medway

A

 

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

Old Alleynians II

H

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Old Gravesendian III

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Sittingbourne II

H

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Canterbury VI

H

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News Round-up  30/10/2005

 

A week of mixed fortunes this week, with commiserations to the 1st Team, The Mustangs and The Veterans and congratulations to the A, Extra A and B teams.

 

The 1sts went down at home to a much improved Sevenoaks side that now occupies 2nd place in the league and, on current form, could be heading for London 1.

 

A somewhat under-strength Mustangs side was beaten 19-5 at Beckenham but the game was sufficiently close to suggest that the return match at home could be a different story later in the season.

 

The A Team, once again without their skipper, (on duty with the Mustangs) still managed to open their Mid Kent A League programme with a 34-21 away win over Anchorians II, who traditionally have provided some of the toughest competition to the A in this League. In the seven years since this League was inaugurated, Maidstone A have won it 4 times  whilst Anchorians II have won it twice, so this was a good omen for the season.

 

The Extra A, having gained a walk-over in the league against their scheduled opposition, picked up a friendly against Gravesend III, which is Gravesend’s development side. They arrived at Gravesend with 11.  One of the team went to the wrong ground.  They borrowed two and played 13 against 14 with uncontested scrums.  At the same time as the missing player arrived one of the original 11 went off injured and so they played the whole game with 13. In view of this saga, they could feel pretty pleased with their 12-10 win. The players should be congratulated for proceeding to Gravesend even without a full side and well done to Gravesend for helping to make a game of it. Well done, most of all, to Ian Davis, for managing to get the show on the road. Regrettably, this was Ian’s last match in charge of the Extra A as he has been forced to stand down owing to work commitments away from Maidstone. Even after such a short stint, his absence will be a great loss to the team and to the club.   He took the job on with great enthusiasm and has put huge effort in during the short time he has been Ex A captain.  His cheerful manner and stoicism in the face of any adversity has been exemplary.  I’m sure that we all wish him well in his new job and look forward to seeing him (and Susan) around the club when work permits.

 

The B continued their run of good form with another League win, 24-3 over new club Leigh, with the “inspired” selection of “Stumpy” at Blind-side Flanker proving decisive as he poached two late tries.

 

Chelsea are still unbeaten, but The Veterans unbeaten run crashed and burned without seeing out the end of October, going down 22-0 to Medway 3rds. Its possible that giving away an average of perhaps 15 years per man contributed to the result but in reality Medway just showed more will to win on the day. They are not top of Mid Kent League C for nothing.

 

Although 6 sides played again this week-end, selection was made very difficult by the amount of absentees, with 49 players being unavailable. Whilst some injuries are inevitable, your team-mates and skippers need you to be available as regularly as possible and especially to avoid late cry-offs at all costs.

 

There is no game for the 1sts next week, so they can enjoy the well earned luxury of their 1st week-end off since 20th August. Whilst for most of us the season seems quite new, the Ists have already played 40% of their scheduled fixtures for the year. (Although a good run in the Kent Cup would change that stat).

 

Meanwhile, for the rest of us its business as usual with Star Billing going to the Mustangs who are playing Cranbrook 1sts in a friendly at the Mote at 2:30 PM.  Supporters welcome.

 

RE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 24th OCtober 2015
posted: October 26 2015

Results 24th Oct  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Dover

H

Won 34-8

London South 1

2nd

(Mustangs)

T Wells II

A

Lost 13-12

Invicta League

Dev XV

Lordswood II

A

Lost 35-5

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Dover IV

Played Aylesford 3

H

HWO

Lost 5-20

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

No fixture

 

 

Friendly

 

A pleasant afternoon watching the First Team vs Dover, was interrupted after 20 minutes when I found myself doing something I never thought I would ever do.  I pulled on an Aylesford Shirt and played for Aylesford III vs our own B XV on the lower pitch – and jolly good fun it was too.  But more of that later.

 

At the time I left the 1st Team to their own devices, they were winning 10-0 and looked as though they already had the game comfortably under control – and to be fair, they barely noticed I was gone, as they powered their way to a decent win over East Kent opposition Dover.  Josh Pankhurst took the MotM award for a try-scoring, team-captaining, all action performance, although Alex Eastwood must have run him close. For spectators who have luxuriated in the scintillating performances offered by the 1st Team during last season, there must have been great sadness at seeing the last appearance from Jonno Skelton, who made such a great contribution to an outstanding back-line, both in defence and attack, playing so well at fly-half last year, despite having come to the club as a centre.   We can only wish him Bon Voyage and a happy RWC Cup Final next week.

 

The Mustangs were away to Tunbridge Wells, for one of their tougher challenges of the season but came away with a bonus point for their endeavours. They  got off to a slow start. There were lots of

changes to the team midweek, which  meant they were unable to field an eligible front row and a number of players were out of position in the back line. With this in mind, they struggled to keep the ball in attack during the first half however they  defended well. Some strong individual breaks from Waring, Gunn and Jake Johnson provided some spark although they  were 10-0 down at HT. Second half was much better as they  found their feet and managed to retain possession for long periods, leading to 2 scores (by unnamed scorers), one of which was converted.  Despite applying lots of pressure in the closing few mins, they were unable to sneak the win.

 

The Development side had a tough outing vs Lordswood’s 2nd team, aided and abetted by a dozen of our Vets who had no fixture of their own  It wasn’t a very comfortable outing, as Lordswood have a number of big powerful runners who did lots of damage in the Maidstone ranks but it was a game and no one was complaining afterwards.

 

Nor were they complaining at home as the B Team succumbed rather meekly to a recently reformed Aylesford 3rd team, although there was general disappointment amongst the players that a winnable match had been allowed to slip out of their grasp. From the point of view of an opposition player, as I was for the day, Gary Griffiths appeared to have an outstanding match at open-side flanker, which is pretty good for an over 50 who only started playing rugby a few years ago.  Another notable presence in the Maidstone ranks was the smiling face of Dan Cummings, a former 1st Team player for both Maidstone and Aylesford, who was returning to his roots in the ranks of the Maidstone Barbarians, where he started his senior rugby some 16 years ago (and he is still not a Veteran yet) The B Team, notwithstanding this result, are flourishing this year under the well organized and enthusiastic leadership of new skipper Craig Nicholas and they will be keen to put this defeat behind them and continue on to their next fixture. 

 

NEXT WEEK

 

There is the small matter of a World Cup Final on Saturday and the much bigger matter of a Late Red Veterans Match vs Tonbridge Judds at Tonbridge 2:30 on Sunday.  I have just realised that I will be away in Barcelona, so I hope the rest of the players prove to be a tad more reliable than me, on this occasion.

 

See below for Weekly Round up 24th Oct 2005. Commentary added in italics.

 

 

RE

 

 

Fixtures 31st Oct  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

 

 

 

Kent Cup

2nd

(Mustangs)

 

 

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

 

 

 

Friendly

B XV

 

 

 

Dragon Fire East

Late Red Veterans

Tonbridge Judds Veterans

A

Sunday 1st Nov  2pm KO

Late Red Veterans Trophy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News Roundup 24/10/2005

 

After a weekend where Maidstone won 5 out of the 6 games played, it is frustrating that the “one that got away” was the most important result for the club.  However, the First team score-line could not have been much closer, in what must have been a very exciting match that could have gone either way.  Doubly frustrating perhaps, to lose a game that could have been won?.

 

Meanwhile, like Chelsea, the Veterans remain unbeaten, having drawn one and won all the rest. This week’s opponents were Cranbrook Vets who, with their quota of illustrious former Maidstone 1st Teamers are normally just too strong for Maidstone. This year’s result of 12-0 to Maidstone speaks of a very hard-fought game in which the new, blond James Bond was apparently outstanding for Maidstone, playing out of position in the back row – and not one of his blond hairs out of place. (Barry Topple)

 

Whilst on the subject of Cranbrook, the B should get some plaudits for a spirited 20-17 league win away against Cranbrook 3, where a comfortable lead was thrown away only to be regained in the last 10 minutes.  Once again, the under 18s in the B team made a huge impact – literally – launching knee high “exocet” tackles at anything that moved.  (Luke Debnam- whatever happened to him?)It is to be sincerely hoped that these players will have moved on up the club by the time that the B play the Veterans in their traditional pre-christmas show-down.

 

The Mustangs made the short trip to Aylesford to play an in-form  Aylesford II and came away with a win, albeit only 6-5. However, a win is a win in the League table and  after a slow start, the Mustangs are now climbing up the Invicta League. After playing at fly-half for the Mustangs this week, it will be interesting to see if A team skipper, Michael Laurenson, can regain his  place at full back in the “Dream Team” next week.

 

Speaking of the “Dreamy Boys” (as they were dubbed in the Westcombe Park match report a few weeks ago), they were due to play Bromley II in their last match of the Mid-Kent v Metropolitan Challenge. However, Bromley felt unable to field a sufficiently strong side and conceded the points.  Medway II stepped into the breach to supply the opposition in a friendly and then suffered the defeat that Bromley should have had. Whilst there have been some good fixtures in this competition, there have also been some real mis-matches and whilst the A have trekked up to South London three times to face really tough competition, Bromley’s concession means that only one team has made the journey back to Maidstone.  Final rankings for this competition should be available next week.

 

The Extra A managed finally to unleash some of the potential they have been showing, by beating Old Gravesendians III 43-5 in the League.  With three tries for wingers, two for centres and one for the forwards, it was a good all round team effort and the kind of performance that should enable the extra A to reach the top of their League come next March.  Next week’s opposition, Gillingham Anchorians, have had to cry-off and concede the points, so a suitable fixture is now being sought on the fixture exchange.

 

Looking ahead, the Firsts are at home next week to Sevenoaks, who will be hoping to improve on their tally of 2 defeats and a draw that they suffered at the hands of Maidstone last year. Having taken Jersey apart 2 weeks ago and beaten Gosport and Fareham last week, Sevenoaks will arrive full of confidence. A very tough and exciting match is on the cards.

 

Further ahead, Maidstone will be playing Folkestone at the Mote in our first (and hopefully not last) Kent Cup fixture of the season on Sunday 27th November at 2:00 pm.  This is a great chance for players who don’t normally get the chance to see the 1sts in action to come along and support the team and to enjoy the excitement of seeing Rugby played at this level. Why not bring a friend – if you have one – and spread the word. Never mind Charlton Athletic and the Valley Express: this is great sporting entertainment on our own doorsteps!!

 

Stop-Press:  The club-house now has a piano. I know that we could find any number of piano-shifters amongst our ranks but do we have any piano players?? (and a piano- tuner would be handy)

 

RE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round Up 17th Oct 2015
posted: October 20 2015

Results  17th Oct  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Tonbridge Judds

H

Lost 17-26

Kent Cup

Club XV

Aylesford II

A

Lost 28-24

IFriendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not a huge amount to report this week, aside from a thrilling but futile last ditch effort from Scotland to salvage Northern Hemisphere pride.  Who would have ever thought we’d all be cheering for Scotland?

 

The eagerly awaited cup-match with TJs was an exciting encounter and our team acquitted themselves well, against a side that sit unbeaten at the top of the Division above the one in which Maidstone currently play.

 

After a very bright start in which Maidstone took the game to TJs, it was ominous that after 20 minutes camped in the TJs half, no score had resulted.   Sure enough, as usually happens in these matches, the higher ranked team weathered the storm and then took its chances when presented.   Even so, Maidstone were in the match with realistic hopes until well into the last quarter but despite the heroics of skipper Ben Williams and an eye-catching, try-scoring performance from Matt Iles, a place in the Kent Plate was Maidstone’s only reward.

 

Meanwhile, a club XV comprising anyone else that was available and wanted a game, trotted off to play Aylesford 2nds in a friendly fixture.

For Maidstone, it was great to get players from all across the club playing together in the same side (1st Team excluded of course) and a cracking game ensued, spoiled only by a last ditch Aylesford try and conversion that turned a 21-24 win into a 28-24 loss. 

 

As for the Vets, they didn’t get a game, as no opposition could be found.

 

On Sunday, I watched an exciting cup match between our U16s and Dartfordians U16s, in which Maidstone bettered them by a healthy score-line.  With few big players on the Maidstone team, there was plenty of bravery, speed and skill to make up for lack of bulk.  Hugely enjoyable.

 

 

 

WEEKLY ROUND-UP 10th ANNIVERSARY

 

10 years ago, back in the days when Tony Dray was Chairman of Selectors and I was new to the job of fixture secretary, it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to keep people updated with goings on around the club and to report the results and anecdotes from the other teams in the club, rather than just the first team.

 

10 years on, and despite widespread indifference, I can report that “Woogies Weekly” is still struggling on.  Now though, I aim to publish each week the corresponding report from 10 years ago.  Believe me, it wasn’t any better back then, but it might induce a certain amount of nostalgia.

 

See below.

 

RE

 

 

Fixtures  24th Oct  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Dover

H

 

Kent Cup

2nd

(Mustangs)

T Wells II

A

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Lordswood II

A

 

Friendly

B XV

Dover IV

h

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

TBA

 

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly News Round-Up   Senior Section   October 16th 2005

 

This is the first of what is hoped to be a regular slot on the web-site helping to keep players up-dated with what’s going on at the club.

 

For the 4th week in a row, Maidstone FC fielded 6 senior sides again this week making us one of the very few clubs in Kent still able to do so.  This is good news for the Club and is indicative of a healthy interest in the game in and around the County Town.  It is largely thanks to the efforts of the excellent skippers that we have on board this year, that this has been possible, as they seem to have an uncanny knack of being able to assemble sufficient players to fill the gaps that appear in their original selections.  However, they can’t work miracles and all six of the Senior sides have a packed fixture list this year with barely a week-off between them so its very important that players support their teams with regular availability where possible.

 

Commiserations to the 1sts, who, in the absence of a number of regulars, took their heaviest beating in several seasons at League Leaders, Guildford.

 

On a brighter note, the Veterans under the perspirational leadership of Glyn Richards, remain the clubs only unbeaten side, having despatched Dartfordians Vets 22-0. This is a fixture that Maidstone have lost in recent years, which bodes well for the strength of the side this year. At this rate the Vets are sure to get a mention at the end of season Club-Dinner!!.

 

The next best achievement at the weekend was for the B xv to record a 0-0 draw with Gravesend V.  As Trevor put it so succinctly in his text “ We didn’t lose, we didn’t win, we didn’t score, ref blew 10 minutes early at 0-0”.  The B are having so many away fixtures at the moment that they have probably forgotten what life was like in “The Somme”.

 

The Mustangs, A and Extra A all went down in highly competitive matches.  The A shipped 4 tries and went down to 14 men before fighting their way back into the game within one score with 5 minutes to go before losing to Old Alleynians II.  The Extra A, supplemented by a couple of escapees from the Veterans, shipped 3 tries in the first half, scored three in the second half to level and then lost to an excellent TJ4s.

The Mustangs did the opposite and snatched defeat from the Jaws of Victory after dominating Sevenoaks II for 60 minutes.

 

Next week sees an important game for the 1sts against a Beckenham side that occupy the position immediately below Maidstone in the League Table.

 

The Mustangs will need to raise their game away to an Aylesford II that have won 4 of their first 5 Invicta League matches.

 

Looking ahead, please note that, unlike many clubs, we have scheduled several matches for New Year’s Eve – all of them at home – so make sure that your holiday arrangements enable you to participate in these festive fixtures - with a New Year’s Eve Party to follow.   That’s got to be better than watching Jonathan Ross or going to the Out-Laws for the evening!! 

RE

 



Weekly Round-up 10th October 2015
posted: October 12 2015

Results  10th Oct  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Gosport & Fareham

A

Won 15-26

London 1 South

2nd

(Mustangs)

Medway II

H

12-45

Invicta League

Dev XV

Canterbury V

H

Lost 17-19

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Ashfor Barbarians

A

Lost 63-5

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Gravesend V

H

Lost 19-36

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

This was a very encouraging week for the club, not least because we put out 5 sides for the first team this season and seem to be attracting and keeping new players, as well as pulling back some old faces.

A win for the First Team was overdue this week and was duly delivered, to stabilise the ship. Well done to Ben Massey for taking the Biddenden Vineyards MotM award and  to the whole of the front five, who dominated the set plays.

The Mustangs pulled off terrific win vs Medway II, scoring 7 tries and 5 conversions, with a 3 try haul for Jason Smith, (although the ref apparently recorded 6 tries and 5 conversions)

At home, I was amazed when I walked into the development team changing room  and looked around at the  quality of the players that Justin Evans was taking out onto the field bearing in mind that were a number of drop-outs from the week before.  Amongst others, It was great to see Harry Stockford back on the field and also the return of Dan Taylor after a 2 year lay-off, playing with his younger brother Jacob for the first time ever.  A terrific match ensued with Canterbury V, Maidstone losing out to a last ditch converted try but securing a losing bonus point in the process. Canterbury certainly enjoyed what had been an all too rare, well matched, full on battle.   

A special mention and thanks should go to Steve Norton and Paul Ehrhart for refereeing the game.  Paul (who is rapidly approaching the middle of his 7th decade) had agreed to referee the Vets game at 3pm but when I saw him in the Flower Pot on Friday evening and asked him to ref the Development Team instead, his bottom lip trembled and he confessed that he wasn't fit enough to keep up with youngsters.  In the event, he reffed the First Half (very well according to Canterbury) and Steve Norton arrived from Blackheath where he had been refereeing a 12 o'clock KO, to ref the 2nd half. Thanks to both.

Full-on battle but not well matched was the story  for our B Team under the very impressive leadership of Craig Nicholas, vs Ashford Barbarians RFC.  Having played against the Ashford Barbarians for our Vets this season, I knew that it was likely to be a thankless trip against a club-side that should be playing at a higher level, but our guys not only made a game of it, but actually came back having pencilled in a return friendly for next Saturday, albeit against a Maidstone Club XV, which should make for a more competitive game.


The Vets were lucky enough to find a fixture this week against their old friends Gravesend V, in the friendliest of friendly friendlies (Sounds quite friendly so far, doesn't it?).  10 mins into the 2nd half, Maidstone were winning 19-3, until Gravesend twigged that they only had to get the ball to one of their 18 year old whippets on the wing, to out-run old legs.  One such whippet, then helped himself to  4 tries and the game was lost 19-36 but a bottle of Port or two soon dulled the pain and everyone left the field happy - especially the Bishop bros who BOTH got through a whole match without injury for the first time in recorded history.  The match was reffed by John Smith, who is the lead coach for our U12s, officiating in an adult match for the first time, who took to it like a duck to water and maintained excellent control, with a good sense of humour to boot.  He passed his audition with flying colours and in the words of Simon Cowell, he’s through to the next round.

 

NEXT WEEK.

 

Not quite sure of what matches we will have or Kick-off times yet, so watch the club website and Facebook site for details.

RE

Fixtures  17th Oct  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Tonbridge Judds

H

 

Kent Cup

2nd

(Mustangs)

 

 

 

Invicta League

Club XV

Ashford Babas

H

 

Friendly

B XV

 

 

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Sevenoaks Vets

H

Over 45s game

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 3rd October 2015
posted: October 06 2015

Results   3rd Oct  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Tottonians

H

Lost 10-19

London 1 South

2nd

(Mustangs)

Sidcup II

H

Lost 0-15

Invicta League

Dev XV

Vigo III

A

Won 17-30

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Hastings & Bexhill III

A

Lost 25-17

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, after all the brouhaha of the weekend and the “what-ifs” and “might-have-beens” its time to get over it and move on.

 

Maidstone’s match was as winnable as England’s and in both matches, late pressure could quite feasibly have overturned the visitor’s lead – but it didn’t happen and two winnable games were lost.  For England, the consequences are severe and the impact will be far-reaching.  For Maidstone, there is the opportunity to put it all right in next week’s performance.  There is no doubt that Maidstone have the credentials to be competitive at this level but it will certainly be a season of wins and losses.   Credit to Tottonians, making their first ever trip to Maidstone, for

playing effective rugby and securing the points in a tight game.

 

The Mustangs faced a very big Sidcup 2nd Team on the bottom pitch, where they went down to a 15-0 defeat in what was a very good team performance.   It was good to see James Hughes back in a Maidstone shirt, although he might have been hoping for a slightly easier re-introduction to competitive rugby.  What is clear is that the guys who have come into the Mustangs from last season’s development side, look very capable of meeting the required standard and have the potential to challenge for First Team places during the course of the season.

 

The Development Team under the leadership of Justin Evans, carried the flag for Maidstone, recording the only win of the day as they saw off a Vigo 3rd team, with a very similar age profile, ie callow youth and venerable wisdom, with a sprinkling of Beer-gut .  Talking of Beer-gut, there is nothing in the rules to say that one has to be in peak physical condition to score tries, as exemplified by Mark Thurgood’s 40 yard effort (or so I have seen it reported) The Vigo match report tells the story of the game, although with a Maidstone front-row including Rich Gray and Mark Thurgood, its hard to imagine that Maidstone’s loss of their hooker was a tactical ploy.  Those boys were built for scrummaging.

 

The B Team did what many teams fail to do ie they travelled to Hastings and Bexhill for yet another distant away fixture.  At leats they are getting the long trips out of the way early in the season. A competitive game ensued although the outcome was a loss for the visitors from Maidstone, narrowly missing out on a losing bonus point.   I note that Kenny Murray played for the team, having been unable to train and keep his place in the Mustangs. He seems to have enjoyed the match and it was good to have had a Scot there to provide a welcome for new scrum-half Stuart Roy, who hails from Paisley

 

I think it’s a good week for all of us to dust down the family tree to look for evidence of Scottish, Welsh or Irish ancestry so that we have a team to cheer for during the remainder of the month.

 

RE

 

 

Fixtures  10th Oct  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Gosport & Fareham

A

3pm ko

London 1 South

2nd

(Mustangs)

Medway II

A

2pm ko

Invicta League

Dev XV

Canterbury V

H

2pm ko

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Ashfor Barbarians

A

2pm ko

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Gravesend V

H

3 pm KO

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 26th September 2015
posted: September 29 2015

Results  26th Sept 2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Sutton & Epsom

A

Lost 31-17

London 1 South

2nd

(Mustangs)

Charlton Park

H

HWO

Invicta League

Dev XV

T Wells IV

H

HWO

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Deal & Betts III

A

Won 31-53

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

League losses are like buses.  You wait for ages for one and then two come at once.  (Never seems to happen with trains!)  However, one doesn’t often hear that THREE buses arrive at once so lets hope that the analogy continues to hold true and next week brings a win.

 

Its clear from the match reports over the past two weeks that Maidstone have the team to compete at this level, so with all the hard work taking place on the training field, its sure to come good again soon.

 

Congratulations to Adam Knight for winning the chance to supp this week upon the Biddenden Vineyards MotM award.

 

No chance for any of the Mustangs to show their prowess this week, however, as their League opponents couldn’t raise a strong enough team to play the fixture and requested a postponement.  Whilst to the lay-man, it might seem daft that one can request a postponement if unable to raise a strong enough team, this is the prevailing rule in the Invicta League, which operates this policy in the mistaken belief that it gets more fixtures played.  Our players, who experienced a blank week-end when nothing suitable became available on the fixture exchange, would beg to differ.

 

Likewise, T Wells were unable to raise a team to play our Development side, so it was a rare blank saturday at the club, with no rugby played at all  - and of course no revenue.

 

A happier tale can be related regarding the Barbarians XV, who faced a long journey to play Deal & Betteshanger III away.  At selection on Tuesday, skipper Craig had only 12 confirmed players.  I informed the League Sec and the next day he told me that the match between Dover III and Old Gravesendians  II had been cancelled.  We therefore contacted the Dover Chairman to see if any of their redundant 3rd team players would like to play for us vs Deal.   Three of them said yes and joined the Barbarians for the day and a thoroughly good game ensued at Deal, where the host team were delighted that their opposition had not cried off, as so often happens to teams at the extremities of East Kent.   On the day, there was no referee, as he had failed to show up, so Steve Hunter pulled out his trusty whistle and did the honours, to everyone’s satisfaction.

 

COURT AND SOCIAL

I hope that by now there is no one that has not become aware of the opportunity to join the re-launched £500 club, where just £5 per month buys 6 numbers in the draw, yielding a one in 50 chance of winning the top prize in each draw.      Buy now, whilst they’re still hot.  (You can of course buy multiples of £5 per month if you want to really clean up)  See the appropriate page on the web-site.

 

RE

 

 

Fixtures  3rd Oct 2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Tottonians

H

 

London 1 South

2nd

(Mustangs)

Sidcup II

H

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Vigo III

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Hastings & Bexhill III

A

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Anchs III

H

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up 19th September 2015
posted: September 21 2015

Results 19th Sept 2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Sidcup

A

Lost 38-15

London 1 South

2nd

(Mustangs)

Gravesend II

H

Won 27-17

(draw awarded)

Invicta League

Dev XV

Medway V

A

AWO

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Whitstable II

H

HWO

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Folkestone III

A

Won 17-10

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It had to come eventually.

  

Unbeaten runs are great but they all finish in the end. Maidstone had not experienced defeat since a pre-season training match vs Sidcup last August and had not experienced a regular league defeat since 8th March 2014. Not that Maidstone would have lost to Sidcup if Skipper and MotM Ben Williams could have possibly averted it single-handed, but even his heroic try-scoring exploits were insufficient to preserve Maidstone’s record. The challenge, now that the mantle of invincibility has slipped, is to avoid it slipping any further, in the sort of anti-climactic malaise that is often seen after a long unbeaten run comes to an end. Playing a long season in a tougher league will inevitably involve wins and losses, but it requires an adjustment of team mentality compared with the mentality that comes with winning every match. The next few weeks should be interesting.

 

Congratulations to The Mustangs for an excellent win vs a powerful Gravesend second-string.   The result will be recorded as a draw for League purposes, as Maidstone had no front-row on the day and had to start the game with uncontested scrums.

Nonetheless, the game still needed winning and the team performed extremely well in outscoring Gravesend.  Skipper Nathan Fitzpatrick was hors de combat and therefore unable to provide more than moral support, but he did promise to send me a match précis to include here.  Watch this space !!.   In the absence of any further details, I did manage to ascertain that diminutive full-back “Snowy” performed heroics reminiscent of the amazing Japanese team in their humbling of the mighty Springboks, as he scythed down the huge Gravesend lock-forward en route to the home try-line.    It was great to see so many of the team in the club-house after the game, enjoying one another’s company and a drink or two.  It’s how rugby is meant to be.

 

Elsewhere, it was fixture carnage this week, with both the B Team and Dev Team oppositions crying off owing to a lack of players, meaning that both of our teams got their League campaign off to a winning start  - but not in the way that either of them would have wished.

 

No such difficulties for our plucky Veterans, who picked up an away friendly vs Folkestone III, where they played on a beautiful pitch but with grass so long that you could hide in it.

Two first half-tries from Maidstone resulted in a 12- 0 lead but in the second-half, one or two of Folkestone’s whippets escaped their leashes and outpaced Maidstone’s geriatric defence to put the win in jeopardy.  Fortunately, a try from skipper Adrian Clarke saved the day, although had there been a TMO, the try would have been disallowed for dropping the ball instead of grounding it.  Fortunately, there wasn’t and we won !!  Sadly, Stuart Russell suffered a fractured cheek bone in making a try saving tackle and needed an operation at the William Harvey to restore his features to their previously handsome (he’s a back, so looks are important) condition.

RE

Fixtures  26th Sept 2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Sutton & Epsom

A

 

London 1 South

2nd

(Mustangs)

Charlton Park

H

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

T Wells IV

H

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Deal & Betts III

A

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Faversham II

 

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up for 12th & 13th Sept 2015
posted: September 15 2015

Results  12th & 13th Sept 2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Chiswick RFC

H

W 41-21

London 1 South

2nd

(Mustangs)

Beckenham II

H

L 13-27

Invicta League

Dev XV

 

 

 

 

B XV

Gravesend IV

A

34-5

Friendly

Veterans

Sevenoaks

A

Lost 21-17

Late Red Vets Trophy

 

A decent sized crowd buzzed around the Mote on Saturday, attracted by the pleasant weather, good company and exciting rugby.

They were rewarded for their attendance by a convincing First Team display vs Chiswick, which showed that the season is likely to be a good one for home supporters.  The visitors from west London had certainly not come to Maidstone to succumb meekly but from the first score, anything other than a Maidstone win looked pretty unlikely. Harry Millar took the Biddenden Vineyards MotM award, although thankfully he was not called upon to kick an injury-time penalty this week, to preserve Maidstone's unbeaten run.

I took a 20 minute break from watching the first-team, once their game looked safely in the bag, to take a look at the Mustangs on the bottom pitch.  They seemed to be facing an unfeasibly large Beckenham 2nd team but had turned round at half-time, 13 - 0 to the good.  Whether it was my arrival or something else that changed, I then watched Beckenham score two tries in fairly quick succession following break outs from their big runners and that unfortunately, was to be the story of the 2nd half    Ie one way traffic.   It was no surprise to hear later that Beckenham 1st team had no fixture, which would inevitably have an effect on the calibre of the 2nd team they were able to field, which helps to put things into perspective.

The B team travelled to Gravesend to play their 4th team, undaunted by the mauling they had received the previous week at Sheppey and managed to halve the previous week's deficit, whilst scoring a very good try of their own.  I know it was a very good try because Tom Clarke said it was and he scored it so he should know.
Whilst the B them returned safely from Gravesend, that's more than can be said for their shirts which, in the absence of the skipper (honeymoon during the rugby season, would you believe?) were inexplicably left behind.

There was no Vets game on Saturday but on Sunday came the opening skirmish in this year's Late Red VeteransTrophy, with a trip to Sevenoaks to play last year's semi-finalists.  It was a great game of rugby, between two well matched sides, Maidstone having the edge in the forwards whilst Sevenoaks probably had a bit more pace in their backs.
Maidstone opened the scoring, following sustained forward pressure, with an unconverted Sean Charlton try, but the lead was not to last long as Sevenoaks pounced on Maidstone errors to score two relatively easy tries under the posts, both of which were converted for a 14-5 half-time lead.
Maidstone applied more pressure after the break, with the introduction of John McIntyre, which had an immediate impact in the losse, and the movement of Mayhem from 2nd row to tight-head giving a platform for domination of the scrum.  However, it was Sevenoaks that scored first, after capitalising on another loose ball in open play.
Facing a 21-5 deficit and having lost SC to a yellow card (he miscalculated the gravitational pull of the earth upon the Sevenoaks catcher at a kick-off, meaning that the catcher's feet had not yet touched the ground when he tackled him.  10 minutes in the sin-bin gave him a great opportunity to reflect on the rate of descent of a falling object where g = -9.81 m/s^2, but of course where he had gone wrong was in failing  to multiply g by V (ie velocity).  Hopefully, he won't make that mistake again.  (NB.I used SC's initials, which abbreviate his time-honoured nick-name, because he is worried that when he "googles" himself, (some sort of self-abuse, I would imagine) the words "Nick East" and "Yellow Card" appear to be inseperable. (Damn. There's another one !!)

Anyway, back to the exciting narrative.  A strong break from Dane Smith, well supported by Jez Major, (making a welcome return to Maidstone colours after 3 or 4 years away), was finished off out wide by John O'Brien, bringing the scores to 21-10.

With 10 minutes left, Maidstone eschewed a penalty under the posts, choosing to run it instead, which ultimately resulted in a push-over try for Maidstone, close to the posts.  The hastily taken drop-kick conversion was not seen by the otherwise excellent ref but the Sevenoaks players sportingly confirmed that it had gone over. 

The last 5 minutes were  all Maidstone pressure but a final sustained attack was eventually knocked on near the line to give Sevenoaks a proud victory and leaving Maidstone to regret that Skipper Massey had opted for 35 minute halves. The net result was 4 points to Sevenoaks and 2 points to Maidstone, having secured a point for turning up and a losing bonus point for finishing within 10 points.  As a foot note, I was copied into this email from one of my former Sevenoaks Team-mates, Bill Park:

Mighty Acorns,

That’s why we play rugby. Not just for the superb 21-17 win against a strong Maidstone side but because it was a proper contest between two well matched teams that played to their limits.

We may be getting on a bit (some more than others) but we can still get out there and enjoy feeling the heat of the battle. And good on Maidstone. There were some big hits but no nasties at all. The spirit was full-on and excellent throughout. Thanks Richard. Good to see you as ever.

The support was also very welcome - and nice to see a couple of faces in the crowd which I hope will feel the urge to get back on the pitch again soon. You know who you are ... Come on. Make the most of it while you might still have it!

There’s no other sport which gives you this much enjoyment!!!


Billy P

NEXT WEEK

All Kick-offs are at 2pm, to accommodate RWC fixtures on TV.    Talking of RWC, Ben Williams has goone out of his way to purchase for us the licence to show the highly acclaimed “Building Jersualem” in the clubhouse on Wednesday 16th September .  He writes:

“In the run up to Friday and the start of the Rugby World Cup, get down to the club to watch the film Building Jerusalem, the story of England’s 2003 success.

The club will be open from 7pm with the film starting at about 7:45pm. Entry is free but donations on the door are welcome (as we had to pay £90 for the right to show the film!) We will also be doing a sweep stakes at £2.50 entry. The winner will receive £10 and runner up £5”

As Jim Tinsley, our Resident Irish President pointed out, the smart money will go on Johnnie Wilkinson dropping a goal in the closing minutes, to win the World Cup for England. 

 

RE

Fixtures  12th & 13th Sept 2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Sidcup

A

 

London 1 South

2nd

(Mustangs)

Gravesend II

H

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

Medway V

A

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Whitstable II

H

 

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

TBA

 

 

Friendly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up for 5th Sept 2015
posted: September 07 2015

Results  5th September  2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Charlton Park

A

Drew 16-16

London 1 North

2nd

(Mustangs)

Brockleains

A

Lost 22-0

Friendly

Dev XV

 

 

 

Dragon Fire West

B XV

Sheppey II

A

Lost 78-0

Dragon Fire East

Veterans

Ashford Tournament

 

First into the beer tent

Friendly

 

So – after all of the preliminaries, the season got under way in earnest on Saturday but it was not exactly plain sailing.

 

The Firsts relinquished a strong position against their  2013-14 promotion rivals Charlton Park when they let a 13-3 lead slip to a deficit of 13-16, needing an injury time penalty from Harry Millar to maintain their unbeaten run.  Its certainly better than losing on the opening day but the squad will be disappointed to have let such a good start slip through their fingers on opening day.  Congratulations to open-side flanker Richie Bowen on taking the Biddenden Vineyards MotM award on his league debut for Maidstone.

 

The Mustangs travelled to Kent 1 side Old Brockleians for a friendly to see if they could repeat their good showing vs Anchorians two weeks ago. However, it was a tough day at the office as a number of players had to play out of position. Effort levels throughout were good and although they were too narrow in attack for most of the game, on the occasions they did go wide, they looked strong and threatening. Ali Fish put in a good shift at 9 and he was a constant thorn in the side for his opposite number - especially when defending at scrums. Some positive individual performances from debutants James Corbyn and Alex  Calota, our new Romanian 2nd-row/back-row.   League action starts next week.

 

The B XV under new (and newly married) Skipper Craig Nicholas were presented with an unenviable trip to Sheppey II, to play a friendly vs a side that play their rugby 2 divisions above our Barbarians.  Full credit goes to Craig for pulling a team together (including Spencer, the landlord of the Thirsty Pig – playing his first match for Maidstone) and to the guys for trooping off to Sheppey for an almost certain heavy defeat but sticking at it for 80 minutes.   Not the ideal way to start the season but there is certainly no lack of team spirit amongst these players.  There will be better weeks as the season gets into its stride.

 

The Veterans XV kicked off their season in the traditional way with their annual trip to the Ashford Vets Tournament and Real Ale Festival.   A squad of 20 gave a good account of themselves in the opening match vs an enormous Medway team (including former Maidstone First Team prop Martin Farbrace) but lost by one score.  A try from Justin Evans secured victory vs Ashford but a defeat followed vs Dover and then a heavier defeat vs Ashford Barbarians, who are not  a Vets team at all but who seemed cock-a-hoop at being able to run rings round all the Veterans teams to win the tournament.   Never mind.  At least the ground was soft this year after all of the rain and the tournament progressed briskly so that everyone was changed and in the beer tent by 2pm.   This allowed your humble correspondent to leave the scene of the action and head back to Maidstone, not to watch rugby as per previous seasons but to watch the Mote Cricket Club in their 2nd vs 1st clash with League leaders Dartford for the promotion decider to the Premier League.   In the event, it was a disappointing outcome for the many spectators as the Mote came nowhere near chasing down the Dartford total of 221.   Disappointing, as it would have been good to see the County Town Team back into the top-flight of Kent Cricket.

 

NEXT WEEK

 

It will be our first Home League game next week but it will be a bit of an odd one, as we haven’t yet taken possession of the club from the Cricketers and so will have to fit in around them.  On top of that, our trusty bar team of  Carol, Liz and Helen are  all away on holiday together and so it will be a skeleton bar crew looking after us (if Charley doesn’t mind me calling her a skeleton).  Some help with the BBQ and pitch-side bar would be appreciated if anyone is around on Saturday to help out.

 

The Mustangs have their first Invicta League game,vs Beckenham II at home.

 

The B xv are due to play another friendly, which was scheduled to be Gravesend IV at home but will need to be away instead as we can only accommodate 2 games unfortunately.

 

On Sunday, the Veterans kick off their defence of the Late Red Veterans Trophy, with an early season trip to Sevenoaks.  In the corresponding fixture last year, Oaks were taken by surprise by the strength of the “Imperious” Maidstone team (as they described us on their web-site).  Don’t think they will be taken by surprise for a second year in a row, so it should be a battle royal over there.  It would be great to have a decent contingent of Maidstone supporters over there to cheer the old (and not so old) boys on.

 

Development squad training will commence this Thursday at the club. Mike Laurenson will liaise with Mike Hebden to make sure that Mustangs training is not depleted because of it.  Kim Martin, Mick Walker and Justin Evans will be sharing the coaching duties with Mike L.  

If you know any young players who want to get started or re-started in Senior rugby, it’s a good opportunity to get them playing in a squad where they have a chance to develop as players. Many of last year’s team are now playing for the Mustangs and Tom Chandler actually started for the 1st Team on Saturday.

 

Just a reminder about subs.  Everyone – from 1st Team to Vets, should be paid-up club members and anyone starting a new direct debit will need to make their first payment £36, as they have already missed the September payment deadline and therefore September payment.  The d/d sign-up is on the membership page of the website.  (scroll down to the bottom)

 

RE

 

Fixtures  12th & 13th Sept 2015

Team

Opposition

H/A

 Result

Competition

1st

Chiswick RFC

H

 

London 1 South

2nd

(Mustangs)

Beckenham II

H

 

Invicta League

Dev XV

 

 

 

 

B XV

Gravesend IV

A

 

Friendly

Veterans

Sevenoaks

A

Sunday 3pm

Late Red Vets Trophy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekly Round-up for 29th August 2015
posted: September 01 2015

Observant readers of this blog may have noticed that there have been no new posts since 4th April last year, the last one having recorded our epic win vs Coney Hill in the semi-final of the Intermediate Cup.

In the 10 preceding seasons, since the Weekly Round-up was first incepted in the season 2005-6, there have been only a handful of  weeks in total that have gone unrecorded.

Unfortunately, a house-move and a severe case of writer's block (this stuff doesn't just write itself you know) prevented your humble author from documenting the culmination of last year’s outstanding season, including 1) the securing of promotion, 2) the winning of the League, 3) the completion of an unbeaten league season, 4) the small matter of a trip to Twickenham and 5) the winning there of the Intermediate Cup vs Bridgnorth Rfc..

As if that weren't enough, we also hosted in April the inaugural Finals Day for the Late Red Veterans Trophy where, as luck would have it, we won the Final ourselves in a tough showdown vs Thanet Wanderers Veterans.

So as you can see, it was an eventful end of season on the playing side,  all of which would have been extremely fertile ground for a blog that likes to dwell on the positive news stories on a weekly basis.

On the social side, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a club captain having just won the Intermediate Cup, must be in need of a wife, so Ben duly proposed in front of the whole stadium at Twickenham and reader, ( to mix my Jane Austen with my Charlotte Bronte) she married him - or rather, she hasn't yet but she certainly said she would.  (not during the League season, one hopes)

Now, at the start of a new season, there is a buzz of anticipation around the club. Success breeds success and there are loads of new players at training.  I don't think I ever remember seeing so many new faces at the start of any previous season. Let's hope that they all feel very welcome and that they will enjoy their rugby at Maidstone at whatever level they play.

Whilst we have retained all of last year's coaching team, it has been strengthened immeasurably by the addition of a dedicated Mustangs coach, Mike Hebden, so that the tremendous team spirit we saw in last year's Mustangs team can be translated into better results within a very tough and competitive Invitca League.

The pre-season warm-up fixtures kicked-off with a successful trip to old friends and ambitious adversaries Tunbridge Wells, where the 1st team squad came away with a win 45-33.

This was followed up with a Mustangs training match last Thursday evening, vs  Anchorians First Team.  The match was lost 10-5, which is no poor result vs a team that will be playing level 8 rugby this season and with a monster pack at their disposal.

Saturday 29th brought a trip across the water to Essex for the inaugural Barking pre-season festival, which should have comprised 3x 30 minutes matches, vs Barking, Saffron Walden and Westcliffe.  In the event, Safron Walden and Westcliffe dropped out but fortunately, Gravesend answered a last minute call and made up a 3 way tournament of 40 minute matches.  

By the time I arrived, Maidstone had already beaten Gravesend 12-5 but I was in time to see their match vs Barking.  With only around 6 or 7 of our triumphant Twickenham winners in the side, Maidstone appeared to have found some more-than-adequate replacements, as they ran in 4 first-half tries to secure a 27-0 win vs the hosts, who will be playing in London 1 North this season ie parallel to Maidstone who will be playing in London 1 south.  

It was a good day’s work for the squad and a worthwhile outing and team-building exercise.  In particular, it was great to see how much flair and pace there is in the side, which should make for an exciting season.

Next Week

The Season kicks off big-time next Saturday, with an away League game for the 1sts at Charlton Park (the first at Level 6 for around 6 or 7 seasons.  Maybe someone can tell me exactly when we last played at level 6 ??)

The Mustangs have a home friendly vs Sittingbourne 1st Team

The Development team and Barbarians are combining to play away vs Sheppey II in a friendly.

 

The Veterans are attending the Ashford Beer Festival and Veterans Tournament, where some beer will be drunk and some rugby will be played, but not necessarily in that order.   Anyone over the age of 35 is welcome .   A party of heavy drinkers will be going to Ashford by train, but anyone else should aim to be at the ground by 10am for an 11 am start.

So, lets get the season off to a good start and look forward to playing for ourselves, for our mates, for our skippers, for our teams and for our club.

LASTLY

Congratulations to Shaun Neaves on his accession to the role of Club-Chairman, which role he will be filling in addition to his role as Chairman of Selectors.

Shaun’s name has been virtually synonymous with Maidstone Rugby for generations of players and there can have been few who have played for the club in the last 25 years who do not know him or whom he doesn’t know ( a significant proportion of whom will have lived at his house at one time or another). 

With Shaun at the club helm and Sean Charlton continuing to show massive commitment to improving the playing side of the club, together with all of the other officials and volunteers from the President downwards, who make such a massive contribution to the club, not to mention the exciting news around the prospect of a new ground, the future looks extremely bright.

RE

PS

With no rugby to watch yesterday, I paid £12 to see Maidstone Utd lose 1-0 to Chelmsford in front of around 2200 spectators.  Whilst I am delighted to see Maidstone Utd back in the town and prospering and enjoying success in parallel with Maidstone Rugby club, I was struck by how poor the fare was, consisting mainly of honest endeavour but with very poor levels of skill and imagination.  On top of that, I was struck by how the culture of abuse and attempted intimidation of match officials and opposition players, seems endemic within football and its something that I have no wish to see spread to rugby circles, particularly where there are young and impressionable people in the crowd.  

My main thought however, was that, I believe that Rugby at the Mote could offer many of those football supporters a refreshing change on weekends when they are not supporting their home team, so if you know any regular football supporters, try inviting them to The Mote to sample the difference and see the passion, pace bravery and skill close up.  In a Rugby World Cup Year, it must be possible to increase our spectator base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





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