The last thing we needed in horrendous playing conditions, with the wind and rain lashing the pitch, was a game against a team of experienced bruisers. Unfortunately that was what we got. Maidstone III’s are well known as a tight team of ex-first fifteen players who play a brand of rugby last seen in Britain in 1976. This style is based entirely on pack-oriented, up-the-jumper, monotonous mauling, verbally intimidating, and somewhat boring rugby, something our young 2’s side has not experienced much of.

 

With Milo not available Ian McCaul stepped into hooker, flanked by Sparks and Maxted, with Withers and Parr in the second row and Clarkson-Bennett, Garland and Kenway in the back row. The three-quarters remained fairly unchanged from Dunstonians, except for the back 3 where two seventeen year olds, Danny Lowe and Rob Teague made their debuts. Were it not for Goffy at 9 the average age of the backs would have been 18.

 

There is not too much to be said for the game itself, except that two very different styles of play were pitched against each other. Wells strove for a more balanced game and tried to introduce their backs whenever possible, whilst Maidstone rarely let the ball stray far from the back of the maul. The result was an ebb and flow of possession between each team, with most of the game played in the mid-field and plenty of condition-induced errors from both sides. But it was Wells who scored first; a scything break from outstanding fly half Ollie Smith, who showed great strength to both break tackles and keep the ball alive, led to a deft off-load to the supporting Sparks who ran in the try unchallenged. Goffy slotted the conversion for a 0-7 lead.

 

All game Wells were under extreme pressure in the set scrums, losing a good number against the head or having to feed of scrappy ball at the back. Given this the boys did well to hold out, but eventually Maidstone’s pack, after numerous attempts, scored with a push over try. 5-7 at half time. Stones appeared to have the upper hand second half as their pack played everything really tight. With little clean possession from the scrums, and not a lot more from the lineout, Wells struggled to get back into the game. The next score fell to the home side, this time from a long range maul that eventually reached the line. The conversion was taken to give Maidstone a five point lead.

 

Wells were on the verge of going to uncontested scrums for safety, when some bright spark suggested three props might work. It did and the combination of Maxted, Sparks and Follows settled the scrum and released McCaul to his favoured position in the back row. Possession started to flow. Rogers was introduced into the centre. As the clock ran down Wells pressed hard for a score, but just failed to make the line on a number of occasions. With the referee raising the whistle to his lips for the final time Rogers exploded through the mid-field, committed the full back and off-loaded to the supporting McCaul who in turn committed the last defender to feed Smith who ran in to score the equalising try. Only good cover from the Stones blindside wing prevented Ollie from getting under the posts, and unfortunately in the breezy conditions the conversion missed narrowly denying Wells a well deserved win.

 

We will settle for a 12-12 draw and two valuable league points. With such a young side, and in the face of such intimidating opposition, the team did really well to stick to the task and stop Stones from dominating. We played the better rugby and showed far more ambition and great team spirit ensured we stuck to our task right to the end, gaining our deserved rewards.

 

A rest weekend will be followed by two key games against Folkestone at home, and Thanet away. Currently all three teams are challenging for the league title on 21 points, so everyone needs to be available, training and ready so that we can show these guys how good we have become.