Maidstone 36 FRFC 7

Christmas does strange things and this Christmas I was hauled out of retirement to write up this match. The portents were awful; it had rained for 24 hours as we set out to the County Town to face a team with a 100% record so far this season.

Folkestone were missing 3 players from the excellent team the week before: Seyhan Fell had gone home to Mum in Cyprus, Lucio Dublino back to his Mum in Naples and Brad Pearson was injured from last week. This meant that Darren Molloy had to shuffle his team to get a reasonable side on to the pitch.

Jack Cox went to full back, Chris Petley went into the centre and Moose Murray came into the pack. Jake Johnson came back to his usual position of No8.

In boxing they say that “a good big ‘un will always beat a good little ‘un” and this match today was the equivalent of Lennox Lewis fighting Barry McGuigan. Maidstone players were about half a stone a man heavier than Folkestone’s. But this seemed to motivate the Folkestone lads who played a blinder and the score line is an unfair reflection on how close things were at times. When one considers that at age 26, 24, 23 and 22 Moose Murray, Ben Brooks, Jake Johnson and Will Massey are rated to be among our senior players. Yet with youthful abandon and ferocious enthusiasm they never wilted in their zest for close encounter fighting. Johnson was a battering ram with legs. Gardner and Massey made cracking runs and Petley and young Richard Bowen tackled their hearts out. Petley made some spectacular running angles and young Lewis Howland and Scottie Evans were a competent and safe half back combination behind an often retreating pack.. Elliot Jones was tested under some high balls and never dropped one and fearlessly ran the ball back to the enemy.

Then where did all the opposition points come from you may ask? Folkestone were playing their usual varied game with passes mixed with drives and interspersed with tactical kicks. It was a good 20 minutes before they realised that tactical kicking against Maidstone was a fruitless exercise. Maidstone had good hands and a good tactician in Willie Brown, their fly half. He gathered a kick ahead and wellied it into Folkestone’s 22. The visitors infringed at the line out and the home side took a scrum and scored with a push over try. Only 5 minutes had gone.

Folkestone rallied and composed themselves and held their opponents but another long kick put Maidstone deep in Folkestone’s 22 and their juggernauts pushed over for a second try. Folkestone initiating an attack of their own threw a wild pass, which was intercepted to run in a try under the posts. Then they temporarily lost their shape and their cool allowing the speedy Maidstone centre to streak through a gap in the defence and a missed tackle let him in for try number 4.

22-0 at half time and we wondered if Folkestone would crumble. Not a bit of it. They attacked with controlled fury but sadly were rewarded with a bit of huge bad luck. Johnson had the ball knocked from his hands in the tackle and it rolled quickly to a Maidstone player who was unmarked and he streaked away from the wrong- footed Folkestone lads for try number 5

Folkestone then brought out their best play. The forwards hammered their heavier opponents and set up good ball for the backs to have good runs. Johnson and Ben Brooks combined well to make a deep penetration and then Petley carved a way through the middle to be brought down a yard short of the line. Then, with that funny shaped ball of ours, it wobbled out of a maul on the Maidstone try line and rolled to their fastest man. He couldn’t believe his luck and ran the full 100 metres to score.

At 36 – 0 you would think Folkestone would have given up but back they came piling on the pressure and this time Will Massey got the last try of the match.

Let’s face it, Maidstone deserved to win, but if you take out their 3 fluky interception tries the score would have been 15 – 7 and that, in my opinion, would have been a true reflection of the match. I know Maidstone will say I should add back the two tries they cocked up, so let’s just say it was a good, fair and very entertaining game, which was very well refereed by Ms Tracey Pettingale. Maidstone will not be thinking it will be a walkover when they come to the New Burlington Field for the return game on 5th January. My forecast is that it will be a cracker – so be there.

Unlike Phil Cooper I have no qualms about nominating a Folkestone man of the match. In a match where all the Folkestone players stepped up to the plate it goes to Jake Johnson, for his outstanding line out work, his drives, the linking he did with the backs and his selfless protection of his scrum half, young Lewis Howland. He played a stormer.
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