Folkestone 1stXV 19 Maidstone 1stXV 41
Saturday 25th February 2017. 1st Round Shepherd Neame Kent Cup Plate Competition. Report from Alex Ruddock.

To quote the Maidstone F.C. report “Cup games are notorious for upsets, as the underdogs, with nothing to lose, put their heart and soul into their attempt to spread egg over the faces of their more illustrious opponents.”
Well at times it looked as if Folkestone were going to give it a good try! Making several team changes from the previous week’s loss against Haywards Heath, Folkestone appeared to be struggling to find a tam during the week. The return of the happy wanderer Chris Petley, from touring out East, played the whole game at scrum half and had a first class game harrying Maidstone around the base of the scrum and putting in some massive tackles in doing so. Jack Barton made his second appearance of the season and added his weight to the second row as well as making some ground making runs as well as being a force in the tackling stakes. Billy Monk stepped up on the open side, Jake Ellis was moved to No.8, thereby displacing this seasons number 8 John Eustace (Captain today) back out to inside centre. The main change was at fly half with the rare appearance from Will Reeve back from Army duties to cover for the unavailable James Lunnun. Ross Dempsey came back from injury straight into outside centre while James Mead went to full back in the absence of the injured regular full back and leading points scorer Seyhan Fell. Each and every one put in a massive effort ably supported by substitutes Alex Box (2ndXV hooker and captain) along with Kieran Smith and debutante Jack Shorter.

However it took about fifteen minutes for this changed team to gel, in which time Maidstone’s Matt Moore had touched down wide out on the left, this was followed by Jack Johnson’s try again wide out but was converted by Euan Caborn. So yet again Folkestone were 0-12 down early on before Folkestone woke up and started to fight back. This came about after some concerted pressure in the Maidstone half with some bullocking runs by Jake Ellis, Jack Barton and Billy Monk these got Folkestone into the Maidstone 22 metre area and from a well contested scrum Chris Petley came away with the ball and offloaded to Will Reeve who sold an outrageous dummy to his opposite number which enabled him to score under the posts untouched. James Mead added the conversion. 7-12.
This score seemed to wake up the Folkestone side into realising that more scores could be made, this transpired into an assault into the opposition half with a series of rucks and mauls that eventually led to an infringement by a Maidstone forward which earned him a yellow card. Folkestone soon made use of their extra man with Will Reeve again being involved and sending right winger Josh Holt over for a converted try with James Mead adding the extra points. 14-12. Shortly afterwards some more inroad were made with Chris Petley, John Eustace and Ross Dempsey making ground and supplying the ball to Will Reeve who made a mesmerising sixty metre run to score wide out. No conversion. 19-12.
This was short lived as Maidstone went back up to fifteen players and managed to score just before half time to get within two points. 19-17. Alex Box came on for James Archer in the front row.
The Maidstone side must have had an “Eddie Jones style” talking to at half time because they came out and regained the lead quickly through a Rory Beech try. 19-22. There was now a long period of play fluctuating between the 22’s when first one and then the other side took the advantage but could not break through. There was good defensive and attacking play by Folkestone with Chris Petley, Will Reeve making ground with Shane Hills solid on the wing and centres Ross Dempsey and John Eustace putting in some good tackles, having said this all the pack were doing the same in the set pieces and line-outs as well as in open play. Bob Porter, Cameron Dallas and Kieran Smith (on for Joby Crystal) figured in some of the skirmishes but eventually the pressure told after Cameron Dallas was given a yellow card and the Maidstone scrum half eventually got on the score sheet after several five metre scrums. 19-27. Jack Shorter replaced Shane Hills on the wing.
As the Folkestone side tired in the last fifteen minutes Maidstone started throwing the ball about with a try and two more converted tries being scored in quick succession to take the final score to 19-41.
All in all a very entertaining game with Folkestone displaying their running skills and awesome defending until the final throes. They can be proud of their performance against a side two leagues above them. With everybody available on the same day this side could be formidable, however injuries, work and family commitments has so far stopped this from happening.

Team: 1. James Archer, 2. Steve Doughty, 3. Bob Porter; 4. Jack Barton, 5. Cameron Dallas; 6. Joby Crystal, 7. Billy Monk, 8. Jake Ellis; 9. Chris Petley, 10. Will Reeve; 11. Shane Hills, 12. John Eustace (Capt.), 13. Ross Dempsey, 14. Josh Holt, 15. James Mead.
Subs: 16. Alex Box, 17. Kieran Smith, 18. Jack Shorter.

Scorers: Will Reeve 5, 5; James Mead 2, 2;Josh Holt 5.