FRFC 0 Maidstone 80

EIGHTY NIL. It hurts, doesn’t it. This game was over well before the half time whistle when Maidstone scored their fourth try to secure a bonus point. Their 12th bonus point in 13 unbeaten matches. They are on their way to promotion and should secure it well before the end of the season. Contrary to the match reporter of the previous match between these two I don’t care how many players they pay. They are a fine team with many of their players coming through their own junior system. Their first try of twelve came after a lengthy period of pressure but one in which Folkestone defended well. So it was a shame for the home team that a lack of concentration gifted Maidstone the opening try from a penalty, quickly taken, 40 metres out which ended up with the visiting backs romping over the try line with ease. And here we saw one of Folkestones’ major problems. The home team tackling was woeful.
From the restart Folkestone were again under pressure inside their own 22 but a turnover saw the ball go to Jack Cox. He charged out of his own 22 up the right wing. He had one player to beat on his way to the try-line and he kicked a beauty over that defender. The ball bounced in play and the home support could see the try was there for the taking until the Maidstone defender, knowing he was beaten for pace, cynically body checked Cox to the ground. As a rugby lover I detest this sort of thing. Maidstone are a good enough team not to have to resort to this action. I only hope the player in question is embarrassed by his cynicism. But I doubt it. Unfortunately the ref didn’t see the assault so the player went unpunished as the home crowd called for the yellow card it deserved. Moments later and things got worse for the home team when Maidstone doubled the score with the referee missing a massive knock on during the attack. It’s no criticism of the referee at all. To officiate at this level you have to have eyes in the back of your head and with each team supplying a touch judge the referee can’t even get any assistance.
Maidstone’s fly half, Willie Brown, was taking charge of the game and he continued to impress for the rest of the game. For me it’s the sign of a really good player when he appears to have loads of time to do whatever he wanted and Mr Brown was soon spraying passes all over the place giving the visitors some terrific attacking options. Meanwhile Folkestone were beginning to sink without much trace. The home support saw a few seconds of good play from their favourites followed by interminable ages of atrocious play. I mentioned the tackling earlier but there was so much wrong in this Folkestone performance. Maidstone eased to a 33-0 half time lead as Folkestone became more and more shambolic. The home passing and pass selection was terrible. Too often the ball carrier “chucked” out what was meant to be a misspass when a simple pass to the next player was the obvious simple choice. Folkestone do not appear to realise that ball possession is very necessary to win a match. Throw away possession and you may as well lie down. Then there was the lack of support for the ball carrier. Folkestone ball carriers were taking the ball into contact when they were in isolated positions which led to the visitors coming away with the ball forcing the home team back into defence.
Things didn’t improve in any way in the second half. Maidstone always appeared to have an extra player and their support play and passing was excellent. This was demonstrated with their 7th and 8th tries giving Folkestone a lesson on recycling the ball accurately and quickly. Maidstone simply ripped the Folkestone defence open with not much bother. Trailing by 8 tries there was no way back for Folkestone. The traditional consolation try didn’t even look to be on the agenda as the home players simply stopped playing altogether allowing Maidstone to waltz through for 4 more tries. With several minutes left the home supporters were almost pleading with the ref to blow the final whistle.
I’ll say it again. EIGHTY NIL. Last season Folkestone lost just one home match, to runaway champions, Crowborough. The New Burlington was a fortress. This season it has become a torture chamber with the team losing 5 of their 7 home matches and drawing another. Something is badly wrong and urgent attention is needed. The quality of this division is lower than I can remember yet Folkestone are in 9th position 36 points behind Maidstone. Next week Folkestone travel to 2nd placed Sheppey. I hope the players read this report and resolve to stuff it down my throat with a much improved performance. I know the Folkestone players are not as bad as this performance. In the right mood they can beat anybody. I feel sorry for the coaching staff because there are no positives from this display. However the squad does have the players who can bounce back and regain their pride.
Get yourselves up to Sheppey and roar them on. Support your club.

Squad:
W Massey, T Carvill, P Smith, B Flatman, T Wood, A Fullerton, M Gardner, J Johnson, L Howland, S Evans, E Jones, J Morton, R Dagger, B Pearson, S Fell, M Murray, J Cox, K Johnson

To view Ken Matchams' photos, CLICK HERE