Hard work counts for nothing
MAIDSTONE CHOBHAM
PW D L F A Ps Chinnor ......... 10 9 1 0 347 211 47 Cinderford..... 10 9 0 1 411 212 45 Taunton T ..... 10 9 0 1 417 201 44 R’dingensian . 10 7 0 3 342 239 38 Redruth ........ 10 7 0 3 295 197 35 Bury St Ed..... 10 7 0 3 284 241 35 Canterbury .... 10 7 0 3 294 222 34 Henley .......... 10 5 1 4 293 336 27 Tonbridge J .. 10 4 0 6 274 252 22 Barnstaple .... 10 4 0 6 231 293 22 Worthing ....... 10 3 0 7 241 358 20 London Irish .. 10 3 0 7 317 311 19 Clifton ........... 10 3 1 6 227 331 18 Broadstreet ... 10 1 0 9 203 382 8 O Redcliffian . 10 0 1 9 218 409 7 Wimbledon ... 10 0 0 10 165 364 3 Results: Bury St Edmunds 37 Clifton 19, Canterbury 50 Worthing 26, Taunton Titans 31 Henley 42, Broadstreet 7 Tonbridge Juddian 52, Old Redcliffians 33 Cinderford 43, Redruth 46 London Irish Wild Geese 38, Wimbledon 13 Redingensians 24, Barnstaple Chinnor 32. Fixtures: Redingensians v Redruth, Worthing v Broadstreet, Cinderford v Barnstaple, Clifton v Canterbury, Tonbridge Juddian v Old Redcliffians, Chinnor v Wimbledon, Henley v Bury St Edmunds, London Irish Wild Geese v Taunton Titans. Medway.......... 9 9 0 0 368 154 44 CS Rugby ........ 9 8 0 1 302 144 40 Chichester ...... 9 7 0 2 324 222 35 Havant ............ 9 6 0 3 282 224 31 London Corn ... 9 6 0 3 301 257 29 Sevenoaks ...... 9 4 1 4 203 224 21 Cobham .......... 9 3 2 4 212 266 21 Brighton.......... 9 3 1 5 221 211 21 Tottonians....... 9 3 2 4 228 297 20 Chobham ........ 9 3 0 6 187 267 18 Thurrock ......... 9 2 1 6 175 242 16 Gravesend ...... 9 3 0 6 169 238 14 Old Colfeians .. 9 1 1 7 147 262 9 Maidstone....... 9 1 0 8 190 301 8 Results: Brighton 12 Medway 31, Chichester 23 London Cornish 43, Havant 21 CS Rugby 30, Maidstone 17 Chobham 27, Old Colfeians 10 Thurrock 10, Sevenoaks 26 Gravesend 9, Tottonians 22 Cobham 22. Fixtures: Brighton v Chichester, Results: Friday: Saturday: Fixtures: Beccehamian .. 8 8 0 0 287 90 39 Vigo ................ 8 6 0 2 256 169 29 Kings Hosp ..... 8 5 0 3 210 187 27 Cranbrook ....... 8 5 0 3 221 112 26 G’ham Anch .... 8 5 0 3 275 176 25 Ashford ........... 8 4 0 4 196 187 19 RBS ................ 8 4 0 4 143 208 18 Old G’send ...... 8 3 0 5 159 189 16 New Ash Grn... 8 3 0 5 123 220 16 Sittingbourne .. 8 2 0 6 158 270 13 Southwark ...... 8 2 0 6 115 211 11 HSBC .............. 8 1 0 7 138 262 7 Results: Ashford 34 Gillingham Anchorians 17, Beccehamian 39 Sittingbourne 3, Cranbrook 22 New Ash Green 13, HSBC 11 Vigo 54, King’s College Hospital 45 Old Gravesendians 12, Royal Bank of Scotland 13 Southwark Lancers 7. Fixtures: Gillingham Anchorians v HSBC, New Ash Green v Beccehamian, Old Gravesendians v Ashford, Sittingbourne v King’s College Hospital, Southwark Lancers v Cranbrook, Vigo v Royal Bank of Scotland. Maidstone’s confidence took another dent with a home defeat to Chobham in London 1 South on Saturday.
Maidstone again disappointed with their first-half performance, produced a rousing second half but, finally, conceded a late try and the match.
It could have been different. Their secondhalf revival saw a 16-point deficit cut to two and should have been the platform to finish the job.
But in a stroke of misfortune for the hosts, injuries to the Chobham front row meant uncontested scrums for the last quarter of the game.
This removed Maidstone’s one area of superiority and allowed the visitors back into the match.
Injuries have played havoc with Maidstone’s selection this season but it was the unavailability of George Perry, Garry Beck and Josh Pankhurst that required a recall for Euan Caborn at fly-half and Max Guero in the front row, with debutant Ryan Murphy slotting in at hooker.
Seth Waterworth came in at No.8 after some inspiring performances for the Mustangs and showed, with some powerful runs, that he is a useful addition to the squad.
An early scrum delivered the visitors good ball and with a misplaced pass in midfield, Chobham released their right-wing to the corner. A pass back inside was enough to defeat the cover and full-back Turner scored.
A 30-metre penalty by Caborn reduced the deficit to two points but a break by prop Abdoullahi put Chobham on the front foot again and centre Williams finished off the move. With Turner converting from the touchline, Chobham led 12-3.
Their advantage was increased within five minutes after a mistake by Maidstone at a lineout in the Chobham 22. The ball was spread wide, allowing Devitt to score in the corner and Turner kicked another conversion.
Two narrowly-missed penalties by Caborn around the half-hour would have reflected the pack’s dominance, had both not drifted just wide, but Maidstone started the second half with intent.
While an early opportunity to pressurise the visitors came to nothing, they made amends shortly after when Matt Moore touched down out wide.
With Caborn adding the conversion, the deficit was reduced to nine points with barely 10 minutes gone.
A succession of five-metre scrums to Maidstone led to a penalty try, bringing them to within a whisker of the visitors’ score, with their tails up and the Chobham front row struggling.
But Chobham found their own second wind and, rather than Maidstone maintaining their dominance, the visitors started to come back into the game.
A forward pass at the last denied them a score and with a third injury to a front-row player, the game moved to uncontested scrums.
Chobham had to play with a man short as a penalty for depowering the scrum but Maidstone failed to take advantage.
With the game three minutes into added time, a high tackle gave Chobham the chance to stretch their lead, which Turner took from the resultant penalty.
From the restart, Maidstone failed to play safe and allowed left-wing Devitt to break through to set up Turner to score in the right corner, gifting Chobham their four-try bonus and losing a bonus point at the same time. Maidstone: Kieron Gibbons, Ryan Murphy, Max Guero, Rob Field, Ben Massey, Ben Knight, Lewis Stimpson, Seth Waterworth, Lucian Morosan, Euan Caborn, Matt Moore, Matt Iles, Rory Beech, Alex Clark, Jack Leech. Replacements: Tom Mount, Jack Lamb, Vaki Antoniou.