Sat 7 Sep 2024
Maldon welcomed Upminster to Drapers Farm for the first league game of the season. Last season Upminster did the double on Maldon, who were keen to make a positive start to their league campaign.
Maldon started well, keeping possession & gaining territory, but Upminster tackled well & cleared the ball when they needed to. This resulted in a kickable penalty for Upminster, which they missed, letting Maldon off the hook. Turnover ball resulted in opportunities for Maldon to move the ball wide a couple of times, but Maldon couldn’t quite capitalise on these chances. However, after 10 minutes, some good hands from backs and forwards resulted in Dan Allen crossing the line.
The game then played out for 10 minutes or so around the middle of the pitch, with both teams playing positively but then ultimately losing possession. Maldon had a line out just inside the Upminster 22m line, the ball fell to Olly Lyons, who scattered bodies & burst through tackles to score a great individual try, converted by Joshua Chadwick, 12-0.
Upminster came back strongly & gained territory, as Maldon gave away silly penalties. One attack was repelled by a turnover & another by holding the ball up over the line. A line-out near the try line was scrappy, following this, tempers flared & both teams displayed too much aggression. The outcome, a yellow card for Upminster & for Olly Lyons too.
Upminster maintained their pressure & scored, 12-7. More pressure saw scrum-half Olly Anthony receive a yellow card, closely followed by another Upminster try, 12-14 at half-time.
The half-time message was clear - stop the silly penalties & capitalise on the good things. Maldon started the half really well. Great hands created space for players to run at Upminster, with forwards & backs combining with flair. Lewis Nichols marked his debut with a quick pick and go try, 17-14. Straight from the kick-off Maldon made an error which allowed Upminster the possession needed to score almost immediately, 17-21.
Then it was Maldon’s turn. Scrum half Olly Anthony drew in the Upminster defence and passed to Joshua Chadwick in a gap, he was half stopped but managed to crawl over the line, then converted his own try, 24-21. Another kick-off, another error & Upminster kicked a penalty, 24-24. Next was Maldon’s turn again, but what a score! Superb inter-play by the back row of the Farrups & Kieran Reeve, tearing through the defence, made space for George Alden-Smith to finish off, under the posts, converted, 31-24.
Easy to guess what happened next. Kick-off, error & try to Upminster, 31-29. Both teams were tiring, on a warm day with a hard surface, but Maldon seemed the fitter team overall. Maldon showed this fitness by moving the ball wide, Jack Judd was able to find George Alden-Smith in space, near the half-way line. George showed a clean pair of heels to the covering defence, then ran over the remaining defender like a steam train to cross for his 2nd try, 36-29. Maldon then produced their final score, with Chadwick getting his arms free in a tackle and popping the ball to Lewis Nichols, running a great support line, scoring under the posts, converted, 43-29. Upminster scored one more try out wide with the final play of the game, 43-34.
This was a very good performance against a good Upminster team. There is still much to work on, but Maldon can be very pleased with this victory, as there were some excellent performances. Next week is Romford away, which will be another good test of Maldon’s capabilities.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Lewis Nichols, for 2 tries on his league debut, making a big impression in both attack and defence.
