Sat 14 Sep 2024
Maldon travelled to Romford for their second league fixture, following last week’s victory. Some changes to the teams’ line up due to injury & availability, saw Brad White at fly-half, Ben Marshall at flanker & Josh Gemmell on the bench for his first team debut.
Maldon were confident in the warm-up, but were not so confident after 10 minutes, as Romford had all the possession &, through simple poor defensive alignment, went under the posts for a 7-0 lead.
Maldon restarted well, regaining possession & carrying the ball with power, making good ground. Maldon made use of the blindside well & got over the gainline regularly. Good interplay resulted in Sam Langston crossing the line, 7-5.
Maldon continued to play positively, supporting each other & looking for gaps to gain territory. Good handling saw the ball moved wide to full-back Dan Allen who showed terrific footwork to score, converted by Chadwick, 7-12.
However, like last week, Maldon then switched off, moves weren’t quite clicking, and a ball that went to ground was picked up by Romford who gained possession & scored again, 14-12.
Maldon’s turn this time, strong running from the forwards, breaking tackles & scattering bodies, got them behind the defensive line &, using the blindside again, the ball was offloaded brilliantly by Sam Langston to Jack Judd to score in the corner, 14-17.
Despite another poor kick-off, Maldon managed to avoid donating another score to Romford & pushed forward with much determination. Kieran Reeve at the forefront of this, always evading the first tackle and making great yards in contact. Romford were tiring & Maldon were able to break tackles again, with all forwards making ground. The ball came to George Perkins, a few metres out & he showed brute strength & power to force his way over the line for a superb individual try, converted by Chadwick, 14-24 at half-time.
The second half saw Romford control possession & territory, completely dominating the game. Maldon could not break the hold that Romford had. However, Maldon did display excellent defence for a long period of time & restricted Romford to one kicked penalty, which was due to players’ determination to keep Romford out.
Maldon managed to, finally, break out of their half & get into the Romford half. A turnover resulted in quick thinking by Maldon, good hands moved the ball wide to winger Sam Langston, who made a great finish in the corner to increase the lead, 17-29.
Maldon were now in a good position with a 12 point margin, but this was quickly reduced when Romford intercepted a pass & scored under the posts, 24-29.
The game was nearing conclusion, Maldon raised their game & a number of players made great forward momentum. With Romford struggling to contain Maldon, hooker George Alden-Smith ran over the defence to score the decisive try, converted by Chadwick, 24-36.
Debutant Josh Gemmell was very unlucky not to have a try given after crossing in the corner, but he made a very positive start to his first team career.
This result sees Maldon second in the table, with 2 tough games to come in the next fortnight, Braintree (3rd place), then Campion (1st place).
MAN OF THE MATCH
Jack Judd - Great handling and a brilliant break down the middle of the park.
