Sat 21 Dec 2024
Maldon travelled to Braintree on a cold day, with a strong breeze and rain predicted. Having beaten Braintree earlier in the season, Maldon knew they would be facing a tough game, as Braintree would be out for revenge, and keen to move above Maldon in the table. The squad were warming up when disaster struck! Jim Roblin, who has been in terrific form of late, injured his ankle and was out of the game. Maldon re-organised, Chris Mooney stepping into the starting line-up and Jack Judd who was anticipating a day of spectating ended up on the sidelines with his kit on.
Maldon started well with plenty of posession, Braintree gave away penalties, but Maldon did not capitalise on these and this allowed Braintree easy territory. Maldon defended well in their half, preventing Braintree from getting over the gain line. The difference between the two teams at this point, with the score at 0-0, was that Braintree kept the ball in attack and kicked well when not getting through, whereas Maldon’s attempts at attack ended too often in dropped balls or offloads when it wasn’t on.
Braintree gradually gained the upper hand, Maldon uncharacteristically slipped off some tackles and this allowed Braintree to score. Another try followed shortly after the kick off, before Maldon knew it they were 12-0 down.
In this time Braintree were giving away a lot of penalties, the referee sanctioned an offence with a yellow card. Unlike previous games this season, Maldon did not take advantage of being a player up despite terrific carries from Ollie Lyons, Jamier Farrup and George Alden-Smith. Braintree were simply playing better rugby, and before half time, they managed to get another converted try, 19-0 at the close of the half.
The second half started well for Maldon, they found themselves in a great position, but an intercepted pass led to another Braintree try, 26-0. Maldon finally started playing better rugby, attacking the blind side well and breaking more tackles. A good finish by Chadwick, getting through a gap and reaching for the try line opened up Maldon’s scoring, 26-5. With about 30 minutes left on the clock, Maldon were determined to get back into the game. But, the theme of the day continued, this being things not quite clicking for Maldon, when a ball was dropped over the try line. However, minutes later this error was rectified as Sam Langston crossed over the line in the corner, 26-10. Despite Maldon now coming into the game, any thoughts of a comeback were soon squashed with another Braintree converted try, 33-10.
Towards the end of the game, Braintree crossed over again following on from a kick that pinned Maldon back near their own try line, 40-10 which was the final score.
Despite being beaten by the better team on the day, Maldon can hold their heads up high, despite never having a foothold in the game the players stuck at, tackled well and tried to create space in attack, it simply just didn’t click on the day, whereas it did for their opposition.
Maldon return to action in the new year on Jan 4th, where they host Campion who are just below them in the table. Maldon will be looking to show a much improved performance from their last encounter with this side back in October.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Olly Lyons, outstanding aggression and intent in his carrying and tackling for 80mins.
