Sat 22 Mar 2025
Maldon made the long journey to play Chingford, with some regular names missing, but the chance to cement a minimum 4th place finish.
Making their starting debuts were Dylan Bunting, Matt Jarman & Teddy Summers, returning after a long time out of the first team was Dan Smith, Sam Moon & veteran Rob Grainger stepped up to help out the front row again. The ground was more than firm following the recent good weather & Maldon felt their form from the last three games could lead them to another victory.
Maldon wanted to play a fast, open game & they did so immediately. Slick handling & close support led to a clever kick through for Matt Jarman, making his first start for the 1s, to collect the ball, beat his man & score the opening try, 0-5.
Maldon attacked again & a great break by Jim Roblin took the team close to the opposition line, only for Jim to get into an altercation with a Chingford defender & 2 yellow cards was the outcome. However, this did not deter Maldon & more good handling across the back line put Dan Smith in at the corner, 0-10.
The scrum saw Chingford being dominant & Maldon did want to limit the number of scrums, but the opposite seemed to be happening. Chingford were awarded a number of penalties at the scrum and the end result was a yellow card for Callum Melville, Maldon were down to 13 players (for the third time in three games). Chingford played a tight game with strong forward carries, which Maldon did not defend as well as they should have done. Chingford crossed the line for a converted try, 7-10.
Maldon came back strongly, kicking well & gaining territory with every carry. Brad White saw a gap & broke through to score a try, converted by Joshua Chadwick, 7-17. The rest of the half saw Maldon trying to play an expansive game & Chingford trying to play a tight game. The rest of the first half belonged to Chingford as they scored a converted try & a penalty to make the score 17-17 at half-time.
Maldon were disappointed with the score, as they had had a number of chances, but not taken them & they had not defended well at times, missing tackles that led to tries.
The second half kicked off & Chingford scored within a minute to take the lead, 24-17, potentially a disaster for Maldon. But, Maldon responded magnificently, not allowing Chingford into the game for the next 25 minutes, scoring 38 unanswered points (6 tries & 4 conversions) in that period of the game. Dan Allen showed great footwork to score his try, Ollie Lyon ran through attempted tackles, and Lewis Nicholls crossed twice, one of his tries covered almost half the pitch where he evaded multiple Chingford defenders. Then, a contender for strangest try of the season… just over five metres out with barely a defender in sight, Ollie Lyon decided to chip the ball a couple of metres forwards, landing in a very greatful and possibly confused Teddy Summers hands who crossed the line for his first 1st team try. Shortly after Brad White crossed the line for his second by showing good footwork. There were probably 2 or 3 additional opportunities to score which were not taken. Maldon were helped by 2 yellow cards to Chingford for persistent high tackles.
Near the end of the game Dan Allen received a yellow card for obstruction & this was followed by a try to Chingford, who were pleased to have a bonus point. The game finished with Brad White completing his hat-trick by taking a quick tap penalty & Chadwick kicking his 6th conversion.
Overall a big win, disappointing to gift the opposition four tries through poor tackling, but a great performance that saw Maldon score 10 tries.
This result means that Maldon will finish no lower than 4th in the division.
Next game is on Saturday 05.04, the final game of the season, away, against Upminster.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Brad White, a hat-trick for the fly-half, and excellent defence as always.
