Sat 5 Apr 2025
Maldon travelled to Upminster on a glorious day, the sun was shining & Hawaiian shirts were on display to celebrate the last league game of the season, with a bus booked & enough drink to last until next season on board.
A couple of changes to the line-up, but, still a team that was capable of challenging any team in the league such is the strength in depth of the squad.
A VP’s dinner & not a cloud in sight brought out a big crowd, expecting a feast of rugby on firm ground. The only negative was a very strong wind.
Upminster started up the hill & against the wind. Because of these factors, keeping the ball in hand was the correct tactic. Maldon tackled fearsomely from the start, against some very large forwards. But, Maldon were penalised at the scrum, being dominated by the physically larger Upminster pack, & Upminster took advantage of this to score a try in the corner, 5-0.
Maldon responded almost immediately, with strong carries & great support play. Good handling allowed centre Lewis Nichols to break through a number of attempted tackles to score, converted by Joshua Chadwick, 5-7 .
Upminster realised that the scrum was going to produce penalties, so used this to their advantage. Continuing with the same tactics brought another penalty scrum, leading to the reward of a converted try, for Upminster to regain the lead, 12-7.
The rest of the half saw great defence from Maldon against the Upminster pack &, when having possession, Maldon tried to play a quick game. Maldon’s speed of play started to cause problems for the home team. Upminster started to concede penalties &, using the conditions well, Joshua Chadwick kicked a penalty to reduce the lead, 12-10. This was closely followed by another penalty, kicked again, for a slender lead, 12-13.
The referee’s patience ran out just before half-time, following another high tackle from Upminster. Their fly-half was given a yellow card, Chadwick kicked the resulting penalty & the half-time score was 12-16.
The half-time chat was that the second half would require more running & less kicking, but still lots of pace to beat the bigger team for pace.
The second half started poorly for Maldon, as Upminster scored fairly quickly, but missed the conversion, 17-16. Then, more trouble for Upminster, a second yellow card, for another high tackle. Maldon advanced down the pitch & were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Upminster fell asleep, as Joshua Chadwick tapped it quickly, passing wide to Dan Allen, who drew his man & fed winger Sam Langston, who steamrolled his opposite number to score a try, converted by Chadwick, 17-23.
The next 15 minutes belonged to Upminster, as they used the scrum to gain penalties & their big pack to attempt to cross the try line. The Upminster scrum half managed to cross the line twice, with one converted, to put Upminster in the lead, 29-23, despite the continued defensive heroics of the Maldon team.
Upminster indiscipline became evident again, & a third yellow card for high tackles made the home crowd target the referee and the Upminster squad were not shy in talking to the referee. Maldon now raised their game & realised that the game was still within their grasp. Another penalty close to the Upminster try line saw Joshua Chadwick take another quick tap. This time, however, he simply ran between three Upminster players, then converted his own try, 29-30.
Maldon were on top & Upminster were demoralised at this point. Maldon kept up the pressure & a simple pass to Lewis Nichols allowed him to crash through attempted tackles to cross the line for his second try of the day, with Chadwick converting his fourth kick, 29-37.
Upminster rallied as the game neared its conclusion. an alleged high tackle by Maldon & some theatrics following this encouraged the crowd to vent their feelings towards the referee again. But, being that close to the line, Upminster capitalised on their possession & scored again, an unconverted try, 34-37.
The kick-off was the final play of the game & Upminster caught the ball, but stepped onto the touch line. The referee blew up for the end of the game & Maldon rightly celebrated a well deserved victory.
The final league table saw Maldon finish third, only one point behind second & one point above fourth. This has been an excellent season for Maldon, with a large squad of players, all worthy of playing for the first team.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Joshua Chadwick, tallying up 22 points and leading the team to a superb victory.
