Sat 17 Jan 2026
Maldon travelled to Upminster, who they beat earlier in the season, hoping to get their season back on track following a series of disappointing performances. But, suspension, injury, a late drop out & unavailability meant that Maldon were much changed.
Maldon started off down the slope & were immediately on the front foot. Strong carries & good handling produced territory & Upminster were under pressure. Scrums & penalties were given & Maldon continued to pressurise the opposition. Pretty soon prop George Perkins powered his way over the line for the opening score. Captain Lewis Nichols had stepped up to take the conversions, as all other possibilities were not playing. His conversion attempt from the touch line was valiant, but unsuccessful, 0-5.
Maldon continued in the same manner straight from the kick-off, with Ben Marshall & Jim Roblin carrying well. More territory saw Maldon inside the Upminster 22m line again & by moving the ball from one wing & back again, Josh Gemmell crossed in the corner, giving the kicker not much chance, 0-10.
Would the Maldon bubble burst? Would Upminster raise their game? Well, Maldon just carried on playing with intent. Ryan Martin showed power in the scrum & determination in the loose, epitomising the spirit in which Maldon played. With much of the same game plan, the space was created for captain Lewis Nichols to cross for the 3rd try of the day, in front of the posts, making the conversion easy for himself. But, this simple conversion, which anyone present could have kicked, proved too much for Lewis, as nerves got the better of him & he didn’t get enough height & it flew under the bar, 0-15.
Within a few minutes, Kieran Reeve intercepted a loose pass from Upminster & ran in under the posts for the bonus point try. This time Lewis slotted the conversion as if he was a prime Dan Carter, to the delight of the crowd, 0-22.
The half finished at this score, the only low point being a yellow card for George Perkins (to complete the set from a previous time against Upminster ) for a no arms tackle.
With the slope in the 2nd half, Upminster must have been confident that they would start to trouble Maldon. But, Maldon started even stronger than in the first half. Superb running, handling & support play ripped Upminster apart & the ball ended up in the hands of winger Teddie Summers when he was inches from the line, only needing to place the ball over the line. But, in the spirit that Maldon were playing, Teddie produced a Chris Ashton-like dive to secure the try, 0-27. Next, it was the turn of the other winger, Sam Johnson, who was having an excellent game, to cross in the other corner, 0-32, following more all-round team play.
At this point Upminster showed some improvements & started to compete more, led by their strong ball-carrying second row, who made lots of ground. In a short space of time Upminster managed to cross the line twice, to take the score to 12-32. After the second try, at the restart, Chris Mooney (who’d only been on the pitch a few minutes) tackled an opponent in the air & received a yellow card. Upminster took advantage of this by scoring again, 19-32, getting closer to Maldon’s score.
However, Maldon surged forward once more, & with the defence tiring, Kieran Reeve scored his second try of the game, 19-37. The final act of the game was a penalty, which Fly Half maestro Jack Judd stepped up to kick, showing his skipper how it was done, a powerful toe punt straight thru the middle of the posts for a final score of 19-40.
Man of the match - Jack 'Fly Half Maestro' Judd (no further explanation needed)
Due to free weekends & 2 teams withdrawing from the league, Maldon do not have a league fixture for 5 weeks, but do have a cup game in a fortnight.
