Sat 10 Dec 2022
The journey to Clacton involved regular checking of WhatsApp to see if the game was going ahead, due to the extreme weather conditions which caused most rugby in Essex to be cancelled. But, thankfully, the game was on, despite the bitter cold, & Maldon were looking to extend their unbeaten run this season. A couple of changes due to unavailability did not diminish the team’s potential, a sign that there is a large squad of players who are able to perform at 1st team level.
Clacton kicked off & Maldon dropped the ball! Clacton then had some possession but went nowhere due to strong defence by Maldon. Scrum time & the usual dominance was there for all to see. Clacton, usually a match for Maldon in the scrum, were going backwards & losing ball against the head. Maldon put together a few phases of possession & made good ground. Great handling saw the ball passed down the line & straight into touch! After more pressure, a quick ruck finally gave space down the blind side for George Alden-Smith to power over, 0-5. Clacton kicked off & Maldon missed the ball, closely followed by a couple of poor errors, allowing Clacton to get close to the try line. Good defence & clearing the ball saved the day. Maldon then, again, played positively, giving George Alden-Smith space around a ruck to get to the line. A shove from Jim Roblin got George over the line, for his second try, 0-10. Next, even better handling created loads of room for winger Sam Moon to cross the line, run behind the post, then get tackled by a covering defender as he went to put the ball down!!
Not letting anyone else play for a minute, skipper Joshua Chadwick, hoisted an up-and-under from a penalty, got to the defender first, to get another penalty by winning a turnover, quickly took this himself, running past half of Clacton to score in the corner, 0-15.
A yellow card for Clacton, for a no arms tackle gave more space for Maldon, resulting in centre Ollie Lyons scoring his first try for Maldon 1s, converted by Joshua Chadwick.
0 -22 to Maldon at half time.
The second half was very disjointed, due to a large number of injuries & some poor play by both teams. Maldon started well, gaining territory, which allowed Ollie Lyons to get his second try by supporting and being on the receiving end of an offload from Chadwick, converted again, 0-29. This was closely followed by the Clacton player, who had been sin-binned earlier, getting a red card for abusive language.
Will the flood gates open?
No, the opposite happened & Maldon made 3 errors on the bounce, gifting Clacton an easy try & conversion under the posts, 7-29.
But, Maldon responded well & Ollie Lyons made a break, looking for his hat-trick, but the phantom sniper struck him down after all the hard work was done.
Then, there was a period of time in which both Jim Roblin & Jack Judd were both injured, jeopardising chances of playing again in the short term. Clacton also had a couple of injuries, all of which took time to sort out.
The game finished off with Clacton trying to clear their lines, pressure from winger turned back row Sam Langston meant the Clacton 9 kicked the ball straight into the arms of Ben Marshall, who only had to touch the ball down, converted by Alex Davies, 7-36.
The referee blew up early as the temperature was dropping & the light was fading, not helping the pitch conditions.
Next week sees local rivals Writtle visit Drapers Farm, for the final game of 2022, when Christmas jumpers will have their annual outing.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Chris Roper - Consistently dominant scrummaging to get Maldon front foot ball.
