Sat 7 Jan 2023
Maldon travelled to Old Brentwoods for their first game of the new year, not having played for a few weeks. Old Brentwoods had won a few games recently & this was not going to be a straightforward victory for top of the table Maldon.
A strong breeze down the pitch saw Maldon playing with the elements in the first half. Old Brentwoods kicked off & Maldon immediately dropped the ball, then made another few errors & Old Brentwoods were camped inside the Maldon 22, threatening the line. But, Maldon displayed great resolve & kept Old Brentwoods out with strong tackling by all players. For almost 10 minutes Old Brentwoods were hammering on the try line, but, eventually Maldon cleared the ball. Brewdog Bignail, did really well at line outs, taking clean ball & intercepting Old Brentwoods ball. Maldon slowly moved down the pitch, but too frequently they dropped the ball, passed forward, made the wrong pass, gave a penalty away or got turned over. There was also some excellent play, Jamie Farrup & George Alden-Smith interplaying well, Dimitri Sofocles blasting through tackles & the scrum demolishing the opposition pack every time.
At this point the game went Maldon’s way. After some good play between backs & forwards Brewdog Bignail crossed the line, converted by Dan Allen, 0-7. It didn’t take too long before good passing in the backs saw Zak Knight extend the score to 0-12 Then, the forwards took to the stage & some continual pressure resulted in another try for Brewdog Bignail, 0-17.
Old Brentwoods held out until half time, but Maldon were completely on top.
The second half started & before too long it settled into a dull period of time in which neither team did anything other than occupy space in the middle of the pitch. A yellow card was given to Old Brentwoods for a high tackle, but Maldon took a while to exert dominance. But, still it was hard to score playing against the elements.
Eventually, Sam Johnson showed some fantastic footwork to finish off some good handling & passing, converted again by Dan Allen 0-24. The game was won, but there was still a while to go & Maldon were determined to prevent Old Brentwoods from scoring anything.
Maldon then got on the wrong side of a number of penalties & a yellow card was the result, Sam Langston being the player singled out.
The game finished off with Zak Knight finishing off a simple move that showed Maldon’s superiority & that simple rugby produces scores. Dan Allen kicked his third conversion to make the foal score 0-31.
This was a good win on a blustery day, in which Maldon did not play at their best but still secured a bonus point win & did not concede a single point, so they should be satisfied with this result. Final game of the first half of the season is next week against Writtle, before the division splits & Maldon play in the top 5 section of the league, hoping to continue their unbeaten run & finish the season with a 100% record.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Brewdog Bignail
Great work in the line out & around the pitch.
