Maidstone 35 - Sidcup 55

Sidcup's U13's were eager for their first match of the season against a Maidstone side they played twice on tour at the end of last season. Both matches resulted in 1 - 1 draws so today's matches were going to be a good measure of progress. You could sense the team wanted to do their Club proud during the pre-match warm up - everyone there on time (early actually!!), all listening to their coaches intently, going through their drills diligently and giving each other encouragement to boost morale.

The many supporters watched intently as the U13s really gave it their all during four quarters of high energy, exciting play...........

The first match opened with a great tackle from Jack, who went on to score 2 tries down the right wing in the first quarter, showing the pace and fearsomeness that has earned him a well deserved place in the Kent Squad. Omhang making his Sidcup debut gave a strong performance at No.8 and Aaron was a revelation as full-back, diligently fielding any kicks from Maidstone and running them back strongly in attack. Jamie showed his strengrh and pace by gathering one kick and sprinted half the length of the pitch for a try. This was followed by some disciplined passing starting from Tom at scrum half with Isaac at fly-half picking his passes well through the Centres to Teddy and Harry L who was popping up everywhere (he was hooker) then back to Teddy to score a convincing try. George B was involved in many of the rucks, clearing opponents from the melee and Sasha established himself by driving into Maidstone on several occasions. Mathew was like a magnet for the Maidstone players, who clearly identified him as a potential threat, he had to shrug off tackle after tackle as he sought space for a number of great runs and precision passing. Thus, the first quarter ended with Sidcup ahead by 4 tries to Maistone's 1 try.
(1 - 4)

Maidstone were out to even the score in the Second Quarter and brought on some of their largest forwards. Sidcup U13s responded well to the challenge. Daniel came on at Hooker and quickly established himself putting in tackle after tackle to slow Maidstone down. Fin and Aiden both playing out of position in the second row gave good accounts of themselveswith Aiden shrugging off a high tackle and charging back into play. Back and forth the play went, with some notable runs from George P at fly-half after a fabulous catch and big tackles from Ollie. Great tackles were also made by Harry W out on the wing wing and Jake B was very busy at scrum-half who bossed the forwards well and quickly recycled the ball at every opportunity. Alex was busy in attack making several good breaks and Louis who made his Sidcup debut gave a good account of himself by making some great tackles, one of them saving a try out on the wing. So the second quarter ended, with a further three tries to Sidcup and four to Maidstone. Sam I'A scored a super try when he came across from the other wing to finish off a great passage of play where he caught a near-dropped pass from Harry on the left wing to hit, spin and side-step his way over the plus two more strong bulldozing tries from Jamie.
(4 -3)

After several substitutions, the Sidcup U13s were now out to win the third quarter and didn't disappoint their supporters. From a free pass on the ten metre line on the right side of the Omhang smashed his way through three defenders and showed great pace to score his first try for Sidcup. Tom at scrum-half kept up the pressure to score a great try, allowing Sidcup to win the third quarter 2 tries to zero. Notable for great tackling was Charlie and Sam I'A with a try saving tackle out on the wing.
(0 - 2)

So, we came to the final quarter. Aiden came on as scrum half and gave a good account of himself. In spite of a shoulder and hand injury, Omhang fearlessly tackled Maidstone at every opportunity at one point taking on four of their players simultaneously in a super ruck and he went on to run half the pitch to score a further try. Inspired to even great efforts, Teddy (playing 2nd row instead of wing) then ran two thirds of the pitch to score another try and then perform a try-saving tackle in quick succession. Finally the referee blew his whistle and the quarter ended with a further 2 tries to each team.
(2 - 2)

The boys then showed great Sportsmanship by cheering their hosts and adjourning to the clubhouse for a well deserved Rugby tea. At the Clubhouse, Jamie was voted.by the Maidstone Coaches as Sidcup MoM and cheered on by his team to display his amazing capacity for juice drinking & Mars bar-eating to seal the convincing win over Maidstone's best.

Many thanks to Maidstone for being such super Hosts! We look forward to a return fixture at Crescent Farm in the New Year.

Final scores 7 - 11 or 35 - 55.

By Dean Barham