Maidstone Vets 7 Moles 10
On a truly glorious day for rugby, the Moles travelled down to Kent's county town for another battle with one of their oldest foes the Maidstone Vets.
Yet another strong Moles squad met at Rectory Field to watch the first half of the England v Italy international and with latter part of the second half enjoyed at Maidstone, the Moles were full of confidence as they gratefully relished having a changing room to themselves for once in the pavillion. Bouyed by the presecence of a Gillham minor (G) and Papworth minor in the ranks, the Deep Heat and Nurofen Plus was consumed amidst the usual changing room banter.
However, the level of optimism and humour dropped when the referee addressed the whole team before the game (the usual front row and their replacements, fly half and scrum half seemingly not a big enough audience for Sir) for about 10 minutes to provide a detailed account of his career as an official and to announce that, as he imagined that as the Moles would be playing as if it was our 'World Cup Final', he would be refereeing the match in the same way. Whilst every bemused Mole's internal monologue asked "Am I?", Sir proved to be true to his word for the remainder of the afternoon.
Early exchanges were largely even although the Vets used their weight advantage in the scrum to initially dominate proceedings there. Both sides enjoyed plenty of posession but both defences held up strong with the wily Vets, as always, cannilly managing to slow the ball down at the breakdown by ensuring that the tackler, and occasionally a supporting player too, came to rest on the Moles side in the subsequent ruck. The referee did not appear to be fazed by this and generally allowed the game to flow at these times; perhaps to create time for him demonstrate his knowledge of the more obscure laws of the game later on!
As the first half wore on, the Moles pack led by hooker 'El Tel', managed to contain the Vets in the scrum and the game became an even tighter contest. It was going to take an error to separate the sides and a turnover at the half way line saw the Vets quickly move the ball through a couple of phases and then through the hands of their backline to score the first try of the game which the scoring Vet touched down between the posts.
The Moles' mood behind the posts awaiting the conversion kick was defiant though. None of the players felt that the Moles deserved to be behind and subsequently heads didn't drop and the game returned to its closely contested rhythm. Half-Time 7-0.
Half-time yet again saw the usual wholesale changes that is 'the norm' in Moles rugby. However, replacing the entire front row from Elvis, El Tel and Brucey to Ralph Walpole, Neil Martin and Philthy saw no degradation in the in the scrum and the arrival of new wannabe Mole Karl Sells, lit up the right wing. Bar the odd game of 7s, Karl claims never to have played rugby before! It certainly didn't look like that although the football style shorts will have to go. Nonetheless the match reverted back to the evenly matched contest seen in the early part of the first half. The introduction of Terry 'Tank Boy' Papworth at 8 to link up with George Gilham at 7 in the back row saw the Moles frequently punching holes through the gain line in the second half only to be stopped time after time by the resiliant Vets defence. However, perserverance always pays off and a slower phased approach saw the Moles gain a position deep in the Maidstone half on 60 minutes. A leech ball between Terry Papworth and Oily gained the final 5 metres of pitch between the Moles and the try line and saw the Moles make their mark on the score card. 7-5.
A physical game on a un-seasonally warm day had sapped a lot of energy out of all 30 players on the pitch and while a mistake had decided the first half, it was becoming more and more apparent that the result in this match would go in the favour of the team that had that extra bit of stamina in the tank. For the first ten minutes of the second half it looked like this could only be the Vets as they, according to skipper Mick Terry, "looked as if they had more players on the park than the Moles". Shortly afterwards it transpired that they actually did when Mick realised that when he did not return to the field for the second half, he had neglected to send on a replacement! It could only happen in Moles rugby!
Inspired by the presence of Papworth and Gilham juniors, the Moles played some great rugby in terms of strong ball carrying and offloading in the tackle with Baa Baa, Karl Sells, 'Big Bri' and Gerry Keenan all making great progress with the ball. Other notable contributions included Velcro, prone to a bit of fly-kicking a loose ball with comedy effects that only an oval shaped ball can provide, 'toe poking' a ball that had spun out of a ruck some 4o metres up the field in the style of Wimbledon FC c.1988. Naturally, he was too knackered to chase after it!
Fired on by their try, the Moles retained the ball and patiently moved through the phases until with five minutes left on the clock they found themselves five metres from the try line and to the right of the posts. Quick, clean ball between 9, Nod and 10, Andy Dadson saw the ball move through hands of the backline to a maurauding 'Big Bri' who took himself, the ball and two defenders with him over the line.
The Vets attacked with fervour for the final 5 minutes but the Moles stood firm in defence to celebrate a 7-10 victory at the final whistle. As the scoreline suggests, and in spite of an array of refereeing decisions that baffled both sides, this was a tight and enthralling contest between two sides clearly passionate about their rugby. The Moles look forward to further duels with Maidstone Vets for many years to come.
Back at the club, after watching Ireland secure the 6 Nations title against France, there was business to attend to. Firstly, dirty pints for the 'tie less' Ralph Walpole and Terry Papworth (although dad Phil took this on his behalf when it emerged that he had nicked Terry's Moles tie) and on a day of many worthy individual performances, 'Mole of the Match' was awarded to the pint-sized but 'lotta bottle' hooker 'El Tel'.
As one would expect, the beer flowed on into the night; tourists were signed up, tour stash orders were taken, Karl enjoyed his first experience of Moles apres-rugby and discussion centred on how you could accurately measure a one quarter revolution of a rugby ball. Proof yet again that the Moles is something much more than just a rugby team!
Line up: Elvis, El Tel, Brucey, Garry Hodges, Big Bri, Ork, Oily, George Gilham, Nod, Andy Dadson, Shotgun, Mick Terry, Q, Baa Baa, Neil Martin, Velcro, Lloydy, Shotgun, Gerry Keenan, Jim Gilham, Ralph Walpole, Philthy, Terry Papworth, Karl Sells
On a truly glorious day for rugby, the Moles travelled down to Kent's county town for another battle with one of their oldest foes the Maidstone Vets.
Yet another strong Moles squad met at Rectory Field to watch the first half of the England v Italy international and with latter part of the second half enjoyed at Maidstone, the Moles were full of confidence as they gratefully relished having a changing room to themselves for once in the pavillion. Bouyed by the presecence of a Gillham minor (G) and Papworth minor in the ranks, the Deep Heat and Nurofen Plus was consumed amidst the usual changing room banter.
However, the level of optimism and humour dropped when the referee addressed the whole team before the game (the usual front row and their replacements, fly half and scrum half seemingly not a big enough audience for Sir) for about 10 minutes to provide a detailed account of his career as an official and to announce that, as he imagined that as the Moles would be playing as if it was our 'World Cup Final', he would be refereeing the match in the same way. Whilst every bemused Mole's internal monologue asked "Am I?", Sir proved to be true to his word for the remainder of the afternoon.
Early exchanges were largely even although the Vets used their weight advantage in the scrum to initially dominate proceedings there. Both sides enjoyed plenty of posession but both defences held up strong with the wily Vets, as always, cannilly managing to slow the ball down at the breakdown by ensuring that the tackler, and occasionally a supporting player too, came to rest on the Moles side in the subsequent ruck. The referee did not appear to be fazed by this and generally allowed the game to flow at these times; perhaps to create time for him demonstrate his knowledge of the more obscure laws of the game later on!
As the first half wore on, the Moles pack led by hooker 'El Tel', managed to contain the Vets in the scrum and the game became an even tighter contest. It was going to take an error to separate the sides and a turnover at the half way line saw the Vets quickly move the ball through a couple of phases and then through the hands of their backline to score the first try of the game which the scoring Vet touched down between the posts.
The Moles' mood behind the posts awaiting the conversion kick was defiant though. None of the players felt that the Moles deserved to be behind and subsequently heads didn't drop and the game returned to its closely contested rhythm. Half-Time 7-0.
Half-time yet again saw the usual wholesale changes that is 'the norm' in Moles rugby. However, replacing the entire front row from Elvis, El Tel and Brucey to Ralph Walpole, Neil Martin and Philthy saw no degradation in the in the scrum and the arrival of new wannabe Mole Karl Sells, lit up the right wing. Bar the odd game of 7s, Karl claims never to have played rugby before! It certainly didn't look like that although the football style shorts will have to go. Nonetheless the match reverted back to the evenly matched contest seen in the early part of the first half. The introduction of Terry 'Tank Boy' Papworth at 8 to link up with George Gilham at 7 in the back row saw the Moles frequently punching holes through the gain line in the second half only to be stopped time after time by the resiliant Vets defence. However, perserverance always pays off and a slower phased approach saw the Moles gain a position deep in the Maidstone half on 60 minutes. A leech ball between Terry Papworth and Oily gained the final 5 metres of pitch between the Moles and the try line and saw the Moles make their mark on the score card. 7-5.
A physical game on a un-seasonally warm day had sapped a lot of energy out of all 30 players on the pitch and while a mistake had decided the first half, it was becoming more and more apparent that the result in this match would go in the favour of the team that had that extra bit of stamina in the tank. For the first ten minutes of the second half it looked like this could only be the Vets as they, according to skipper Mick Terry, "looked as if they had more players on the park than the Moles". Shortly afterwards it transpired that they actually did when Mick realised that when he did not return to the field for the second half, he had neglected to send on a replacement! It could only happen in Moles rugby!
Inspired by the presence of Papworth and Gilham juniors, the Moles played some great rugby in terms of strong ball carrying and offloading in the tackle with Baa Baa, Karl Sells, 'Big Bri' and Gerry Keenan all making great progress with the ball. Other notable contributions included Velcro, prone to a bit of fly-kicking a loose ball with comedy effects that only an oval shaped ball can provide, 'toe poking' a ball that had spun out of a ruck some 4o metres up the field in the style of Wimbledon FC c.1988. Naturally, he was too knackered to chase after it!
Fired on by their try, the Moles retained the ball and patiently moved through the phases until with five minutes left on the clock they found themselves five metres from the try line and to the right of the posts. Quick, clean ball between 9, Nod and 10, Andy Dadson saw the ball move through hands of the backline to a maurauding 'Big Bri' who took himself, the ball and two defenders with him over the line.
The Vets attacked with fervour for the final 5 minutes but the Moles stood firm in defence to celebrate a 7-10 victory at the final whistle. As the scoreline suggests, and in spite of an array of refereeing decisions that baffled both sides, this was a tight and enthralling contest between two sides clearly passionate about their rugby. The Moles look forward to further duels with Maidstone Vets for many years to come.
Back at the club, after watching Ireland secure the 6 Nations title against France, there was business to attend to. Firstly, dirty pints for the 'tie less' Ralph Walpole and Terry Papworth (although dad Phil took this on his behalf when it emerged that he had nicked Terry's Moles tie) and on a day of many worthy individual performances, 'Mole of the Match' was awarded to the pint-sized but 'lotta bottle' hooker 'El Tel'.
As one would expect, the beer flowed on into the night; tourists were signed up, tour stash orders were taken, Karl enjoyed his first experience of Moles apres-rugby and discussion centred on how you could accurately measure a one quarter revolution of a rugby ball. Proof yet again that the Moles is something much more than just a rugby team!
Line up: Elvis, El Tel, Brucey, Garry Hodges, Big Bri, Ork, Oily, George Gilham, Nod, Andy Dadson, Shotgun, Mick Terry, Q, Baa Baa, Neil Martin, Velcro, Lloydy, Shotgun, Gerry Keenan, Jim Gilham, Ralph Walpole, Philthy, Terry Papworth, Karl Sells