Sevenoaks 43 vs. Maidenhead 0
After 20 minutes of Sevenoaks’ London and South East Premier fixture held at the Paddock on a cold wet day and a sticky pitch, territory, possession and the best scoring opportunities had belonged to the visitors. Maidenhead had missed a penalty kick and suffered a marginal forward pass decision by the referee with the try line beckoning for their winger. By the end of the game the uncharacteristically slow start by the home team had been forgotten, with total dominance in all areas of the game enabling them to run in 7 tries and keep their opponents scoreless and indeed largely out of Oaks territory for much of the second half. To score 43 points, many as a result of fast free-flowing rugby, on a pitch as difficult under foot as it was, is testament to the skill levels of this current Oaks team. Maidenhead battled manfully and with great commitment throughout but could not breach what is statistically the best defence in the league. Oaks moved up to 4th place in the league table as a result.
With Oaks building into the game, after 24 minutes their scrum dominance forced a penalty which they kicked to touch. Good phases of play resulted from the lineout, with Matt McRae running a good inside line to score his and the team’s first try of the day. Matt would go on to score a hat-trick of tries. The conversion made it 7 – 0. Six minutes later more pressure came off an Oaks set piece with Jonny Short breaking the Maidenhead defensive line to pass inside for Ben Adams to score under the posts, converted by him to make it 14- 0. The final period of the half saw several midfield exchanges with some good tactical kicking by Oaks pinning back the visitors making a score from them look unlikely. The teams retired to the dressing rooms for half time, Oaks leading 14 – 0 knowing if they played the game in their opponent’s territory for the next 40 minutes, they had the pace and precision to score more tries.
That proved to be the case with Maidenhead only threatening the Oaks line once in the whole of the second half, and Oaks playing attacking rugby from dominant field position, scoring 5 tries. Not helped by a yellow card for a high tackle after 43 minutes, the visitors conceded after 49 minutes when Patrick Pellegrini danced over from 5 metres following several good phases. 21-0. At 52 minutes, with Maidenhead’s scrum going backwards, pressure led to breaks by Shayden Osgood and then Matt McRae allowing Jonny Short to score in the corner, to make it 26-0. Scrum dominance continued with a pushover try scored by Sean Derrick in the 62nd minute, converted to make it 33-0. Then followed probably the best try of the day when Patrick Pellegrini caught his own chip kick, made good ground, passed to the juggling support player who moved the ball on to Matt McRae to score another try in the corner. 38-0 with a tricky conversion missed. In the 73rd minute Maidenhead threatened the Oaks line for the first time since the 10th minute of the game, but Oaks cleared their lines. There was still time for a catch and drive after a penalty awarded for more Maidenhead troubles at the scrum, with Matt McRae driving over to make the score 43-0.
The final whistle blew on a very efficient and satisfactory victory for the men from Kent. After the game Director of Rugby and Head coach Adam Bowman said “That was an important victory today in incredibly tricky conditions. We started very slowly, and whilst we went into the sheds at half time 14-0 up, we were disappointed with our performance levels as they were below the standards we expect of ourselves. Full credit to how the squad reacted in the second half, I thought we were excellent in most areas of the game, played some great rugby in the conditions and full deserved the 43-0 win“.
For their final game of the year, Oaks travel to Westcombe Park for a tough fixture against an improving local rival. It should be an exciting contest.
