Old Dunstonian 45 Maidstone 5

Having turned around 20 points to 5 to the good, the old boys soaked up probably 35 minutes of driving mauls and forward charges launched up the inside channels before finally breaking free to score 4 tries in the last 5 minutes, nailing down both the win and their third bonus point in 3 weeks.

With a side missing key forwards Wild, McNamara and Burnham, as well as Jeremy Scott in the centre this looked a tough assignment, even bearing in mind Maidstone’s alarming dip in recent form. To score six tries was gratifying, but to withstand – and to nil – Maidstones efforts in the second half will have been equally satisfying.

The first half scoring comprised two well struck Josh Smith penalties followed by a try from prop Lee Smith and a further score from Paul Shepherd, who, following an uncertain start to his Dunstonian career has become an indispensible part of the D’s backline, showing his utility here by appearing at centre. Maidstone replied with an unconverted score of their own before the old boys turned round to to kick down the slope with hopes high of a comfortable victory.

For the next half an hour it was anything but comfortable as Maidstone examined the old boys tackling credentials which were not found wanting. The fact Maidstone kept it incredibly narrow meant that if the old boys defence was organised, committed and didn’t make any silly errors the visitors big men would be repelled. Full marks earned on all three counts. With time almost expired Josh Smith added his second score before the old man became the creator, taking and offloading three successive drop outs for three quick fire scores leaving a tiring Maidstone utterly bemused. Their rather incredulous report can be found here ;
http://www.maidstonerugby.org.uk/senior_match_reports/1st%20XV%202010-11/DunstoniansvsMaidstone.html

Next week sees the old boys travel to Sanderstead knowing a win over Old MidWhitgiftians could see them scramble out of the depths to the relative safety of mid table.