Maidstone were put to the sword by visitors, Cobham, on Saturday, suffering a 12 – 55 loss in an afternoon when all that could go wrong, did.

A number of Injuries affected selection; the pack underperformed for the first time this year; the three-quarter line came up against a much sharper unit. In summary, Maidstone were outperformed.

The game at Cobham, earlier in the season, was an indicator of what to expect. Maidstone failed to score on that occasion and ended up losing by a 26 point margin. The disappointment with that game was the failure to take advantage of the opportunities to score. This time, it was Maidstone’s mistakes that gave the visitors scoring opportunities, which they took with alacrity.

With Craig Webb and Euan Caborn unavailable, the back line had a much changed look about it. Ross Cooke moved to the inside centre role with Shaun Woolford taking up the outside centre position. Alex Clarke, on his return, slotted into the full back role.

In the forwards, Gary Beck, came in as hooker, replacing the injured Josh Pankhurst, with Ben Knight taking up the openside flanker position and Tom Chandler on the blindside. New recruit, Jack Johnson, was on the bench for his league debut after a positive showing in the cup game, last week.

Maidstone started the game well and spent the first five minutes camped in the Cobham 22, following a penalty to give them field position. But despite multiple attempts at the line, the Cobham defence held and the visitors began to find their feet.

Cobham fly half, Jones-Davies, instigated the first try for the visitors just past the ten minute mark. His deft chip was caught by right wing, Aves, who outpaced the cover to score in the corner. The conversion was made to look easy by Jones-Davies, to give the visitors a seven point margin.

A second try followed soon after, following a penalty, which Cobham set up for a catch and drive, which breached the Maidstone defence at the second time of asking. With Jones-Davies adding the conversion, this time from the left touchline, the points margin doubled.

It was to increase further at the end of the first quarter, when prop, Brown showed a clean pair of heals to Maidstone’s defence, to score from the half way. This followed a poor Maidstone line-out in the Cobham half, when they lost their own put in.

The next try was the result of a lost scrum, as Cobham disrupted Maidstone’s eight, presenting the opportunity for Jones-Davies to score from close range. This time his conversion was successful, to post a 26 point margin and the four try bonus point, at the half hour.

Suddenly, Maidstone woke up and began to play with higher intensity. A series of penalties in the Cobham 22 allowed Maidstone to pressurise the visitor’s defence and skipper, Ben Williams, forced his way over. While Ross Cooke’s conversion hit the post and rebounded out, Maidstone’s duck had been broken against these opponents, demonstrating what needed to be done to put the visitors on the back foot.

But with Cobham thinking and acting quicker, a tap penalty in their own 22 was quickly turned into pressure on the Maidstone line. From a five-metre scrum, Cobham rounded out the half with another score and conversion, by Jones-Davies, to take to the break.

The second half started poorly for Maidstone with the restart going directly to touch followed on the five minute mark with a yellow card for Adam Knight, followin a late tackle. Three tries in the period he was in the sin bin wrapped up the game for the visitors and took the score to 5-50.

Two of these tries came from Maidstone mistakes. The first followed a spell of Maidstone pressure on the Cobham line but the last pass was intercepted by right wing, Macdonald, who showed a clean pair of heals to run the length of the field to score in the right corner.

Another Maidstone mistake, this time a chipped kick to the opposition, gave left wing, Aves, the opportunity to score in the left corner, when he collected the ball.

With the game, well and truly, gone and the coaching team in despair, the bench players were brought on to see what they could do. With Danny Baker in the front row, the pack regained its dominance, Jack Johnson added some pace and determination to the back row and Filip Perica showed a clean paid of heals to the Cobham defence as he came into the line from the left wing to score by the posts, allowing Ross Cooke an easy conversion.

With Cobham suffering a yellow card of their own, much of the last quarter was played out in equilibrium. A late flurry by the visitors saw full back, Mortimer, scoring wide on the left but with the referee allowing little or no injury time, the game finished at 12-55.

This was a sobering lesson for Maidstone, who were out-thought and out-fought. On every normal measure of competence, Cobham came out on top. What was most perplexing was the lack of intensity for much of the game, leading to poor defence on the one hand and lack of pressure, on the opposition, on the other.

While Maidstone’s position in this league is not under pressure, improvement will be required in upcoming games if the remainder of the season is not to become a procession.

Maidstone Ben Williams; Gary Beck; Nathan Simpson: Adam Knight; Ben Massey: Tom Chandler; Ben Knight; Matt Iles: Lucian Morosan; Rory Beech: Matt Moore; Ross Cooke; Shaun Woolford; Sam Pearson: Alex Clarke

Replacements: Danny Baker; Jack Johnson; Filip Perica (All used)

Pictures supplied by Bob Hayton.