With the league title secured, over one-thousand points in the bag and an unbeaten record, Maidstone had little in this game to get them motivated.

Add in wet conditions, getting wetter as the afternoon progressed, it is clear this game was never going to be a classic. The final score, 43 – 10 to Maidstone, underplayed Bromley’s contribution to the competitive nature of this encounter, until Anderson was dismissed ten minutes before the end.

With Sam Brill tweaking a groin in training, in the week, the experiment of playing him in the centre, like his groin, had to go on ice. But with Mark Dorman and Neil Graves both available this did not constitute a weakening in the back line. Also, with Olly Newton also available, to take up the right wing slot, there was plenty of firepower in the backs to stretch the Bromley defence.

The pack also had a familiar look, with the Iles brothers returning to their familiar positions at No 8 and second row, after last week’s hiatus. And with Richard Parker, back from his one-game retirement, surely a record of some kind, joining Sam Bailey and Nick Bunyan on the bench, the set up for the game looked positive.

But as we know, games are played as much in the head as on the field and the ennui of success had apparently already poured its syrup of content over the assembled team, making for a slow start against a side that had caused significant problems on their own ground, at the start of the season.

While Maidstone were the first on the board, after fifteen minutes, following an incisive break by Neil Graves, who shipped the ball left to Dorman before Josh Pankhurst ran in from the 22, it really took a full half-hour before they were truly firing on all cylinders. While Bromley rarely threatened the Maidstone line, on the few occasions they got the ball, their movement was sharp and required close defensive attention.

With Willie Brown adding the conversion, Maidstone’s seven point advantage was extended on the half hour. This time, Lee Evans made a powerful brake in the centre of a ruck and quick passing through Dorman to Jason Smith saw the left wing score out wide. Another conversion from the boot of Willie Brown saw the lead double to fourteen points.

Maidstone’s pack was exerting almost total dominance in the tight and, following lengthy  Bromley pressure on the Maidstone line, a five-metre scrum to the visitors, yielded the ball to Maidstone. Neil Graves picked up the loose ball and ran half the length of the field before feeding Ivan Walkling, outside him, to finish the job, extending the lead, at half time, to nineteen points.

With the rain now persistent and the pitch cutting up, handling errors became more frequent by both sides, reducing the spectator enjoyment considerably. But on the pitch, the intensity of the game continued to rise.

A penalty to Bromley after ten minutes saw them punt to touch in the Maidstone 22 and, from the line-out, spin the ball right before bringing it back left, where Cheeseman squeezed over, to reduce the arrears to 19-5.

A penalty to Bromley, at the restart, could have reflected the Maidstone ire at the two missed knock-ons in the Bromley build up to the try, but it was the wakeup call the home side needed, as they ran in three tries over the next fifteen minutes.

A loose ball on half-way was snaffled by the quick-thinking Pankhurst and his burst allowed a straightforward pass to Hyland, to finish off under the posts, allowing an easy Brown conversion. The second was a piece of Nick Bunyan opportunism, after Willie Brown had been held up on the line. The third saw Sam Bailey the recipient of a quick recycle following a thrust down the left by full-back, Walkling, to allow another comfortable, Brown, conversion to take the lead to 38-5.

There was a short interlude at this point while both sides knocked chips off each other and the referee decided that Maidstone’s Walkling would be best to cool off for ten minutes, while Bromley’s Anderson could go for an early bath. At the restart, inexplicably maintaining the initial penalty awarded to the visitors, Bromley took full advantage and with a catch and drive scored their second try, replacement James Dougall getting the touchdown.

But Maidstone had the last word; when deep into added time, Matt Iles fed scrum-half Hogben, off the back of a 5-metre scrum, to crash over out wide.

So the season is complete, yielding an outcome that was beyond the clubs wildest dreams, back in September. With the stuttering start at Bromley, it appeared touch-and-go whether the team could achieve the target of promotion they set themselves. But all components of this squad of players has improved, by their own hard work and that of the coaching team, to make themselves, far and away, the best team in the league. Perhaps the only regret is that the competition hasn’t been stiffer, at some points, to help prepare them to overcome their nemesis in the RFU Senior Vase.

But a fresh set of challenges now awaits in London 2 SE, which will give everyone a new focus for next season, when success will be measured by a whole new set of standards.

Maidstone

Ben Williams; Josh McKenzie; Danny Baker: James Iles; Lee Evans: Josh Pankhurst; Paul Hyland; Matt Iles: Adrian Hogben; Willie Brown: Olly Newton; Neil Graves; Mark Dorman; Jason Smith: Ivan Walkling

Replacements: Sam Bailey; Nick Bunyan; Richard Parker.

Pictures supplied by Bob Hayton and Ady Shaw