MALDON welcomed Bancroft to Drapers Farm for their final Essex League fixture and were delighted to beat strong opposition 46-5.

They started in confident mood but it was the visitors who scored first, taking a rolling maul from a line-out.

This proved the wake-up call Maldon needed and they were soon back on level terms thanks to speedy winger Sam Rhodes, following good work from lock James Hodson.

Owen Preece again took up the kicking duties and converted from the touch line.

Before the break, Rhodes scored again to give his side the edge, but some stern words were spoken to commit more effort to the ruck and the first-time tackles to nullify the visitors’ effective back-row contingent.

Maldon clearly took their orders well and the break-down became a safe haven for skipper Sam Delderfield-King to distribute from scrum-half.

Back-row replacement Brendan Bignall made a break early on to give the ball to Hodson, making another run, who was held up before the line by the committed Bancroft defence.

The resulting scrum was a stable platform for Delderfield-King to time his short pass to fly-half Jack White to crash over for a try.

Maldon’s pace of play continued and Bancroft soon appeared to fall apart in front of a try-thirsty Maldon attack, with their next coming from flanker Hez Crane.

From the resulting kick-off, Crane turned provider, catching the kick and rampaging through the Bancroft defence to pop to prop Chris Roper to score in the corner.

The next try for another of Maldon’s stand-out players of the season, fly-half White, came next after taking the ball short off another fast-played ruck.

Thanks to some fancy footwork, he beat his opposite man for his second try of the match.

Maldon, now far out in front, scored again thanks to emerging talent Preece.

The 17-year-old broke his tackle, spinning and sprinting out wide for his first first-team try.

Maldon’s final score came from a fantastic set-piece, with substitute hooker Kieran Reeve hitting his jumper with fine precision.

Rhodes completed his hat-trick and rounded off a scintillating season as top try-scorer for the squad, with 24 tries in only 17 competitive appearances.

Centre Preece was an easy choice for man-of-the-match.