MAIDENHEAD U10's Lions and Tigers came away victors at the Marlow tournament after stringing together a winning series of exciting running rugby against stiff opposition.

The Lions excelled themselves at the Marlow Tournament on Sunday last week. The first game was against Beaconsfield where they kept the pressure on throughout and won comfortably 20-0.

They went on to play Chiltern and Amersham in a game where both sides defended well and the strength of the two teams was reflected in the narrow win by the Maids 5-0.

In the third game the Maids met Henley where their strong attacking flair, coupled with excellent passing, showed them to be the stronger side and with play predominating in the Henley half the Maids notched up a creditable 25-0 win.

On a winning streak they went on to play Ealing and completed another win of 35-0. London Irish were the last to be played and the two teams enjoyed a good game in which both sides defended and attacked with zeal, the Maids had to work hard to break through their opponents' defence but succeeded to win 5-0.

As was expected Maids met Marlow in the final play off. Maids took control of the ball first moved into the Marlow half of the pitch, but Marlow showed their strength driving the ball down to their try line into a ruck. Luke Fletcher hooked it out, passed to Guy Swadling who ran the length of the pitch, passed on to Alex Roberts and on to Oliver Woodward.
Marlow defended, Johnathan Lowther got the ball and passed it out. Both teams were playing hard with the ball moving fast between players and with a 0-0 score at half time there was plenty to play for.

In the second half excitement mounted, Maids drove the ball forward and Guy Sears attacked hard. The ball went into a ruck, Toby Harrison hooked the ball out and Oliver Woodward took the ball on the wing, moved forward and play passed along the line to Paul Roberts. Marlow got control and ran down the other wing, Alex Hanks tackled and got them down, Robin Scanlon got control and moved forward.
Ross Pepper attacked persistently to keep Marlow from getting control and the ball passed to Ryan Sherwin and back to Woodward who broke free and made a tremendous run to the try line to score. The atmosphere was electric, Maids were fuelled and held control, Scanlon drove the ball forward, Swadling took over and ran half the length of the pitch to bring the score to 10-0. This was quickly followed by an almost repeat performance by Oliver Woodward who flung himself onto the try line for a superb finish just as the whistle blew, making the final score 15-0.

On their way to the under 10 B final, Maidenhead Tigers failed to concede a single try, beating Thatcham by nine tries, Saracens by four tries, Aylesbury by eight tries and although drawing nil-nil against Drifters, went on to win a well earned final meeting with Redingensians.

Throughout the day, the squad played well together demonstrating a strong team spirit, especially the contributions from Toby Courtney and Alec McKeown alternating in the pack. Joe Dutton, despite being unwell, linked well with Mark Lucas at scrum half and fly half respectively. Daniel Rhodes in the centre and Stuart McGilway on the wing all developed and progressed during the competition and all came close to scoring. Redingensians, with a size advantage in the pack, ran hard at the Maidenhead defence, looking for an opening. Maidenhead replied by tackling hard, particularly through Christian Shepherd, Sam Alderson and Jason Merritt, rucking well and moving the ball out wide to the wings, taking every opportunity to probe the Redingensian defence. Their reward came when Maidenhead were awarded a scrum deep in the Redingensian's half from which Jamie Ford, at fly-half was able to make a typical break and pass the ball out to William Brennan whose natural speed outpaced the defence to score the first of two tries.

From the restart, Maidenhead kept up the pressure which eventually paid off when Redingensians were forced to ground the ball behind their own line. From the resulting five-metre scrum, William Sennett probed at scrum half to create space and darted over for the second try. Daniel Rhodes played his part in some creative moves and was substituted by George Colbourn who made one of many forward runs through the opposition's defence to help distribute the ball, well to Chris Bradbury on the right wing. The final try came following a surging run up the left wing by Angus Caden, followed by a pass inside to Brennan who went on to score again.

All the boys played their part to make their mothers proud of their individual and collective achievements on Mothering Sunday! Final Results: Tigers 20, Saracens 0; Tigers 40, Aylesbury 0; Tigers 45, Thatcham 0; Tigers 0, Drifters 0; Tigers 20, Redingensians 0. Total points: 105 - 0.