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U10s triumph at Brean Sands 29-30th April 2006 |
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Maidenhead Under tens picked up where they left off at the Cleve tournament, taking seventeen players to the Brean Sands festival in Somerset. This allowed the team to play players from both the regular A and B squad in every single match played. These also included a couple of interclub friendlies. There were six pool matches played over two days, with winners from two pools playing for the overall cup. There were fourteen teams competing in the age group from around the Home counties, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Torfaen. Maidenhead's campaign began against a heavy Sidcup team who looked large and intimidating. Maidenhead rucked with determination, won ball and began passing the ball around. Peter Watt discovered that while Sidcup had the horsepower, they didn't have enough speed to stop him scoring a breakaway try. In the second half, while forwards Simon Graham and James O'Connor stopped Sidcup, winger Sam Bishop fed the ball to Peter Watt opened the account with a near identical try to his first. Matthew Price received the ball from scrum and found a large hole in the Sidcup line to finish the score 3-0. Chelmsford fielded a well drilled side who looked like scoring several times, but were kept out by a gritty defence that tackled effectively on a hard pitch. Maidenhead's forwards kept up the pressure with centres Owen Langstone and Chris Hudson keeping the door shut to Chelmsford. Eventually forwards led by prop George Kingsley kept taking enough territory to let Matt Price feed a ball to Peter Watt to score for a final 1-0 score. Man of this match was George Kingsley. The final match of the first day was played against the mighty Cwmbran. Coach Alastair Watt told the team that this would be their biggest game of their lives. The Red Dragons kicked off and began passing the ball along their line. Each time a Cwmbran player received, they were immediately tackled and failed to move forward over the half way line. Maidenhead then took charge, forwards George Kingsley and Simon Graham driving the ball deep into the Cwmbran half. In a scramble on the Cwmbran touchline, George Kingsley showed great alertness in spotting the ball go loose over the try line and got a hand to it to give Maidenhead the first try. This was rapidly followed by a Peter Watt breakaway try and finished off by Simon Graham twisting through the Cwmbran defence to add a third try. In the second half, a demoralised Cwmbran were held in their own half. Maidenhead won the ball from scrum five yards out four times and each time the scrum half tried to score. This tactic failed and Cwmbran were able to leave the field with the final score unchanged in the second half at 3--0. Old Elthamians on the second day turned up with some large forwards. Undeterred, centre Owen Langstone wriggled through to score a try. In the second half Elthamians took the battle into the Maidenhead half but were met with effective tackling from forwards, centres and wingers alike. Winger Ruth Dow in particular produced some spectacular stops. Maidenhead worked the ball behind the forwards, reaching Peter Watt on the burst resulting in another try which hew repeated a few minutes later to make the final account 3-0. Word was starting to spread into the other pool that Maidenhead U10s were demolishing every team they had met and were maintaining a clean sheet. This was causing concern with Cobham who had entered a team in each pool. In the penultimate pool clash against the Ampthill, Maidenhead were put under the severest test so far. Maidenhead controlled the first half and towards the end, prop Simon Graham showed that he had enough speed and momentum to score after being passed the ball on the run by Peter Watt. Stung into retaliation, Ampthill battered an increasingly fragile Maidenhead defence throughout the second half, but could not make it count leaving the final score 1-0. This result made it impossible for any team in the pool to push Maidenhead out of the final. At this point, the coaching team were able to give those who had not played a full game a full opportunity against Cobham. The result was a shaky start with Maidenhead failing to pass the ball. Cobham took full advantage, taking three tries in the first half. Maidenhead rallied in the second half, tightening up and playing in Cobham's half for the rest of the match. Despite the territorial and possession advantages this gave, the final score was 0-3 to Cobham. In the other pool, Gloucestershire's Painswick club U10s won their place in the final and the stage was set for the final test of the weekend. A nervous first half resulted in no score from either side. In the second half, Maidenhead centres and wingers contained the Painswick wingers. In the ruck following one of these dust downs, Maidenhead drove the ball deep into the Painswick half and remained within yards of the try line until Peter Watt seized an opportunity and a gap to reach over with the ball. The referee awarded the try, and Painswick immediately took the ball to the Maidenhead try line. An eternity later the final whistle blew and Maidenhead U10s were greeted to a noisy reception from the army of supporters that had gathered to watch the new Brean Sands 2006 U10 Cup Winners. Maidenhead U10s
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