U10's Lions & Tigers at Pontin's Festival
Once again, Maidenhead U10s put forward two squads for the Brean Sands Tournament at Burnham-on-Sea. After a rainy Friday evening, the weather turned out to be glorious for the two-day event and once again, the U10 squad demonstrated what an excellent team they are. The Tigers With spirits high they went onto play Skewen going straight in on the attack but Skewen won the scrum saw a break on the opposite wing and scored, despite Robin Scanlon’s best efforts to tackle. The Maids came back with a vengeance, the ball moved down to Skewen’s try line and the Maids won the six-yard scrum. William Sennett got the ball and ran the length of the pitch in an attempt to score but Skewen stopped him just short of the line and managed to move the ball back down to their try line to score again in the corner. The Maids showed what a strong side they are and defended extremely well against strong opposition and the final score of 10-0 to Skewen reflected this. The third game against Cobham gave the Maids the chance to make a break and although Cobham scored an early try, Oliver Woodward scored the first of his hat tricks with a well-deserved try in the corner to equalise. Fuelled with enthusiasm Mark Lucas got the ball and made a superb run on the wing passing the ball down the line to keep control for Oliver to score again. Play was fast and furious, Alec Roberts and Luke Fletcher drove the ball forward and Oliver grabbed the ball and ran to the line for a third time. Cobham brought their score to 10 but in the last minute William Sennett gained control from the scrum and ran the length of the pitch to make the final score 20-10 to the Maids. In the last match of the day against Llandaff saw an exciting game in which Llandaff scored two early tries but the Maids were not to be beaten and showed what a strong opposition they were. Robert Whittle displayed his determination when he took control and ran through Llandaff’s defence to score in the corner. Llandaff fought back breaking through twice with a fine run that the Maids could not stop to score. With tremendous drive Oliver Woodward increased the pressure by scoring twice more to make the score at half time 20-15 to Llandaff. After half time play was stepped up and the ball moved fast between the teams. Both teams attacked and defended with zeal with neither side giving way for the rest of the game. On the second day, with the harder matches behind them, they met Westcombe Park going straight in showing what excellent attacking flair they have moving the ball freely to keep control and two early tries were scored by Alec Roberts and Alex Hanks. The ball continued to flow well with Ryan Sherwin consistently tackling hard, which allowed Mark Lucas to hook the ball out and pass out to the wing. Westcombe Park rose to the challenge and moved the ball down to their try line, tension mounted and although Robin Scanlon tackled strongly and the Maids won a free pass, Westcombe Park broke through to score. The Maids came back with vengeance tackling one after the other moving the ball to the other wing but Westcombe Park broke through again to equalise. Excitement rose as play centred around the Maidenhead try line and their persistence paid off with a try by Robin to take the Maids into the lead. In the next game they met Bromley continuing on their high made an excellent start with a try from Ryan Sherwin. Bromley won the scrum but William Sennett quickly got control and passed to Robert Whittle who ran to the line to score. The Maids were now well on the attack winning the scrum, Luke Fletcher getting well in ably supported by Mark and Ryan helped drive the ball forward. Spectators were shown some great play from the boys that was a pleasure to watch and although Bromley broke through the Maids were 10-5 up at half time. With a mixture of strong attacking and defence the Maids had much to play for and Luke’s determination paid off with a third try and although Bromley came back to score again the Maids managed to keep their lead and win 15-10. The third game was against Maidenhead Lions a relaxed game in which the tigers gave way to the lions. The last game against Old Rutlishians was particularly hard as it was a hot day and Old Rutlishians scored an early try but the Maids put the pressure on and Luke Fletcher took the chance to equalise. Despite OR’s strength Oliver Woodward saw a gap and ran almost the full length of the pitch to score giving a repeat performance a few minutes later. Robin Scanlon took the ball down to their try line play centred their moving the ball from side to side before Luke broke through their defence to score again. OR’s equalised but the boys put all their energy into the game with great play from Robert Whittle brought the score to 30-20 for a very rewarding finish. The spirit of the tournament was exceptional with the Maids accepting invitations from both Llandaff and Cobham to play next season. The Lions The second game against KCS Old Boys was another tough game and before they know it, the lions were 3 –1 down. Great moral and hard work by Toby Harrison prevented further tries. In the second half, the Lions were rewarded with a well-deserved try but time was not on their side and the whistle blew with a final score of 3 – 2 to KCS. By the third game against Old Rutlishians, the Lions were in full flow with great passing down the line resulting in three tries by Jamie, Ross Pepper and Johna. In the second half, Christian Shepherd and Toby Courtney defended admirably and the fourth try by Guy Swadling made the score 4 – 2 to the Lions. The last game of the day was against Skewen who brought their strongest team from Cardiff, Wales. From the start, their determination to win was very evident. George Colbourn and Ross Pepper put in some fine tackles and although the Lions general play was excellent, Skewen had the edge that resulted in a win for them of 3 tries to 0. On the Sunday, our boys were raring to go and their first game against Llandaff (another strong Welsh team) was challenging. Ross scored the first try. The play was exciting and very fast and although the Lions dominated the second half, on occasions they lacked cohesion. The overall score was 3 – 1 to Llandaff. The next game was against Cobham and by now the Lions were playing exceptionally well as a team. Toby Harrison got the game off to a good start by scoring the first try within minutes of starting. There was great passing down the line to the wings where Daniel Thomson scored a great try set up by Guy Swadling. Further tries were made by Ross, Guy, Johna and William Sennett making the score 6 – 1 to the Lions. The final game of the day was against Westcombe Park. Ross tackled well throughout and also managed to score 5 tries. Further tries were scored by Guy, Jamie and George Colbourn making the score 8 – 0 to the Lions. Angus Cadden consistently showed determination out on the wing. The boys came away winning the Bowl trophy for third place having had a truly memorable weekend’s rugby. Lions Games and scorers Bromley 1
Lions 2 KCS Old Boys
3 Lions 2 Old
Rutlishians 0 Lions 4 Skewen 3 Lions 0 Llandaff 3
Lions 1 Cobham 2
Lions 6 Westcombe
Park 0 Lions 8 |
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