Same time of year, same place, same dreadful weather! Maidenhead Under 11s successfully defended the title they had won last year (as Under 10s) in relentless drizzle and cold windy conditions last Sunday.

Maidenhead unusually entered two Under 11 squads into the annual Cleve 'A' Tournament this year, responding to a last minute request from Cleve to provide a last team to make the age group pools equal. The "Extra A" squad, comprising a blend of players with some experience and others new to the club - and the sport - this year, did far more than simply make up the numbers, and gave their all in some very close encounters.

In the end, though, the squad's undoubted attacking prowess was undone by a lack of defensive depth, and the Extra A's bowed out in the Plate competition's semi-final. Having said this they conceded far fewer tries than some others against the tournament's stronger sides. Along the way there were some outstanding and very promising performances from forwards Hal Orchard, Calum O'Flaherty, Edward Kaye, Blake Nicol, Josh Spooner and Jacob Sanders and some moments of threatening attack from Max O'Connor, Shiv Khindria, Steven Carn, Jonathan Perry, Dhruv Surya, Oliver Bartlett and Iain Whiteford. Had a trophy for Fair Play been awarded as normal, this squad would have been prime candidates.

Defence was very much on display in the A squad's performance, however, as they reached the final without conceding a try! First game of the day was against Corsham, who were rocked by a stunning display of running rugby and support play resulting in a 4 tries to nil victory for Maids. Tries came from ever busy Captain Alex Avery for the forwards, and backs Leo Smith, Thomas Eckles and Duncan Jones.

The next game was against Clifton - last year's final opposition - and this was a closer affair, with great mauling from Will Turner and Markus Olivier in particular gaining the much needed possession and a 2 tries to nil victory coming courtesy of scores by William Thompson after a great solo run and the omni-present Markus Olivier.

The final pool game was against a very large Swindon side, and the ball was lost in wrestling matches for large periods of the game. The smaller Maids side came up trumps, however, with tries to Leo Smith, Markus Olivier and, despite the squad claiming the final surge up the field was a team try, for the record it was LD Basson who touched down.

This victory brought a semi-final battle against old rivals Cleve, but frankly there was only one side in it. Cleve rarely threatened, and fine tries from Thomas Eckles, William Thompson and Markus Olivier saw Maids through to the final with a 3 - 0 victory.

The final brought a rematch with Corsham, who had shaken off their early defeat to power past the other pool winners. They proved a much tougher proposition second time round, but a dazzling run by Thomas Eckles early on brought a lead Maids were not to lose. This was followed up by a powerful burst from close range by Leo Smith playing a classic centre crash-ball, and despite the only try conceded all day after a loose bit of line-out play, the 2-1 score line was the winning one.