Sunday 24th October 2004

Maidenhead Under 11s welcomed teams from Chippenham and Aylesbury on Sunday morning for a series of games. Though all squads were depleted through having players away for half-term, there were still about 65 players enjoying the only sunshine in an otherwise grey and very wet weekend.

Maidenhead A’s first match was against Aylesbury, whilst the B side played Chippenham. Making the most of the dry conditions, the A’s backs, in particular, moved the ball with enthusiasm and tries from LD Basson, Leo Smith, Daniel Andrews-Jones, Duncan Jones and Michael Stacey combined to give a comfortable 5 tries to nil victory, 4 of them being successfully converted by William Thompson.

The 33 – 0 scoreline does not do justice to an Aylesbury side which included some newcomers, however, and masks some areas for improvement required if Maids are to compete in the Saracens A tournament in a fortnight. The smaller Aylesbury side matched Maids in the scrum and consistently out-rucked their hosts, being much quicker to the breakdown.

The B side made a slow start against Chippenham and found themselves 3 tries to nil down by half-time. However, whatever was said at half-time seemed to do the trick and Maids hit back with 2 unanswered tries in the 2nd half from George Thomas and Ross Brown.

Chippenham found the A team tougher going and once again we saw some strong running and good handling lead to a final winning scoreline of 6 tries to 1. Scorers were Alex Avery, Michael Stacey, LD Basson, Duncan Jones, Leo Smith and William Thompson. The try conceded was a sharp piece of play by the Chippenham scrum half who intercepted a slow pass off the base of the scrum and caught Maids completely by surprise. Overall this was a strong performance with increased speed around the pitch, but disappointing evidence of too many individuals and not enough teamwork.

The B side struggled to gain possession in their game against the well-drilled Aylesbury forwards and were reminded that it is difficult to play rugby without the ball. A try from George Thomas was not enough and despite a battling performance the team went down 1-2.

Overall it was a good morning and we were very happy to strike up a relationship with Chippenham and Aylesbury which we hope will continue for many years. Unfortunately one Chippenham player was injured but we are told it is not serious and he hopes to be playing next week!