The Under 11 squad had a very enjoyable and successful morning entertaining squads from Bath and Ealing, the only disappointment being that neither visiting club brought a development squad. 

Maids developers were therefore left to take on the established B sides from both clubs, and understandably found it hard going, though the players had much to be proud of. The individual skills are certainly evident and improving; if we can add on a bit of organisation and team-mentality the whole squad will be doing very well. 

Moment of the morning came from the more experienced Jonathan Perry, continuing this season’s scoring record with an aggressive blind-side run along the touchline, set up by the forwards putting a solid maul together. So the games were far from being a whitewash, and we are in the process of finalising games against more evenly matched opponents for the rest of the season (keep an eye on your email for details of a match against Drifters next Sunday). 

On the next pitch the Extra A side were extremely successful against their equivalents from both visiting clubs. In the first game against Bath forwards Edward Kaye, Danny Kier, Markus Olivier, Michael Stacey and Josh Spooner secured good possession throughout to allow the (indecently quick) backs to cut loose. LD Basson and Ross Brown were both beneficiaries: LD sniping round the base of a scrum and Ross with a fine solo run. Michael Stacey claimed a third as a reward for the forwards and the match ended with a 15 – 5 win. 

The side continued where they had left off against Ealing. It was great to see Blake Nicol move up from the development side and show great driving skills and teamwork, particularly with Edward Kaye, and both got tries as a result. It was the forwards dominating the scoring in this game with Michael Stacey adding a further try, before Tom Eckles burst through from outside centre, put in an outrageous sidestep to leave the full-back clutching at thin air and sealed the 20-0 win! 

Meanwhile the A team delivered probably their best performances of the season in their two games. Finally succeeding in waking up before half time in the first match of the morning, they reaped the benefits. Well, to be more precise, Dominik Bart reaped the benefits with 2 tries, but these were team scores, with lots of support play and good interpassing. Alex Avery was magnificent in cleaning up loose ball, driving forward and redistributing, Sam Scott was releasing the backs, Duncan Jones was throwing dummies (!), Leo Smith, Will Thompson and Daniel Andrews-Jones were all making their tackles in the back line. Much to enjoy, until the last minute of the half when a lapse in concentration let Ealing in for a try against the run of play. 

More of the same in the 2^nd half, but without the tries, so the game ended 10 – 5 with the team in good spirits.  

It was a different story against Bath, and Maids needed to show their grit and determination in defence rather more, particularly to contain a very strong-running Bath centre. Good pressure caused Bath to spill the ball on a large number of occasions, turning over possession, but the match remained scoreless at half-time. Markus Olivier joined the front row to replace Alex Avery who was unwell, with Michael Trevena claiming the prize of tallest U11 hooker as a result! As an added bonus, he hooked really well! 

The game remained pretty tight until Maids moved the ball wide and Leo Smith crashed over to claim what would be the winning try. Great defence was still required to hold Bath out and Chris Dow and Max O’Connor both stood tall (not easy for either!) and cleaned up dangerous situations. Max in particular was impressive catching a ball over his shoulder, evading two tacklers and putting in a great clearance kick. Final result: a 5 – 0 win!