Sunday 4th April 2004

First up were the hosts Abbey. The game was completely one sided with Maidenhead dominating territory and possession. The forwards rucked effectively and the backs made penetrating runs through Edwards, Beck, Heron and Dowling. Only desperate defence by Abbey kept Maids from scoring. In rare moments of Abbey possession Maids harried them mercilessly, but likewise, Abbey defended with grit against wave after wave of Maids attacks. A try looked certain as Maids were camped on the Abbey line, but a fumble landed straight into Abbey hands. And unbelievably resulted in the only try of the game. Gutted? Sick as a parrot? There are not enough sporting clichés to describe the injustice of the result, but such is rugby!

Second game was against the mighty Windsor: a real David and Goliath tussle. And David struck first though a well judged kick from defence and excellent chasing up by Edwards. Windsor were truly rattled and reverted to big boy charges up the pitch. But Maidenhead defended with determination, repelling repeated attacks and even holding up the giant Windsor forwards on the line. When rout 1 failed them Windsor attacked out wide this time with success as their impressive fullback scored a well worked try. In the second half Maids gave as good as they got in the forwards exchanges, but the size of the opposition was wearing them down. However, we constantly looked dangerous out wide when we got clean ball. In the end it was a big boy charge form the XXL Windsor prop that settled the match. However, the whole team could look on this moral victory with satisfaction, as they certainly put the wind up Windsor.

Our penultimate game was against Redingensians who were also blooding new talent at this tournament. The Maids team were looking forward to this with relish after our encounters earlier in the season. The match followed much the same pattern as the Abbey game with one notable exception: this time Maids made their pressure and possession count. First try was to Dowling following and angled kick from Thomson. Almost immediately Matt Fry was almost in at the same corner, but Redingensians defence just managed to scramble him into touch. New by Tom Scott was a revelation on the wing and, with his impressive turn of speed, made lots of ground. Burnett again bamboozled the opposition with his mazy running. Second try was for Faulkner after determined driving in the maul brought him to within striking distance.

Last game was against Bracknell who almost matched Windsor for the size of their forwards. Sloppy tackling of the bigger boys allowed Bracknell to score first in a half where Maids seemed to have gone off the boil. However, the second half was different affair altogether as Maids stuck out their plan to obtain quick ruck ball and move it wide away from the munchers. Again it paid dividend as sustained pressure eventually allowed Edwards to cross the line again.

All in all a very satisfactory morning's rugby with great determination, invention and flair displayed by all taking part. The squad enjoyed their first outing to a festival and in the match against Windsor gave the best performance we have seen from them this year.

Team: Beck, Burnett, Dowling, Edwards, Faulkner, Fry, Hedouin, Heley, Heron, Messing, Peach, Roberts, Scott, Sugden, Thomson .