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U12s undefeated in triangular at Basingstoke Maids A v Camberley
A: 28 - 0; Sunday 5th February 2006 |
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The Under 12 squad enjoyed two good wins against Camberley and two hard fought draws against Basingstoke on Sunday. It would perhaps have been interesting to see what would have happened if Maids had taken on hosts Basingstoke in the first fixture of the day rather than immediately after tough matches against fellow visitors Camberley, but that is not to detract from the excellent effort and playing display from all sides on a very enjoyable Sunday. Maids As, missing a couple of regular squad members, but bolstered by the presence of emerging talent James Balmer, took on a large and physical Camberley side, and in characteristic fashion very nearly conceded a score within the first minute of play, with no-one willing to claim the kick off. Thankfully the side certainly remembered how to defend and sterling efforts from Chris Dow in particular saved the side's blushes. Once the early shock had woken the side up, they began to play some of their best rugby so far this season, and pressure told as LD Basson charged down an attempted clearance for Leo Smith to score. Chris Dow made it two tries to nil at half time with a burst up the wing, and Fraser Brooks obliged with both conversions. Camberley came back hard in the 2nd half, but Maids were more comfortable now, and strong rucking from Daniel Andrews-Jones and a tremendous tackle from Dominik Bart on the opposition's biggest player set the tone, with full back Sam Maguire and wing Thomas Eckles using their speed to take the final score to 28 - 0 (Fraser Brooks adding two more conversions). In the B fixture, the game also started off at a slow pace with Camberley forwards dominating the Maids pack, but in the first half George Thomas broke through to open up the scoring with Steve Carn converting. After half time and a discussion with the coaches about the merits of the kick and chase, Shiv Khindria kicked the ball up field and Dhruv Surya collected it for a second try, also converted by Steve Carn. Final score 14 - 0. The A team match against Basingstoke was the toughest contest so far this season for Maids, who were not helped by squad rotation leading to a lack of continuity which almost proved fatal against a very well organised attacking side. Honours were even at half time, but then Basingstoke's extremely large centres gathered momentum and eventually broke through to take the lead early in the 2nd half. Now Maids character showed and despite further changes of personnel at half time, the team did enough for power prop Markus Olivier to sprint most of the way up the pitch to level affairs, with Luke Thomas converting. The game continued on a knife edge, with Max O'Connor shining in attack and defence, though just a little more passing down the line might have opened things up for Maids. In the end, however, the draw was a fair result, and we look forward to a rematch! In the Bs it was a game of two halves! After only a short break between matches Maids were caught unawares by Basingstoke who went relentlessly to a 21 - 0 lead at half time. However, the half time break worked wonders and Maids regained some self esteem as George Thomas opened up Maids' account and Steve Carn converted. With Maids now exerting the pressure, 2nd row Jake Dawson, having cleverly spotted the space on the left wing (!) ran 30 metres down the line to score his first try for Maidenhead. Celebrations 5 metres before the try line with only one hand on the ball had the crowd worried but the try was scored and Steve Carn once again converted smoothly, leaving all to play for with 5 minutes remaining. Maidenhead seemed to be enjoying themselves once again and enthusiasm paid off as George Thomas darted in between the Basingstoke defence to score his third try of the day with the ever reliable Steve Carn converting. Another minute would have been great but the ref called last play of the match and the score line stayed the same with Maidenhead 21 and Basingstoke 21 A squad: Markus Olivier, Danny Keir, Edward Kaye, Michael Trevena, Dominik Bart, James Balmer, LD Basson, Luke Thomas, Fraser Brooks, Leo Smith, Daniel Andrews-Jones, Chris Dow, Thomas Eckles, Max O'Connor, Sam Maguire. B squad: Hal Orchard,
George Thomas, Blake Nicol, Adam Callaway, Daniel Williams, Jake Dawson,
Calum O’Flaherty, Jonathan Perry, Shiv Khindria, Dhruv Surya, Michael
Lewis, Piers Baron, Stephen Carn, Matthew Smith, Max Ring, Gareth
Orwin |