U12s' close call at Saracens

Sunday 6th November 2005

Maids Under 12s narrowly missed out on a place in the final at the Saracens Tournament on Sunday, after the most closely contested pool the squad has encountered.

The first game was a cracker against Keynsham, spoilt only by a referee who was a little overly fond of the sound of his whistle and of his own voice. Both sets of spectators agreed he probably took about 2 minutes of rugby off each half of the game! Despite this his contribution, as a volunteer, was of course very much appreciated and he was always right, even when not playing advantage when Maids had a clear scoring opportunity!

Maids had the better of this game, though the team was slow to remember to move the ball wide and this may have cost us victory. In the end neither side scored. 0-0 draw.

The 2nd game was against the pool's weakest side, from Saracens, and Maids duly notched up the highest total against them. We were given a lot more time and space in this game and this lead to tries from Dominik Bart, Leo Smith, LD Basson and Max O'Connor, the latter after a fantastic mazy run up the wing. 20-0 win.

The next match was the one we had imagined would be the toughest, against Amersham and Chiltern, who had won the tournament at Under 11 and been finalists the year before that. A tense encounter ensued, with great defence on both sides, and no one able to break the deadlock. 0-0 draw.

The final pool game was against Harrow, and Maids were out for revenge having lost out to them on the toss of a coin the year before. By now all sides had drawn with each other (except Saracens) and a victory in this game looked likely to decide a place in the final. Unfortunately it was not to be: Maids were caught napping early on as Harrow's 6 foot+ centre breezed through to score (apparently he was NOT the coach driver!). Maids hit back with a trademark powerful burst from Markus Olivier to level things, but eventually let a 2nd try in with seconds to go after some poor defence at the lineout. 5-10 loss.

This was our last appearance at this tournament, and all in all there was some good play to remember (with a few things to work on!). We scored 5 tries and conceded only 2.

Squad player of the day: Luke Thomas. Best forward effort: Markus Olivier / Duncan Jones. Best back: Max O'Connor. Best debut: Sam Maguire. Most Valuable Player: Dominik Bart

Try Fest at Ruislip
The remainder of the U12 squad travelled to Ruislip and won all games comfortably on a fun morning. Jonathan Perry opened the scoring after ripping the ball successfully from the opposition, and he was joined on the scoresheet shortly afterwards by Jacob Sanders. Try of the day came from a move by two Maids players, when Steven Carn fed Dhruv Surya, who produced a dazzling run. It was slightly unfortunate that they had both been lent to Ruislip at that point in time!