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U12s third in 4 Nations in Belfast 8th-9th April 2006 |
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Maids Under 12s finished 3rd out of 16 in 4 Nations Tournament in Belfast A squad of 16 Maidenhead Under 12 players travelled to Belfast to take part in the Malone RFC International Rugby Tournament on the 8th and 9th of April. With squads from big name Clubs in the Republic and Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England participating, Maids were not sure what to expect, but hoped to pick up where last season’s Under 12’s from Maidenhead had left off, since they had returned having won the Shield competition. The organisers had spread the nations around, so Maids found themselves up against Bangor from Northern Ireland, U.L. Bohemians from Limerick, and Caerphilly in their initial pool. The first game was against Bangor, and Maids proceeded to make the whole trip worthwhile with their best display of the season so far, not letting their opponents into the game until the final seconds. Dominik Bart scored the first try – an early indication of the tremendous form he displayed throughout the Festival. William Thompson, Thomas Eckles and Markus Olivier added their own scores during a sensational team display to make it 4-0 at half time. The coaches made all 6 changes permitted at half time to give the whole squad an early run out, and while the rate of scoring slowed, with only Markus Olivier adding to Maids’ total, the dominance continued, until a final desperate attack from Bangor saw them claim a consolation score with the last move of the game. The format of the Festival on Day 1 left little room for reflection between games and before they knew it Maids were back on the pitch to take on U.L. Bohemians, whose coaches had been very bullish the evening before. It was clear from the outset that this would not prove as one-sided a game as the first, and indeed Bohemians took the lead early on as Maids took time to wake up. This stung the team into action and the forwards secured ball for Daniel Andrews-Jones to run through and round several defenders only to be caught just before the line. Happily he kept his wits about him and found ever present hooker Alex Avery in support to take a short pop pass and level the scores. The game was pretty even for the rest of the first half, but then Bohemians squeezed in, defying the touchline, the corner flag and the touch judge to score on the half-time whistle. That was to be the last significant moment for the Bohemians, as Maids took control in the second half, with Thomas Eckles turning on the burners to equalise in the corner and Dominik Bart getting the winning try, and Maids getting over the line twice more only to have the ball judged held-up. Festival rules dictate that the top two sides from each pool would go through to the Cup competition, with the bottom two qualifying to compete for the Shield. (Bohemians would go on to win the Shield). Even before the final pool game, the combination of results gained so far meant that Maids had qualified for the Cup, along with Caerphilly, who they were to play in the final pool game. This somewhat took the edge off things for Maids, and a skilled and very large Caerphilly side ran out winners in the final pool game. This was the first time but not the last that Maids would find themselves playing against a number of boys bigger than some of their coaches! The only disappointment of a wonderful weekend of rugby was that in the Cup pool on the Sunday, Maids found themselves matched against 2 other English sides, namely Saracens and Sandal, when in an International Festival it would have been interesting to take on other Celtic opposition. However, there was one new challenge facing Maids in their first game, in the form of Young Munster, who had won their pool the previous day with three straight victories. This was collectively the biggest side Maids saw, with at least half of the squad over 6 foot! Feedback on Young Munster suggested they liked to play to their strengths in a rucking and mauling game, so accordingly the game plan for Maids as laid down by the coaches was to move the ball wide as fast as possible and see if the big opposing pack could keep up! The first game of the day proved a great spectacle for the second day running, with Maids building on their experience in qualifying and executing the game plan perfectly. Maids took the lead through Dominik Bart – again, superb in the line out despite a height disadvantage – and added a second through Markus Olivier. Although Munster struck back to make it 2-1 at half time, Markus Olivier then finished the game off in the second half after a period of sustained pressure and the final score was 3-1. Next up were Saracens – a bit smaller on average but still with a couple of giants in their squad. Maids made a promising start with Thomas Eckles sprinting up the wing from his own 22 and scoring in the corner, but Saracens came right back and scored twice to take a lead into half time. Despite an injury to Tom Eckles ruling him out of the rest of the tournament, the strength of the Maids squad showed as they came back to blitz Saries with tries from Dominik Bart, Daniel Andrews-Jones and Markus Olivier and finish the game off in style 4-2 winners. Last pool game, playing for a place in the final, was against the unbeaten Sandal, with whom Maids had drawn a fortnight before. Unfortunately this was to prove a game too far for Maids whose efforts against physically much bigger sides had taken their toll, and Sandal, who had clearly identified Maids’ strike runners and played well to shut them down, came through deserved winners. Sandal went on to beat Caerphilly in the Final, and a try count back gave Maids 3rd place in the Festival. The squad: |
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