U12s tournament report

Sunday 9th October 2005

UNDER 12s AT MAIDENHEAD TOURNAMENT

Another tale of "what might have been" for the A squad

Maidenhead U12 As scored 6 tries and conceded only 2 in their pool at the Maidenhead tournament, yet failed to fire on all cylinders and let the title slip from their grasp.

Despite the beautiful conditions, the squad had trouble waking up and suffered as a result in their first game against a muscular Buckingham side, which scored a well worked try against shoddy Maids defence. Maids then woke up, but it was too late, and despite a period of intense pressure they could not get back into the game.

A much better performance followed against Aylesbury, leaving all spectators wondering why this hadn’t happened one game earlier! Maids moved the ball well and supported each other, and as a result scored 5 unanswered tries through Daniel Andrews-Jones, Markus Olivier (2) and Chris Dow (2).

Next opponents were Henley, traditionally a ‘bogey’ side for Maids at this age group, and fresh from victory at the Windsor tournament. Maids had comfortably the better of this game, but seemed to have dropped a gear, and a sequence of unforced handling errors meant a host of scoring chances were unconverted and the game finished in a 0-0 draw.

By now there was no chance of winning the pool and nothing left but honour to play for against eventual pool winners Winchester who had swept all before them. Too late, Maids switched on again and took the lead with a try from Chris Dow. A very close game followed, with Winchester eventually equalising for a 5-5 draw.

And a tale of much promise for the future for the B squad

A sweet victory over Windsor and a try-fest against Aylesbury were the icing on the cake for the Maids B squad in their pool at the Maidenhead Tournament, on a day which gave coaches and spectators alike a glimpse of the strength in depth at this age group.

Maids had only one bad half – their first, against a much bigger side from Brentwood (their ‘A’ squad) which would end up winning the pool. Having leaked 3 tries in this first half, Maids went up a gear and the 2^nd half was level.

A fine try from George Thomas looked to have secured a draw against Henley before a controversial decision awarded Henley a winning try after a triple movement to ground the ball.

Fired up, Maids dominated the game against Windsor and scored two fine tries – one from flying winger Steven Carn who had a great tournament, and one from barnstorming 2^nd row Oliver Bartlett. A special mention for bravery must go to prop Josh Edney, who lead the forwards superbly despite taking an early knock to the shoulder.

The tournament finished on a high for Maids in their game against Aylesbury, despite the fact that the opposition were considerably bigger than their hosts. A series of fine tries came from George Thomas, Alice Mcleod, Sam Maguire, Piers Baron, Jonathan Perry and Jacob Sanders, for a 30-0 victory.