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U12s hammer Henley Maidenhead
U12s 28 Henley U12s 0 |
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Maidenhead Under 12s showed real character to emerge with a fine 28-0 victory despite some fine Henley play, the wettest conditions of the season so far, and an unusual amount of criticism from the visitors on the touchline. Henley had indicated they meant business by declining a joint training exercise with Maids, and so it proved when their large pack and strong running centres put Maids under considerable pressure from the start. Henley got over the line once but the ball was held up by heroic defence, and then they attacked again, getting to within about a metre of the try line before conceding a penalty for not releasing in the tackle. The turning point for Maids came as another maul from the larger Henley pack rumbled once again towards the line: gathering themselves, the Maids pack, with Danny Keir (our smallest forward) noticeable for his efforts in particular, worked as one to stop the drive and then shunt the whole maul into touch. Not long afterwards Maids started going forwards, and as the game opened up, William Thompson sprinted round the Henley defence to score a fine solo try, which he subsequently converted. Not for the first time the combination of strong defence and buckets of pace worked for Maids, and Chris Dow doubled the try count with an uncatchable sprint down his wing. Will Thompson again converted. As expected Henley came back strongly in the 2nd half, but despite some glimpses of great handling and plenty of commitment they could not break through. Strength in depth showed and despite a number of changes in personnel Maids continued to compete in all areas. Markus Olivier continued his try scoring exploits with a characteristically powerful burst through (rather than round) would-be tacklers, and Chris Dow rubbed salt into the wounds with his 2nd try from an interception. Fraser Brooks coolly converted both of these tries. The squad: Markus Olivier, Danny Keir, Alex Avery, Edward Kaye, Dominik Bart, Duncan Jones, Jacob Sanders, James Balmer, LD Basson, Luke Thomas, William Thompson, Fraser Brooks, Leo Smith, Daniel Andrews-Jones, Max O'Connor, Chris Dow, Thomas Eckles |