Sunday 12th October 2003

The first game was against Winchester and was a full blooded encounter. However, Winchester always looked the better prepared side and after sloppy tackling by Maidenhead managed to breach the defence for the only try of the game.

If they weren’t awake for the Winchester game, the Maidenhead squad certainly made amends in their second match against local rivals Drifters. The Maidenhead pack went on the rampage and the backs sliced Drifters to pieces to notch up 5 tries in the first half. While Drifters tried their best to defend, the power and pace of the Maidenhead running coupled with some superb support running left them clutching at shadows. The second half was over in a few minutes as Maidenhead continued where they left off and ran in two more tries before the referee called no side.

The third match of the day was against a strong Haslemere outfit. The boys from Surrey had traditionally proved to be a handful during previous tournament encounters and Maids were expecting no different in this match. And so it proved. For the first five minutes, the game ebbed and flowed the length of the pitch before indecision amongst the Haslemere backs over loose ball allowed an opportunist breakaway for Maidenhead to score. With their tails up the Maids team quickly scored a searing try on the left wing following sustained pressure and a devastating turn of pace amongst the backs. It was probably the try of the tournament. However, Maids started the second half complacently and let Haslemere come back at them. Nonetheless the defence stood firm this time, the whole team working hard for each other. Having weathered the Haslemere onslaught Maids were able to break away for the decisive score to win the game 15-0.

The final game of the day was against a bruising West Country outfit from Cleve in Bristol. Having won the Cleve tournament last year, Maids expected the West Country boys to be out for revenge and knew what to expect. It was a very scrappy encounter, which due to some indifferent refereeing threatened to boil over into some over robust rugby. However, to their credit the Maidenhead squad were not going to be intimidated. But neither could they make the most of their scoring opportunities, the match ending in a 0-0 draw.

The team put in some of their best performances ever at this tournament, with the defeat of Haslemere particularly notable. While ruing that early lack of focus, when they achieve the consistency they are working towards they will be a formidable team. They finished worthy runners up in an extremely toughly fought competition.

Squad: Alderson, Andrews, Ansell, Boyd, Cadden, Edwards, Faulkner, Foster, Harte, Heley, Hudson, Manning, McCarthy, Naish, O’Connor, Thompson