Success for U12s against Redingensians

Sunday 15th January 2006

Just under 60 Under 12s enjoyed a joint training session and a series of highly physical yet good spirited competitive matches on Sunday.

Maids had considerably more players available, so squads were larger than under ideal circumstances leading to lots of rotation and consequent disruption, but Maids still won 3 out of 4 matches, and were undone in the one game lost by the efforts of two strong Maids players loaned to Redingensians!

This game was the first for the "B" squads, and the two players on loan were Dominik Bart and Chris Dow; there was no doubting their commitment on behalf of their temporary teammates, as Dominik scored two tries and Chris Dow added a third! Whilst speedster Dhruv Surya pulled one back for Maids, converted by Steven Carn, in the end the result was defeat by 4 tries to 1. The fact that 4 of the 5 tries had been scored by Maids players was scant consolation!

In the re-match the teams were slightly shuffled, and the result was reversed, with great teamwork leading to a good win, as Dhruv Surya, Dominik Bart (this time playing for Maids) and Shiv Khindria all scored tries, and Steven Carn knocked over all the conversions.

The "A" games both saw some thumping tackles and great skills and commitment from both sides, with the Maids squad containing at least one player in James Balmer making his "A" team debut in his first season of rugby. Daniel Andrews-Jones opened the scoring for Maids with a great change of direction and a powerful run, with the try converted by William Thompson. Fraser Brooks added a second from an interception and converted it himself to give Maids a 2-0 lead which they just held on to at half time as great defence from about half the side held up a Redingensians attack on the line. The visitors came back strongly in the second half and eventually forced their way over for a score, but in the end Maids had enough resilience to secure the 2-1 win.

The second "A" game saw a virtuoso display of power running from Markus Olivier, who proved virtually unstoppable on a number of occasions and scored twice to secure a 2-0 win. Will Thompson performed the kicking duties, overcoming a spirited attempt to charge the conversion by a very sporting Redingensians side who never gave up.