U12s get warm welcome at Chippenham

Sunday 23rd October 2005

A depleted (!) squad of 27 made its way to Chippenham for some joint training and a series of matches on Sunday. We had a warm welcome from the Chippenham coaches and it was nice to see players mixing for forwards’ and backs’ drills, which many clubs seem to have stopped doing.

Despite the early start Maids were uncharacteristically wide awake for the first game and some good support play allowed Leo Smith, Chris Dow, Dominik Bart and LD Basson to run in 4 unanswered tries. Michael Trevena also scored after a powerful burst, but for some reason this try was disallowed, along with 2 others to which Maids felt they were entitled. The ref, however, is always right in rugby, as we reminded the players at the end of the game! A couple of the Maids players encountered some more “traditional” west country play, as the warmth of the coaches’ hospitality was offset by the interpretation some of the Chippenham players put on giving us a “friendly welcome”.

The next game was very closely contested, with some new squad members showing great promise under the leadership of Luke Thomas, whose penalty kicking kept Chippenham pinned back for long periods of play. A smaller pack held their own with Blake Nicol and Adam Callaway showing great determination, while Jacob Sanders and a boisterous John Edney had some great runs. In the backs we saw good support play and communication and some great tackling from Michael Lewis, Iain Whiteford, James Balmer, Gareth Orwin and Max Ring amongst others. Unfortunately Maids couldn’t quite get over for a try but there was much to feel positive about.

The final game of the morning was a “mixed bag”, with players old and new and a number of these playing out of position. The Head Coach also caused chaos by rotating players on and off the pitch at short intervals. Highlights, perhaps, were Alex Avery on the wing and Duncan Jones at prop!