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U12s do like to be beside the seaside 24th April 2005 |
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Maidenhead Under 12s’ end of season tour took them to the ‘sunny’ south coast for the Worthing Mini Rugby Festival on the weekend of 23/24 April, where they played some of their best rugby of the whole season. On a rainy Saturday, the team competed in the Burleigh Festival, narrowly losing 10.5 to Lincolnshire side Sleaford, after Michael Habgood gave them a first half lead. After a huge drive upfield by Ben Pritchard, making a welcome return from injury, Maids then turned over Sleaford’s scrum to win possession and Habgood found the gap. The sunscreen was kept in the kit bag with the raining falling as steadily as the mercury in the thermometer. In their next match the team ground out a compelling 5.0 victory over Welsh club Briton Ferry, slaying the Welsh dragons on St George’s Day with a try from Paul Sayers. Briton Ferry threw everything at Maids in the second half, which was fought almost entirely defending their try line, but the team never stopped fighting to protect their narrow lead. The sun finally put in an appearance on the Sunday for the main festival. Flip-flops were the must-have fashion accessory of the day for at least one optimistic parent. The team battled its way to the Cup quarter-finals with three superb displays at the group stage. First to fall were Old Elthamians. From a lively start, excellent passing and ball handling saw Ben Roberts fly over to give the Maids a half-time lead. They were untouchable in the second period with Paul Sayers’ probing run finished off by Charlie Wickham-Smith to double the lead. The work rate continued in the next game with a convincing 15.0 win over Hove thanks to the try of the tournament from Morgan Davies after a blistering period of play. James Parrott drove over for the second try and then, from the halftime restart, stormed forwards for the catch and charged over the try line again. The final game was a re-run against Briton Ferry and a tough tackling, finely balanced match ensued. The opposition had no answer to the sheer determination of Rory Creffield, Oliver Evans and David Walker. A 0.0 scoreline was a fair reflection of both teams’ outstanding efforts. Maids topped the group unbeaten with no tries conceded (the same position as Briton Ferry with the placings decided on the toss of a coin), setting up a quarter-final against a very skilful Sevenoaks. But with a near two-hour wait to take to the pitch again, the team was understandably a little jaded after a long day of peerless performances (as were some parents after similar levels of exertion the night before in the bars of downtown Selsey). Having gifted their opponents an early lead Maids were kept on the backfoot for most of the match. But they gave as good as they got and came close with another gutsy performance that restricted Sevenoaks to a single try. An excellent weekend of rugby where the whole squad showcased what they had learned throughout the season. The squad Results Worthing Mini Rugby Festival Quarterfinal: Maids 0 - 5 Sevenoaks |
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