U12s v Chippenham and Aylesbury

Sunday 24th October 2004

Two Maidenhead Under 12 teams (Sharks and Marlins) squared up to Chippenham and Aylesbury in a highly competitive triangular fixture.

Sharks
The Sharks overpowered Aylesbury As with a fine display of attacking rugby. Aylesbury were under pressure from the start when Michael Habgood raced through to within two metres. Ben Pritchard followed up and drove over for the opening try. Miguela Kerrins and Oliver Evans tackled strongly throughout. From a line-out five metres from Aylesbury’s line, Pritchard won the ball to feed Charlie Wickham-Smith who stormed through for the second. Alex Ridgeway was too pacey for Aylesbury’s backs and landed the third try in the corner to wrap up the match.

The Sharks scored first against their West Country visitors through James Parrot after an excellent run by Paul Sayers, but Chippenham As provided stiff opposition, taking the lead with two well-worked tries. The Sharks never let up though and came back strongly to level the scores after ratcheting up the pressure in the second half. The ball was worked out wide for Sayers to dink his way through. With time running out, Morgan Davies, Sam Yates and Tristan Cadden repeatedly threatened the try line but were unable to break the visitor’s fierce defence and the Sharks were unlucky not to grab a last gasp winner.

Marlins
The Marlins started brightly against Chippenham going in at the break 7.5 thanks to a well-worked try by Daniel Tydeman and a Tom Simpson conversion. Forwards Michael James, Matthew Quinn and Alex Jones kept the Marlins driving deep into Chippenham’s half. A great run by George Kirk almost put the game in the bag, but Chippenham fought back to win, scoring two late tries.

Another well-organised display by the Marlins saw them take the game to Aylesbury but they couldn’t make possession count. David Walker and scrum half Seb Owen were behind many of the Marlins best moves. Aylesbury ran out 15.0 winners at the end of an entertaining encounter.

Results

Sharks
Sharks 15-0 Aylesbury
Sharks 10-10 Chippenham

Marlins
Marlins 7-19 Chippenham
Marlins 0-15 Aylesbury