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Honours even for U12s at Ealing Ealing U12s
14 Maidenhead U12s 14 |
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In an oddly short Sunday morning encounter where we were disappointed to find that Ruislip had pulled out of a triangular fixture, both Maids A and B squads came through tough games against their hosts with honours even. Maids U12s A team played their most physical match of the season against an enormous Ealing side and emerged with a creditable 14 – 14 draw. Playing up a pronounced hill in the first half was a calculated risk and prompted an immediate and sustained test of Maids’ defence as wave after wave of Ealing attacks came down. Nerve held and teamwork was great as even where the odd tackle was broken there was cover in evidence to make up for it – Thomas Eckles providing one great example of a try saving effort. Things were looking ominous as Ealing got over the line, but were held up, and despite a great performance in the set scrums, Maids were struggling to adapt to the referee’s interpretation of the ruck laws, giving away a series of penalties. Sure enough, eventually Ealing broke through and converted, but all in all conceding only one try in the half with territorial advantage to come left the coaches feeling confident the 2nd period would be less one sided, even if the players were a bit shell-shocked from the barrage they had withstood. The advantages of playing with the slope became apparent early on in the 2nd half, and yet again it was human dynamo Markus Olivier who shrugged off and drive through a host of would-be tacklers to score for Maids. William Thompson converted to level the scores. Inexplicably, Maids then went to sleep, and within about 90 seconds Ealing ran straight through the centre to reinstate their lead. This served at least to galvanise Maids once more, and “Plan O” was employed once again, though this time Markus ran even further to score. Luke Thomas added the two points this time and it was all square again. Maids were forced to defend once again as Ealing made a concerted effort to neutralise their danger men, but neither line was threatened until the final move of the game when the ball went down the Ealing backs to the wing. Fortunately for Maids, centre Daniel Andrews-Jones put in a match-saving cover tackle smothering the winger firmly into touch, and the match ended. Squad: Markus Olivier, Edward Kaye, Michael Trevena, Dominik Bart, Duncan Jones, LD Basson, William Thompson, Fraser Brooks, Leo Smith, Daniel Andrews-Jones, Chris Dow, Sam Maguire, Thomas Eckles, Luke Thomas, James Balmer, Daniel Keir, Josh Edney, Max O’Connor |