Sunday 30th November 2003

Guildford & Godalming U12s 31 Maidenhead U12s 35

Maidenhead was able to field two sides, to the home side's one, so a game four quarters was played, with Maidenhead rotating squads after each quarter.

The B squad kicked off proceedings and looked threatening through out the first period of play. Particularly pleasing was the churning play of the forwards, spearheaded by Faulkner, and ably supported by Shannon, Roberts and Hedouin. The driving play and close support kept Guildford on the back foot for most of game. Peach and Andrews both had a couple of good breaks and worked hard in the rucks and mauls. The half back pairing of McCarthy and Tsujiyama was again working well, allowing Tsujiyama to make a couple of searing breaks before offloading to the supporting backline. The backline had a bit of an experimental look about them with new-boys Miles, King, Scott getting their second, and Wakeman his first, games for the club. However, they linked well with Fry and Sugden making good ground.

However, despite the fact that the play was all Maidenhead, the strong running Guildford backs managed to beat the Maidenhead tacklers and outflank the defence twice to score tries. The kicks were good and Guildford turned round to a 14-0 lead.

For the second period the A squad came on, but seemed to leave their rugby brains on the sideline. Despite dominating the forward exchanges and pressurising the Guildford backs they could not really break free. Eventually Alderson, the scrum half, had had enough and decided to go for it himself, single handedly running in from halfway. Harte kicked the conversion for Maids to compete the 2nd quarter 14-7 down.

The third quarter followed a similar pattern to the first, with Maids dominating everywhere except the score board. One notable moment (unfortunately for Maidenhead) came when the big Guildford winger 'Lomued' the Maidenhead defence as though surrounded by a force field! Again Guildford scored three tries by outflanking the flat footed and at time unconvincing, Maidenhead defence. However, only one conversion was good, so at the end of the third quarter Guildford had a 31-7 lead.

The A squad took to the field, knowing they had to score 4 tries to turn the game round. Again there were a few experimental changes to the line up, including Messing at prop, Cadden at centre and Ansell on the wing. Luckily they had reinserted their rugby brains this time and proceeded to take Guildford apart. The demolition started in the forwards with Naish, O'Connor, Townsend and Manning driving the ball up field. Alderson was bale to use good ball effectively until he had to be replaced due to a nose bleed. Heley took over at scrum half and the game really took off. Harte was able to unleash a potent back division comprising Boyd, Heron, Hudson and Thomson.

Cadden stuck first for Maidenhead with a fine solo run from midfield. He followed up with a second soon after, robbing the defender as he caught a well judged kick from Harte. Harte also made both conversions. The third Maidenhead try was a beautifully crafted effort, with forwards securing good, quick ruck ball, the backs spinning it quickly to Hudson on the wing, who juggled briefly before ploughing over in the corner. Again Harte made sure of the extra points. The final try was a Harte counter attack from a poor clearance kick. Having beaten a couple of defenders with left and right footed sidesteps he scored in the corner with three defenders on him. Heley made the conversion and the final whistle was blown. Maidenhead had finished victorious 35-31, and with some fine rugby..