| U13s snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
Newbury
U13s 12 v Maidenhead U13s 10 |
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| Maidenhead U13 managed
to snatch a defeat from the jaws of victory at Newbury today! A first
half lead of 10-nil to Maids was over turned in the second half with
12 points from Newbury – that extra conversion of the try making the
telling difference.
Whilst referees shouldn’t change the course of events on the field a particular decision alongside some indiscipline in the front row led to a dramatic turn around in the game…read on. Maids began with a confident mood and aggressive forward play that led to the Chris Cameron going over the line early on only to have the try disallowed but even allowing for this continued pressure led to Ben Alderson getting across the line after just 7 and half minutes. The kick for the extra points was an extremely tight line and we couldn’t unfortunately benefit from it. The game remained close fought from then on until the next break in the play when Maids got across the line after getting the ball to the wing a strong charge for the line we took a two try lead at 25 minutes. A near interception by Jordy at outside centre wasn’t quite grasped fully but the interplay was clearly going Maids way. Newbury came back with a 10 minute period of concerted pressure resulting in a try for Newbury – but skilful play from the defence held the ball up and Newbury were pulled back from the line. Then the turning point – a scrum on the Maids 5 metre line pulled up twice and our front row complained about dropping shoulders to the Referee…this was seen as dissent and he awarded the ball to Newbury as a penalty – they took the ball quickly and the ran over the line whilst Maids protested….and unfortunate event but even the referee admitted after the game that he should not have awarded the penalty in hindsight. Great! The windy conditions had been having an effect all day – line-outs had proved very hard to keep straight and kick-offs often fell short because of the wind, but kicking for advantage was fully utilised and so the game remained a forwards fighting game. Maids failed to pass the inside centre too frequently and only on three occasions did we use the full lines. Some poor decisions making began to creep in with Maids pressured in the own 22 we didn’t kick for touch quickly enough, we failed creatively in the backs and the forwards heads began to drop when points didn’t come. We had a few forwards standing off in important mauls and tired legs after the Xmas break clearly showed. In the second half Jordy was substituted and Ben moved to outside centre – this seems to have disrupted the momentum of the Maids players and we lost out going forward, many saw this as a change in the game that shifted advantage to Newbury. The referee had cautioned a Newbury centre on three occasions and yellow carded a player for Newbury for late tackles – but generally the game was in good order. The killer blow came three minutes from full time when Newbury pressured the Maids line and a couple of missed tackles led to a try under the posts which was easily converted. That was it 12-10 with three minutes and Maids had too little time to come back. These days happen – but Maids relaxed and didn’t push their early advantage – it isn’t over till the fat lady sings! An extra fixture against Old Ruts is on the cards next week and then the next league game is against Reading on the 30th January. Let’s hope we can push home the advantages on that occasion |