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U13s rule at Redingensians Redingensians
U13s 12 v Maidenhead U13s 17 |
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Redingensians made Maids work hard for their win in another match that provided plenty of talking points. Unlike last week’s defeat, Maids put their hosts under pressure from the whistle with plenty of quick hands and flowing play. Morgan Davies and Paul Sayers worked an early opening on the left and Davies was unlucky not to score. But positive moves often ended with Maids losing possession in the loose ball and rucks. Redingensians gave away a regular supply of penalties. From one of these on 20 minutes, Ben Pritchard and Thomas Simpson drove the ball to the try line where they were held, only for Elliot Reid to provide a great follow-up in the corner to put the visitors 5.0 up. This only served to sting Redingensians into action and they began to make some headway. As half-time loomed they scored and converted with a rare venture beyond Maids’ 15-metre line. Maids were still going into rucks with the ball but not coming out with it, a point the coaches urged them to remedy during the turnaround. The game was more evenly poised now with Redingensians gaining ground through their kicking and Maids huffing and puffing to work their way back in. Tristan Cadden and Sam Yates darted and probed; Rory Creffield and Connor Murphy put in some good tackling. But the boys weren’t offloading quickly enough and, when tackled, found themselves isolated too many times. What was needed was a ‘significant moment’ and it duly arrived, courtesy of Michael Habgood. Eye-witness accounts vary about the distanced travelled but reliable sources close to the action confirm he began his epic run from within his own five-metre line, back-tracked and ran sideways before launching, missile-like, for the posts at the opposite end. Dodging, jumping, handing-off on the way he dived between the posts, exhausted, to thunderous applause, having puts Maids back in the lead. Paul Sayers converted to make it 7.12. That was all the motivation the boys needed and they rallied. Clearly stunned, Redingensians let their guard slip a second time in as many minutes, allowing the visitors to score again. This time it was a more textbook finish. Having won and held on to possession in the maul, Ben Pritchard slipped the ball to Alex Jones to complete a simple, effective move in the corner and stretch the lead to 10 points. But Redingensians weren’t finished and moments later having kicked their way upfield, they had players over on the wing and charged through to make it 12.17. Maids weren’t prepared to let their lead slip a second time and dominated the closing period with a series of powerful driving mauls from Mike James and Charlie Wickham-Smith deep inside the host’s half. They inched up with a series of scrums and might have scored another before the referee called full-time on another excellently officiated match. Squad |
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