U14s fell mighty Oakmeadians Maidenhead U14s 14 v
Oakmeadians U14s 10 |
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| Maidenhead
U14s took on one of the most powerful and successful U14
teams in England on Sunday in Oakmeadians, from
Bournemouth. The team and its coaches recently decamped
en bloc from the main Bournemouth club and have been
unbeaten for some time. They were easily the biggest and
best-organised teams that Maidenhead had ever met. The visitors dominated the game for the first quarter and a try down the left was the least they deserved. However, Maidenhead's amazing spirit and mental toughness gradually began to show itself, even though they were missing players from their squad though injury and unavailability, including the giant figure of lock Joe Thomas. It was still 5-0 to Oakmeadians at half-time but Maidenhead simply refused to cave in and to allow their unbeaten record to fall. The forwards tore into their opposite numbers, Maids famous blanket defence performed wonders and suddenly, Maids were looking dangerous. A lightning counter-attack launched by Ryan Christian and David Hodgson saw Alex Cannon racing powerfully through the cover defence to score. Hodgson converted. Later in the half, with Maids looking more and more composed, another brilliant attack ended with Cannon sprinting in to score again, and Hodgson's conversion made it 14-5. Oakmeadians, whose tempers frayed and who lost a player to the sin bin, managed a try from the last move of the match but their unbeaten record was shattered and Maids were full value for their victory - one of their very best. To single out any individual from the 19-man squad on duty would be churlish although the defending of the midfield and of Tom Lewis was astonishing. Cannon took his chances superbly, Ashley Hanks and the front row held on against massive opposition and eventually, started driving forward. Andrew Jones showed a full-scale return to form in the second row and the back row of Mitch Batten, Luke Knowles and Tom Kay was outstanding. Maidenhead: Andy
Hogan; Sam Stefan, Ryan Christian, David Hodgson, Alex
Cannon; Tom Lewis, Chris Adam; Pat McSweeney, Tom Morgan,
Ashley Hanks, Andrew Jones, Chris Parrott, Luke Knowles,
Tom Kay, Mitch Batten |
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