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U14s v Ruislip- a game of two halves Ruislip U14s 57 v Maidenhead U14s 29 |
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A decimated Maidenhead U14s squad visited Ruislip on Sunday 23rd October. A growing injury list and half term holidays meant that Maids only had 14 players available to fulfil; this fixture. Ruislip to their great credit entered into the spirit of the game and agreed to play reduced sided matches to make the morning competitive. Unfortunately, the Maidenhead players clearly did not want to take part in the morning’s proceedings – a case of too much rugby over the previous 6 weeks? They did not tackle, did not compete at rucks and mauls, and when Heley and then Todd left the field injured it felt like our world had come apart. Consequently we shipped 38 points for no reply in the first half. It has to be said that while Maids were poor, the Ruislip No8 and No13 made sure that every indifferent tackle was punished with a demonstration of direct aggressive running from which the Maids squad would do well to learn. A bit of amateur sports psychology from the coaches at half time – something along the lines of buck your ideas up and start playing – had the desired effect (coupled with the substitution of the 8 and 13 by Ruislip). Maids started to make their tackles, get some continuity (which in retrospect was very pleasing considering how many key players were missing and how many were playing out of position), and, yes, even score some tries. Once we had worked out that by getting our strike runners into space we too could score, the game took on a new complexion. O’Byrne finally got to see the ball and in typical fashion blasted through the Ruislip defenders and scored another hat-trick, one of which was converted by Foster making his first appearance this season. Naish moved form 2nd row to full back attacked from a poor kick to cross in the corner and Cadden scored from a tapped penalty, adding the conversion himself (to the amazement of all!). In between these scores, our apathetic defence allowed Ruislip in for 3 more tries 2 of which were converted. The plus points from this fixture? Piers Kemp showed himself to be made of stern stuff at scrum half – just as well as he got little protection from the marauding Ruislip forwards. Jonny Naish adapted to playing full back well. We finished up playing with a smile on our faces after we scored a few tries. And while overall we were soundly beaten by a more aggressive and more committed Ruislip XV 57-29 , at least we won the 2nd half 29-19. |
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