Impressive start to the season for U15s

Maidenhead U15s 26pts v Wasps U15s 7pts
Sunday 18th September 2005

There is an old, but wise, saying in sport that you can only play the opponents who turn out on the day. Whether this was a full strength Wasps team which played Maids in the season’s opening friendly match does not matter. Any team wearing Wasps’ jerseys commands respect and a win against them is to be celebrated.

From the opening whistle the Maidenhead team tore into their opponents and always looked like the eventual winners. Despite losing captain and hooker Richard Higgs with an ankle injury early in the game, Maids kept their focus and with Ellie More giving a constant stream of good ball to fly half Billy Evans, the fast attacking combination of Christophe Bart, Aaron Lambert and James Henderson always looked too a lively handful for the Wasps’ backs.

No8, Ed Clark, appeared to have gone over for an early try, but was called back because the referee was not ready. From the next kick, the Maids’ backs switched the attack to the opposite corner and winger Zach Thomas went over for an unconverted.

Maids continued to dominate and centres Lambert and Bart both swept past the defensive cover for tries, which were converted by Billy Evans.

Early season friendlies give coaches excellent opportunities to test the depth of their squads, particularly when there are one or two new players on view. The disadvantage is that it can cause teams to lose some of their concentration and focus. Maidenhead certainly went off the boil in the later stages of the match, albeit that they never left the door sufficiently ajar for Wasps to threaten their lead.

In the final session Ed Clark took the ball in his own half and powered through the centre of the Wasps defence, spurning a number of offers to tackle him. He scored by the posts, giving Billy Evans a relatively easy conversion.

Wasps never gave up and scored a thoroughly deserved a converted try in the dying minutes.

All in all this was a most encouraging start from the Maids squad and the strength of their team spirit was demonstrated when Richard Higgs phoned from hospital to check how they had done.