| MAIDENHEAD under 16s were rewarded
with success from a very fine team performance with both
forwards and backs playing their part to the full,
maintaining their record of winning their age group for
the last four years. They
began their campaign against a very competitive
Blackheath club, and Maids may have gone ahead after prop
Steve Bennett made a great break to the right and the
ball was driven on by hooker Jay Bowden, only for the
ball to be turned over.
They continued to press and eventually took the lead when
prop Terry Rainer set up the ruck on the right and the
ball came down the line for Matthew Ansell to open his
account.
Despite a number of other scoring opportunities, Maids
did not increase their margin before the break, and this
encouraged the opposition to come at them.
Blackheath had a sustained period of offence and pinned
the home team 10 metres from their line. Maids' forwards
defended resolutely and gradually pushed them back over
the 22. Another couple scoring opportunities presented
themselves to BIackheath but poor decision making and
some slack handling saw them held to just the single
score.
Local club Marlow were next in line
and they presented stiff competition until a quick break
from the base off the scrum by Gareth Edwards allowed
Nils Mordt to spring through the defence and touch down.
They added the next after a strong run from Damian Ball
and completed the scoring at 15-0, through Ansell.
Their best performance of the day
came against Abbey and they opened their account in the
first three minutes when Lock Tom Guest made a stunning
break in open play around the half-way line and eluded
two tackles to run in under the posts.
More power-play from the forwards, with Christian
Pedersen driving through the rucks saw quick ball down
the line and full-back Jonathan Hammond came into the
line and drew the cover before releasing Ansell for the
score. Ansell repeated his scoring when he took advantage
of a fine bit of footwork from fly-half Daniel Martin.
After the break, Edwards took advantage of some poor
defence and darted over from the scrum from three metres.
Guest added his second of the day when he seized on a
good break from Charlie Branch. Left-winger Bell added
his second when he raced on to a fine ball from Simon
Ward to run into the scoring zone unopposed.
Ansell completed the scoring when he found himself on
flanker Lee Page's shoulder with an easy chance to run
over, and finish the scoring at 30-0.
The last game of the competition
saw them play against an unbeaten Cleve outfit, who had
travelled up from Bristol.
This was very keenly contested and Maidenhead battled
hard to make the breakthrough, and made some unforced
errors in their desire to make the score.
The try eventually came when full-back Jonathan Hammond
made the break in the line, receiving a good pass from
Ward and jinked passed two tackles before getting clear
of the cover defence and running over the line to put
Maids ahead.
Cleve then shocked the home team with a breakaway try
from an interception, and it was left to scrum-half
Edwards to secure the score when he seized on a fine pass
from Ward, who had followed up on Mordt's well struck
kick into the defensive third, rounding off a great team
performance and deserved success.
The team were particularly
appreciative of the support work for the touchline of
team coach Simon Edwards, team manager Steve Young and
junior fixtures organiser Gordon MacDonald, who deserved
special thanks for providing excellent competition in the
age group.
|