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U17s second half revival saves the day Buckingham U17s 10 v Maidenhead U17s 19 |
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Maidenhead Under 17s played their 2nd fixture last Sunday in the new BBO League against Buckingham. Maids were keen to continue their winning start but with no previous fixtures between the clubs as a guide, the strength of the Buckingham side was unknown. Despite the protestations of the Coaches, the squad had decided before the kick-off that this was going to be an easy fixture – little did they know! The arrival of October heralded autumnal conditions with a steady drizzle falling for most of the match. There was also a blustery wind blowing up a considerable slope which played havoc with the first half kicking tactics of the Maidenhead backs – the fact that all the points in the match were scored against the wind showed that both teams still have to understand how to use the wind to their advantage. |
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| The first half was one of growing frustration for the Maidenhead team – ground was gained through hard work only to be thrown away either with a kick going dead or by a steady stream of penalties. The work was made even harder as most of the ruck ball was very slow due to poor body positions by the forwards and naive ball presentation when taking the ball into contact. The effort required to retrieve this situation contributed to the number of penalties. The good news was that the traditional Maids strengths in the scrum and lineout were working well and this was to pay dividends later as the Bucks forwards tired. There were also a number of injuries to disrupt the flow and Richard Chaytor came on the field twice as a blood replacement for Captain Dave Hodge and Winger Chris Richardson. | |||
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| The report so far makes it look as if Maids were the sole contributors to their poor first half performance. However due tribute must be paid to the Buckingham defence which was superbly marshalled especially the mid field trio who gave Maids no room what so ever - the special mid-week training session organised by the Bucks coaching team was paying dividends. It was a harrying defence in the Maids half that led to Bucks scoring their only try. As Maidenhead defended a scrum on their 22 there was confusion over who was going to take the pass, the Bucks defence was up fast, hacked the ball on and a Bucks centre dived on the ball to score. The kick was converted and with a penalty led to the half-time score of 10-nil in favour of Bucks. | |||
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Would Maids be able to improve their game for the 2nd half? A number of players had strong words for their comrades at half time and the words were put into deeds almost immediately. Play moved to the lowest part of the pitch and from a ruck 15 meters out and close to the touchline, scrum half Chris Adam fed left wing Alex Cannon – who with great pace and a well timed dive just beat 3 covering defenders to squeeze in at the corner. Maids continued to exert pressure for most of the 2nd half as their fitter forwards started to win some good quick loose ball and the team started to gain some momentum. The Bucks midfield defence was starting to crack and Ryan Christian was held up just short of the line. From some concerted effort near to the Bucks line, Chris Adam was able to score from close range under the posts that made the conversion by Dave Hodgson a formality. This took Maids into the lead. |
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The match was still not won and although the majority of the time remaining was spent in the Bucks half, the wind picked up a couple of loose balls causing the large group of Maids supporters much nervousness. The game was finally put beyond doubt when Ryan Christian scored an excellent try after the ball had been spun out wide and Ryan had cut back inside beating a number of defenders to score under the posts. Dave Hodgson converted to give a final score of 19-10. There was much relief at the final whistle as Maids had won a match they could have lost. The players did not need telling that their attitude prior to the match had nearly let the game slip and the coaches hope they will not make the same mistake again. All can be happy with the second half performance which showed the true form of this Maidenhead team. Maids remain un-beaten and in the next 3 weeks, have two further matches against Banbury and Oxford to compete the league stages of the Under 17s Championship. |
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Maidenhead's squad was: |
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