Missed opportunities cost U17s dearly against Bath

Maidenhead U17s 7 Bath U17s 8

Sunday 5th October 2003
Having suffered a heavy defeat to Bath in the corresponding fixture last year Maidenhead were looking to restore their pride and this they did, despite the final result, with a tremendous team performance in difficult playing conditions. The pitch, despite rain, was hard and Maidenhead contested the first half with great skill and commitment against a strong wind and strong opponents. Despite conceding a series of penalties for offside, which Maidenhead could not turn into points, Bath used the strong wind to their advantage with excellent positional kicking. Maidenhead’s well organised defence, marshalled by the half-back pairing of Wardle and Barnett and supported by excellent scrummaging from the pack and line-out work by hooker Shearer and jumpers Emmanuel, repelled the hard running of Bath. Dowling provided a safe pair of hands and made some excellent breaks from full-back to keep Maidenhead in contention in this keenly fought first half.

The game was being played at a furious pace with both sets of backs displaying exceptionally good handling skills but the defences held firm. The commitment of both sides led to a number of "skirmishes" but the game was well controlled by Referee Jackson. Despite valiant defence by Maidenhead in which, fly-half Wardle was prominent, the deadlock was broken by Bath five minutes before the interval with an unconverted try in the corner which gave the visitors a narrow half-time lead of 5-0.

At the turnaround Maidenhead, having made a number of changes, were now looking to use the wind to advantage but in the event made a poor start with Bath starting to take control of the game, increasing their lead after ten minutes to 8-0 from a penalty. However the storm was weathered thanks to some sterling work from Hunt and Robinson. Structure and order was restored with Neils, now on at scrum-half, ‘sniping’ to great effect at the base of the Bath scrum. The Maidenhead pack re-emerged with Brown, Corcoran, Burgess, Emmanuel, Scales and Griffiths driving Bath onto the back-foot for long spells as Maidenhead fought to turn possession into points. Bath defended resolutely but the pressure eventually told when superb handling by Maidenhead created an overlap for No. 8 Griffiths to go over in the corner; a try that was brilliantly converted from the touchline by the outstanding Wardle. Ten minutes remaining 7-8 and everything to play for. In a frantic effort to win the game Maidenhead spurned a number of try scoring opportunities; the lack of a cool head in the closing ten minutes proved costly and Bath were happy to hear the final whistle to run out winners by the one point.

This was a very hard fought game between two evenly matched teams that provided some first class rugby demonstrating that the game is ‘alive and well’ at this end of the grass roots. The level of skill, commitment and passion from both sides and the ‘nail biting’ finish, provided tremendous entertainment for the equally passionate parents and supporters on the touchline. The games was a credit to the players and coaches of both Clubs.