U17s secure OBB Championship with win over Chipping Norton

Maidenhead U17s 41 v Chipping Norton U17s 7
Sunday 6th February 2005

Maidenhead U17s have won the Berks, Bucks and Oxon League in its inaugural year. The event was created to revitalise standards in the three counties and it achieved that goal emphatically. Maids played their way through testing Pool stages to reach the BBO Champions League and after some thunderous matches in the elite event, they came through unbeaten, sealing the title with a 41-7 victory before a large crowd on the first XV pitch at Braywick.

Afterwards, Dave Bolton of the Berkshire RFU presented the trophy to David Hodgson, the Maidenhead captain, plus a replica for the Club to keep in perpetuity. Hodgson was a worthy recipient. He and Tom Plumer, the vice captain, have shown great maturity and leadership and Hodgson played better the harder the games became. Against Chipping Norton, he also managed an extraordinary seven successful kicks from seven attempts, almost all from wide angles.

All Maids squad members received or will receive winners' medals. The team now moves into what becomes a country-wide event, seeded second of all clubs in the South & South West Division. They face a match against the second qualifiers from Devon county on February 20 at Bristol.

Maidenhead's players deserve every credit for their outstanding achievement. Their best performance came against Grove although such were the standards set that the biggest onslaught they faced came against Witney, who finished at second bottom of the table. Maids coaches demanded total team spirit and selflessness this season, with the team always being put about individual considerations and for the most part they were rewarded.

There was some danger that Maids would not go out in the grand manner because against Chippy, they turned in a very poor first half performance and led only by 13-7 at half-time. Maids allowed the pace of the game to drop to almost funereal levels. All they could manage was a powerful burst from Andrew Mitchell, the No 8 new to the team this season but who has quickly become a key and popular figure in the club. This was to be the first of an amazing hat-trick of tries by Mitchell. Hodgson kicked the conversion and two long penalties but in the first half, only the power of Chris Adam in the centre and the industry of Chris Parrott at lock kept Maids going forward, while Sam Stefan and Chris Richardson in the back three had to keep their cool under defensive pressure.

Harsh words were spoken at half time and gradually, Maids picked up the pace. Dayne Ferrar began to orchestrate the play at fly-half and Olly Styles' exhortations fired up the forwards. The weighty front row of Ben Tucker, Jack Robinson and Pat McSweeney began to rumble and Tom Plumer's charges began to cause havoc. Mitch Batten's control of the loose ball became secure and suddenly, it was a different game. Maids tried to serve the dangerous Ryan Christian on the left wing and the tries began to flow.

Mitchell completed his hat-trick in the second half, there was a well-deserved try by Luke Knowles, one of the most influential players in the whole league run, and McSweeney scored himself near the end. By this time, Maids were using their powerful bench. Will Grant and Richard Chaytor were busy on the wing and Andrew Hogan, Mr Consistency, made some clever runs from the back. Drew Jones proved his fitness after arriving for the final quarter and Tom Morgan and Ash Hanks added an edge to the forwards.

Hodgson kept kicking astonishing goals and the big win was sealed. So was the Cup!