MRFC U17's v Harpenden 8/10/00

Maidenhead Under 17's began their home match with Harpenden, current Hertfordshire County champions, with an outstanding first half display from the pack, who showed textbook cooordination and execution in both their set moves and open play. They quickly took the lead when Steve Bennett picked up in the loose after a great front row clear out from Terry Rainer and Simon Ball. Bennett put in a huge drive and gained nearly 10 meters before they secured the scrum. Tom Guest picked up from the back of the scrum and sent the ball out for Matt Ansell coming into the line and he cleverly drew 2 defenders before releasing Nils Mordt to run over unopposed.

The forwards kept up incessant pressure and their power really made the difference, with some good turnovers in the rucks and mauls, and at least 3 strikes against the head for hooker Ball. Scrum half Gareth Edwards fed Dan Martin and he evaded 3 tacklers before popping the ball to Adam O'Reilly who dived over for their second score under the posts, with Simon Ward converting.

Chris Cracknell, who had a very impressive game at flanker linked well with the open play and another fine drive from the pack gave him the power to plant the ball for the third try. Some excellent tactical play saw Edwards drive the forwards over to the left before releasing the ball down the line, in which a very determined Lee Page looped around the line to make the extra man and find centre who was Ward clear to score in the right hand corner.

The visitors started to pick up their game and there was an outstanding double tackle from Guest which epitomised the determination and speed which is becoming a trade mark for his game the season. Christian Pedersen at lock was also making some very big hits and this allowed Maids to regain control of the forward play.

With a 24-0 lead at the break, Maids started to sit back a bit and some fine defensive tackling from Ian Lee and Damian Bell down the wings kept the clean sheet in tact.

A strong run from Anthony Lane resulted in a scrum 10 meters from the line and some good support play by forwards Chis Young and James Carne saw them set up a maul and roll over the line with Guest the scorer.

From a penalty near the half way line, Ward took a quick tap and fed it out to Page who passed well to release winger Bell down the right touchline to score in the corner.

Harpenden then caught Maids defence flat and tapped the ball over the top to score under the posts and they were further rewded when they converted a penalty.

The final score went to man of the match Tom Guest who received tha ball from Martin and made a powerful break from 35 meters bursting clear of the defenders and outpacing the covering full back, to complete the scoring at 39-10.