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U17s' forwards tuck up Witney Witney U17s 10 v Maidenhead U17s 20 |
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Maidenhead's first game in the Champions League stage of the BBO competition appeared to be ill-starred when they faced Witney without four regular forwards. Harlequins Academy prop Pat McSweeney, line-out expert Drew Jones and in-form flanker Tim Johnson were all ruled out and then within 20 minutes of the kick-off, Wales Exiles flanker Mitch Batten was withdrawn out with a knee injury. Dangerous wing Elliot Hawkes was also injured. Witney's own remarkable commitment also added to Maidenhead's problems as the Oxfordshire side had obviously targeted cleverly their Champions league matches, to the extent of fielding weaker "squad selections" in recent games. They were also supported by a large crowd which made up in noise what they lacked in grace, subtlety and knowledge of the game. Their players did them credit. Witney played with a superb intensity downhill and downwind in the first half and were full value for their 10-3 half-time lead - Witney scored a try after a high kick ahead and also kicked a penalty against one penalty from Maids' centre and captain Dave Hodgson. Maids also lost former Berks county scrum-half Chris Adam just before half-time. |
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However, there was no panic at the break. Maids had already caused the home forwards no end of trouble in the scrum and line-out. A devastating second half performance by the pack saw almost the whole of the second half played deep in Witney territory. Andrew Mitchell, London Irish academy No 8, was press-ganged into service on the openside to replace Batten and played a wonderful role, Jack Robinson was back to his best in the front row and Chris Parrott a continual source of line-out ball. However, it would be churlish to single out any of the Maids pack, who were in fierce form. Olly Styles, who entered the fray instead of Adam, soon had Maids playing with more fire and one long run by Styles established a long siege from which Styles scored - Maids scored further tries by Andrew Mitchell and Dave Hodgson with one conversion by Hodgson completing the scoring. If there was one drawback it lay in the failure to take scoring chances - incredibly, Maids lost the ball on or over the Witney line on five occasions, and two other tries were ruled out by the referee even though Maids played appeared to have made perfectly valid touchdowns. Hodgson played a superb game in the centre but again, there was so much passion and good play on show that to single out more backs would be wrong- Will Grant came on in the second half for his first appearance in Maids' league side. |
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Maidenhead's squad was: |
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