U17s draw with Chiltern

Maidenhead U17s 15 v Amersham & Chiltern U17s 15
Sunday 16th January 2005

To mark the last-ever meeting between the two clubs in age-group rugby, there was an historic first at Braywick. Sadly for the visitors, it was not their first-ever win over Maids in all those years of trying. It was the first time the teams had met on grass, and Maids celebrated the occasion with a 15-15 draw which, though in essence unsatisfactory for them, helped continue their progress at the top of the BBO League.

Maids now need a draw or victory against Chipping Norton, and Maids have a high regard for the Chippy club, players and coaches, gleaned from personal observation and the testimony of others. The face an all-out battle against Chippy to gain the points they need.

No-one had to tell Maidenhead that their performance against Chiltern was in technical terms and many other areas, the worst in their whole league campaign. They always saw the big match against the fine Grove side as the key and after they played so well against Grove they clearly felt deep down that the job was done.

Accordingly, though the Chiltern contest was lively and because of the close-fought nature of the exchanges, always thrilling, the game never approached the standards and the spectacle of the memorable Grove-Maids match, too many Maids players appeared to be leaving the real graft to others.

Maids were dominant at the start, and they could easily have settled into their normal style had David Hodgson, normally so brilliant a goalkicker, not missed twice from close range. Maids took advantage of the fact that many of the visiting players and coaches were determined to help the referee with his decisions - as it turned out, the official had an outstanding match in the circumstances.

Hodgson, however, had a remarkable match. His leadership and effort was superb. Tom Morgan was lively in the fowards, Luke Knowles likewise. Maids were missing their normal lock, Chris Parrott, due to a shoulder injury but Drew Jones, who had been out of rugby for five weeks with a shoulder injury, stepped in and played heroicaly, eventually being told by Maids coaches to leave the field with one arm hanging by his side. In the backs, Alex Cannon, Sam Stefan, Andrew Hogan and Elliot Hawkes were superb in defence.

Chiltern did manage a close-range try before half-time but Maids' control became even more marked. Chris Adam, who was typically powerful in Maids' resistance, took a quick tap penalty, took the ball on and sent Tom Plumer crashing over in the right had corner to give Maids a 8-5 half-time lead that really should have been more.

However, at that point Maids seem to believe that the job was done. Chiltern established a momentum in the third quarter of player which brought them a penalty and then a converted try at the posts, giving them a lead of 15-8. Maids were heavily disrupted by injury in the second half, with fly-half Dayne Ferrar bravely returning to the field with head bandaged after sustaining a cut which eventually needed stitches.

Yet Maids never panicked. Their methodical defence held out against further attacks, their gradually raised the siege with bursts from Adam, now in the centre, and Andrew Mitchell. After a series of well-sustained drives from the forwards, marshalled from scrum-half by Olly Styles, Styles eventually chose his moment to spread the ball wide, and such was the brilliance of the Maids attack that they had time to see the ball bounce from Dayne Ferrar's long pass, and yet still score down the left with a man to spare. Ryan Christian was the scorer, and the centre cleverly threaded his way through nearer the posts.

Hodgson took the press kick of the season. He struck it perfectly,it went straight down the middle and the draw was secured.