U8s tournament report

Sunday 9th October 2005

There was lost of fun to be had last Sunday as the Maidenhead U8s fielded 3 squads at the club tournament and had a very successful day, with the training and practice sessions of the past month really paying dividends.

The A's got off to their customary sluggish start against Henley but fought back to come from behind and win 3 tries to two with Abigail Dow earning a hat-trick.

Both the Winchester and High Wycombe were closely fought matches, ending in 2 all draws with tries going to Joel Greene, Ben Lawrence, Abigail Dow and Scott Prince.

The next two matches against Buckingham and Aylesbury were won 4 tries to 1 with pairs from Scott Prince, Abigail Dow, and Joel Green with Ben Lawrence and William Lawrence nabbing one each.

This unbeaten run placed Maidenhead joint league leaders, but having scored two tries less than High Wycombe, they came the runners up in the competition.

Maidenhead had two evenly matched B teams and they both played outstandingly.

The Maidenhead Stags made a strong start, and after a balanced start took a couple of quick tries to surge ahead and defeat Henley 5 tries to 3 with a brace for James Millwater and one each for Julian Guy, Shane McShay and Jonathan Matthews.

Aldermaston caught the Stags on the hop with two early tries, however the Stags fought back to take the lead and in the thrilling finish Aldermaston drew level on the final whistle. Tries were scored by William Doolan and Julian Guy.

The Stags then went against the league winners (Windsor). This was a close match and the Stags were a little unlucky to not level the score. The final score was 2 tries to one by James Millwater.

The revved up Stags then overwhelmed Aylesbury 5 tries to 1 with braces from both Nia Wallace and Shane McShay. James Millwater once again made the score sheet.

The Maidenhead Bulls got off to a good start against Aylesbury with a 3-1 win win Christopher Cousins adding a pair and Lawrence Hull also scoring.

Henley proved to be tougher, but Maidenhead soon settled down, kept their composure and after scoring a couple of tries grew in confidence and eventually won 4 tries to 2 with pairs from Sean Longman and Christopher Cousins.

Next, against Aldermaston B, Maidenhead went behind early on, however full marks to the team as they didn’t give up and showed off some good individual skills in tagging and also some good teamwork in passing to finish up winners 4 tries to 2 with Sean Longman getting a hat trick and yet another try for Christopher Cousins.

Windsor proved to be too touch a nut to crack and despite battling on, went down 4 tries to 0.

The Stag's and Bull's last match was against each other with many Maidenhead parents not knowing which side to cheer on. Billed as mini clash of the Titans, whoever won that match would take the runners up position in the league. After a good, clean, hard fought contest the Bulls team eventually won through 6 tries to 3. George Durrant, Shane McShay and James Millwater all scored for the Stags and for the Bulls, Lawrence earned a well deserved hat-trick, Christopher Cousins a brace and Daniel also making the score sheet.

The Stags and Bulls thus finish as well deserved runners up and a great third place in the B league.