U9Bs win cup at Marlow tournament

Sunday 10th April 2005

Maidenhead U9 had a terrific and profitable day at the Marlow Tournament on April 10^th.

Drawn in the ‘B’ pool against local teams from Wasps, Marlow, Aylesbury and Redingensians, Maidenhead put on a terrific display of rugby talent.

Led by Ruth Dow the Maidenhead pack pushed Marlow deep into their own half and Marlow found the pressure unrelenting until Sam Bishop broke through to take the first of many tries. Marlow retaliated, pushing Maidenhead into their own half but ultimately failed after meeting determined tackling from Matthew Venning, Christopher Hudson, and CJ Nicholls. Two breakout tries from Sam Bishop and Peter Watts completed an eventful first half.

In the second half Marlow stayed penned in their own half after the restart with Ruth Dow and Charlie Thomas probing the Marlow defence.

After a series of punishing rucks involving Charlie Thomas, CJ Nichols and Simon Graham, a hole opened which was ruthlessly (sic) exploited by Ruth Dow to score the final try leaving the score 4 tries to nil.

In the second game against Aylesbury, the pattern established against Marlow was continued. Peter Watts scored first in a heroic solo effort. Aylesbury’s determination to reply with some flowing passing moves was stifled immediately by tackles from Matthew Venning and Christopher Hudson. It was a Christopher Hudson drive forward and then offload to Simon Graham that enabled a second try. In the second half, both teams surged backwards and forwards, mainly in the Aylesbury half with Maidenhead tackling and mauling. The score was 2-0

In the bright sunshine and balmy Spring air it seemed that nothing would stop this U9 team. The third match against Wasps started in with Wasps in the Maidenhead half, but the combination of a Dow scrum half unloading to Simon Graham resulted in the first Maidenhead try. Wasps fought back with Maidenhead committing hand off and tackle errors, but the Wasp team failed to capitalise on these. In the second half Maidenhead kept up the pressure with Wasps and were rewarded when Peter Watts ran through a flat footed Wasps defence to score the final try. The score was 2-0.

In the final Pool B match against Redingensians Maidenhead started confidently and showing no signs of slowing down, Sam Bishop playing in the centre scoring easily from the first scrum. Redingensians replied immediately, pushing Maidenhead back, but were answered in turn by a blistering drive from Simon Graham who unloaded to the ever reliable Peter Watts, who in turn passed the ball to forward Michael White. Michael drove through the Redingensians pack to score a spectacular try. The first half was concluded when Matthew Price ran the ball over the try line again after a scrum in the Redingensians half. In the second half, an inspired Redingensians passed the ball swiftly out to their winger who scored the only try against Maidenhead in the Marlow Tournament, pushing Maidenhead briefly onto the back foot. Matthew Venning and Peter Watts then combined for a scintillating try in running through the entire Redingensians team.

The final nail in the game was a team effort with quick ball from Matthew Price feeding Simon Graham the last try of the pool matches giving a final score of 5-1.

Maidenhead, captained by dogged tackler Christopher Hudson, then went on to play the winners of the Pool ‘A’ U9 B tournament matches which was the U9B team from Henley RFC. Henley started confidently against steady tackling rucking and maul pressure from Maidenhead. The deadlock was broken after five minutes when Peter Watts did his trademark wriggle though the opposition defence to score the first try. Following a Maidenhead throw in close to the Henley line, Henley broke out feeding the ball to their winger just before half time. Only a dramatic running back tackle deep into her on half by Ruth Dow stopped Henley from making it onto the score sheet. Soon after half time Ruth Dow ran in for the second try and this was followed by Sam Bishop driving forward to set up Simon Graham for yet another try. At this point Henley lost discipline allowing Maidenhead to complete the rout with another Ruth Dow try. leading to an emphatic 4-0 score line.

At the end of the day the Marlow U9 B tournament cup was raised by the Maidenhead side.