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U13s' great performance at Luton Luton U13s 5 v Maidenhead U13s 32 |
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In an attempt to get a warm-up game for next week’s first League match against Windsor, Maidenhead U13s went on the fixtures exchange and were very pleased to accept an invitation from Luton RFC. On a very cold morning, the squad was warned in advance that they were “playing for places” and that there would be lots of rotation of “rolling subs” through the game. Maids proceeded to put together their best performance of the season so far against a determined Luton squad containing some very large boys including a very impressive inside centre, who was clearly their main strike weapon. Undaunted by their larger opposition, Maids rucked impressively and won plenty of ball which they moved well despite cold hands, freeing the backs to show what they can do on a good day. The first half had Maids playing with the advantage of a slope on the pitch, and Daniel Andrews-Jones crossed the line within 5 minutes only to have the ball held up. Encouraged, however, Maids pressed on and both forwards and backs took advantage of some great continuity and selfless play, with prop Hunter Goetz crashing over to score, followed by longer distance efforts from Alex Avery, Sam Maguire and Daniel Andrews-Jones. With a 20-0 advantage at half time things were looking comfortable, and a helpful wind had appeared that was blowing in Maids’ favour, but Luton now had the advantage of the slope. Sure enough, they took full advantage of this to send their big centre over for a well-worked score, with Maids’ tackles going in too high. This proved to be a wake up call, and two further tries followed for Maids, with Daniel Andrews-Jones set free after great work by the back row in securing the ball and finally Max O’Connor running half the length of the pitch to finish things off. Open side flanker Chris Dow, covering at wing temporarily, threatened to out-do this last feat by running the whole length of the pitch, but was adjudged to have gone into touch by the opposition 10 yard line just as the final whistle blew. A great performance by the whole squad. Selection problems galore for the coaches! The squad: Hunter Goetz, Michael Trevena, Josh Edney, Daniel Keir, Huw Kmiot, Hal Orchard, Duncan Jones, Jacob Sanders, Dominik Bart, Alex Avery, Chris Dow, Calum O’Flaherty, Luke Thomas, Will Thompson, Fraser Brooks, Leo Smith, Daniel Andrews-Jones, Thomas Eckles, LD Basson, Sam Maguire, Max O’Connor, Dhruv Surya Scorers: Tries: Daniel Andrews-Jones (2), Hunter Goetz, Alex Avery, Sam Maguire, Max O’Connor. Conversion (1): Fraser Brooks |