U13s take on mighty Richmond

29th October 2006

A great start for U13 Bulls, but Richmond beef wins through
Maidenhead U13 Bulls tackled Richmond 'B's at the Athletic Ground under clear blue skies and mild temperatures - was it really the end of October?

The extra hour 'in bed' seemed to do the squad the world of good as they started the game with purpose and direction. The forwards were winning loose ball and the backs were having the opportunity of moving the ball. The 'B's first try came in just such a way with the forwards winning a line-out and the ball being quickly passed down the back line to winger Gareth Orwin who accelerated past his opposite marker and then cut inside the covering fullback to score under the posts. Steve Carn duly obliged with the straightforward conversion. Shortly afterwards, the forwards again won loose ball and this time it was the other winger, Dhruv Surya who had the pace to speed around the Richmond cover and score in the corner. Steve Carn missed the difficult conversion. Richmond then woke up and started to gain momentum in the forwards winning several prolonged mauls. It wasn't long before the Richmond backs started to make ground and with poor tackling from most of Maidenhead, Richmond scored 3 quick tries (all unconverted) before the break. 

The heat seemed to sap Maidenhead quicker than their opponents and despite several substitutions after the interval, the Bulls failed to muster a competitive challenge against a better drilled Richmond team and poor tackling was again to blame as Richmond ran in 4 more tries.

Piers Baron nearly got one back for Maids however he was held up just on the line.

The final score was 37-12.

U13 Stags hunted by enormous pack
It is always cause for a sharp intake of breath and a stiffening of resolve when one confronts a set of forwards comfortably bigger than one’s own; it is frankly pretty scary when the opposition’s back line is also bigger than one’s own forwards!

In that context, then, Maidenhead’s Stags squad did pretty well to front up to Richmond’s unbeaten A team on Sunday. While the scoreline was not one we will wish to remember, and the traffic was mostly one-way, there were a number of periods during the match (the squad’s first 50 minute game of the season, on a huge pitch) when Maids had their hosts under pressure, and it was clear they did not like it. Clever kicks from Luke Thomas and Fraser Brooks tested their back three on several occasions, making them look very uncomfortable, and this is where opportunity lay, behind the big lines of forwards and the centres>. Had the ref allowed advantage to run its course when it favoured Maids, then one or two scores would probably have come, but unfortunately he blew up very quickly once the ball began to move out wide.

Having said this, Richmond thoroughly deserved their win. They were well organized and used their size well to starve us of possession and to batter through our generally brave defence. They also showed themselves to be pretty handy off the ball, and streetwise targeting of one or two of our players worked for them. In fact they didn’t need to do this as they would have won anyway, but I guess the lesson is there to be learned, that we will meet teams like this, and we need to harden up and deal with it.

Despite the result, there were several positives to take from the game and a number of areas highlighted as needing attention:

Most pleasingly, although there was a bit of moaning about some of the overly physical attention being received and some of the decisions made, the boys all kept their heads up and kept going throughout. Leo Smith’s tough tackle when a try was 99% certain exemplified this – it would have been easy to just let the opposing player score.

Fraser Brooks and Chris Dow both had great games, Fraser making good decisions on the few occasions he had the ball, and tackling better than we’ve seen him, and Chris doing what all good open-sides do and making a right nuisance of himself. As he becomes more familiar with the position he will be even more impressive. Man of the match award, had we given one, would have been a tough call to make between these two.

Sam Maguire showed that even with a groin strain and a dodgy hamstring he is a class act at full back – we just want him fully fit again!

Huw Kmiot was thrust into the front row and will be sporting two bruised shins today, but he kept going and really raised his game in the 2nd half. LD Basson was another who tackled way above his weight and height, and, but for an early whistle, was probably our best bet to score.

All in all a brave effort to be proud of, with a number of areas of technique to improve on if we are to offset our size disadvantage.