U15s Maidenhead Tournament

Sunday 8th October 2006

Five teams contested the U15s tournament this year, Maidenhead, Dinas Powys, Romford, Newbury and Wallingford. A glorious sunny Autumn day got off to an inauspicious start when it was discovered at 8am that the pitch had not been mown or marked. A bit of improvisation with some cones and spray paint meant that we did have a pitch of sorts to play on, not that the quality of our meadow was going to detract from the enjoyment of the day.

The format was a round robin with 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss. There were to be no conversions.

The quality of the tournament was very high this year, with Dinas Powys running out worthy winners, winning all 4 of their games, scoring a massive 25 tries and conceding only one, a well worked and well deserved effort from Romford. Dinas have strength, pace and power throughout their squad and were a delight to watch. Even their opponents recognised they were something special, and it must surely be just a matter of time before some of their squad will be gaining international recognition.

Maidenhead were runners up, winning 2 games drawing one and losing (by the smallest margin of any of the clubs there) to Dinas in the final game of the day – which turned out to be a must win for both teams. As always our game against Romford was a battle, and we were under pressure for a large portion of the match. It has to be said that much of this was self inflicted. But this Maids side has discovered some inner steel and our pressure defence coupled with some poor decision making by Romford kept us in the game. In fact in our counter attacks we had the best scoring chances, but couldn’t put them away.

Next up for Maids was old rivals Newbury. This was Maids most impressive performance of the day with the forwards taking it on up front and the backs slashing the Newbury 3/4s apart at will. How we only scored 2 tries through O’Byrne and Townsend (and the first of those was in the 13^th minute of the 10 minute 1^st half!) will remain a mystery.

Maids 3^rd game of the morning was against Wallingford. It is amazing that we have never played them before, when they are only ½ an hour up the road! Again the Maids forwards excelled – our line out has become a real potent force – delivering good ball to the backs. In this game we scored what to me was the try of the tournament – Heley delicately chipped the onrushing Wallingford defence for Cadden to catch it on the full and stroll over the line. A further 2 tries for the forwards, touched down by Congdon and Townsend, were just rewards for their hard work all afternoon.

Our final game was against DP: a win and we would be champions. A loss meant runners up. We had a simple plan to pressurize DP and try and stop their pacey and talented backs cutting loose. And it almost worked! We disrupted their 9 and 10 link, but had no answer for their exceptional organisation, getting stung twice as they moved the ball blind with our defence in disarray. Their third try came as we spilled the ball during a move and the last through some tired missed tackles. It is difficult to compete against genuine pace!

Notwithstanding the defeat in the ‘Grand Final’, Maids have every reason to be proud of finishing runners up – our best position in a number of years. The forwards were abrasive and combative, the backs quick and playing with reborn verve. This was definitely the best team performance this squad has put together in the past few years, and has shown the squad what can be achieved through commitment on the training pitch, and in matches. We’ve got Camberley in 2 weeks time and can’t wait!

U15 Tournament Results:

Maidenhead 0 Romford 0

Wallingford 0 Dinas Powys 7

Newbury 3 Romford 0

Maidenhead 2 Newbury 0

Romford 2 Wallingford 0

Dinas Powys 9 Newbury 0

Maidenhead 3 Wallingford 0

Newbury 1 Wallingford 2

Romford 1 Dinas Powys 5

Maidenhead 0 Dinas Powys 4