U8s finalists at Saracens Tournament

Sunday 5th November 2006

Sunday 5^th November saw Maidenhead’s U8s ‘A’ team travel to Saracens in north London to take part in their second tournament of the season, having emerged victorious at their own tournament a month earlier.

Maidenhead’s opening group match was against Tring and finished 6–6, with the Maids making a number of uncharacteristic errors both in defence and attack. Next up was a strong Saracens side, buoyed by the enthusiastic home support. Both teams played open, attacking rugby but neither side could gain any real advantage. Amazingly, this match also finished 6–6; Maidenhead knew that they could afford no more slip-ups if they were to top their group and progress to the final!

The Maids finally hit top gear against Amersham & Chiltern, running out 6–4 winners, with deft tagging in defence and great support play in attack proving too much for the opposition. The strong teamwork continued in Maidenhead’s last group match against Harrow, which the Maids won 7–3. So, after a shaky start, the Maids had won their group and, in so doing, qualified for the final against an experienced and well-drilled side from Sandal in West Yorkshire who had won all four of their group games.

Maidenhead, who were underdogs in the final, got off to a cracking start, and took a 3–1 lead into half-time, thanks to a disciplined defence and some great break-away tries. However, Sandal re-organised themselves at the break and got stronger as the second half wore on. They slowly pegged back Maidenhead’s lead and summoned up one last effort to score with the very last play of the game and run-out 4-3 winners. Whilst disappointed to fall at the final hurdle, Maidenhead’s Under 8s had played some great rugby and to finish runners-up was a fantastic result given the strength of the teams they were competing against.

Squad: Athena Peberdy, Tom Green, Jake Jenkins, Harry McCaffrey, Olie McGregor, Saul Payne, Gregor Peberdy, Alex Sutton, Taran Uppal & Harry Wells