U8s romp to victory in Maids' Tournament

Sunday 8th October 2006

The sun shone on Maidenhead's Under 8s A team last weekend, as they won their first tournament of the season on home soil at Braywick Park. The tournament was a great success, with clubs attending from all over the country and from as far afield as Jersey.

The Maidenhead Under 8 A team kicked off their campaign with a tight match against old rivals, Henley. Henley took the lead, but Maidenhead came storming back with a brilliant, jinking run and score in the corner by Olie McGregor. Harry Wells' try then put Maidenhead ahead and it was a lead that they held onto until the last minute of the game when Henley scored a last-gasp try to snatch a 2-2 draw.

The Maids' second match, against Winchester, was equally tight and both defences played superbly to keep try-scoring chances to a minimum. However, the deadlock was broken by Gregor Peberdy who set the match alight with a scintillating run and score soon after coming on as sub. The Maids held on to win 1-0.

The next match against Windsor was a much more open affair, as Maidenhead at last found their attacking form. They ran in four tries, with Alex Sutton, Harry Wells, Olie McGregor and Jake Jenkins all getting on the scoresheet. Windsor hit back with a couple of scores of their own, but Maidenhead eventually ran out worthy 4-2 winners.

With Henley only managing a 3-3 draw against Aylesbury, Maidenhead knew that if they could beat Aylesbury themselves, in the last match of the tournament, they would be crowned champions. This was just the motivation Maidenhead needed and they put in their best performance of the tournament. Aylesbury were kept back by some brilliant defensive tagging and were never able to mount a serious attack on the Maids' line. Meanwhile, going forward, Maidenhead were full of speed and guile, and put together some great passing movements. They managed to run in 5 tries, with Harry Wells, Olie McGregor, Jake Jenkins (2) and Thomas Maclean all touching down. Maidenhead's Under 8 A team played some excellent rugby during the tournament, finished the day unbeaten and were full of smiles as they stepped forward to collect their trophy and medals!

Maidenhead Under 8s A squad:
Harry Wells, Olie McGregor, Harry McCaffrey, Thomas Maclean, Tom Green, Athena Peberdy, Gregor Peberdy, Taran Uppal, Jake Jenkins and Alex Sutton.

Under 8s B Team can hold their heads up high
Maidenhead's Under 8s B team put in a very creditable performance at the Maidenhead rugby festival that was held at Braywick Park last weekend. They found themselves in a tough group which contained two teams from Henley, as well as sides from Winchester, Aylesbury and Jersey. The Bs worked really well together as a team and won three of their five matches, giving them third place in the tournament overall.

Notable performances came from George Harris who always seemed to be right place at the right time, Tom Macklin who used his pace to score tries in four of the five matches and Saul Payne who led by example and made some really strong runs.

Maidenhead Under 8s B squad:
Ben Chippington, George Harris, Duncan Brown, Caidan Venables, Tom Macklin, Zac Sanders, Saul Payne, James Bedborough-Storesund and Marc Hedouin.