U14s vs Saracens

4th November 2007

Maidenhead U14A 7 – 38 Saracens A
Maids had last encountered Saracens two seasons ago, and on that occasion had come out victorious, but it was clear before the game that there must be a substantial difference in diet between Berkshire and North London, as the Saracens side were comfortably bigger than their hosts, with three giants in particular presenting an obvious challenge. Nevertheless Maids have played big sides before, and the match started brightly with quick ball being produced twice from the kick off before a fine blind side break by Alex Avery put wing Fred Reid away to score. Fraser Brooks added the conversion and Maids were 7 – 0 up.

Unfortunately, in points terms, that was as good as it got for the home side. However, the match was actually much closer than the scoreline suggests, and there were plenty of positives, as well as some lessons to learn. As well as being bigger, Saracens were just a bit better on the day, and with various Maids players out of position to cover for injuries, that made the difference – or certainly contributed to it.

Saracens equalised after a couple of tackles were missed on the wing, and then went ahead through a beautifully executed backs move about which the Maids defence could do very little. Maids were very much in the game at half-time, however, trailing only 7-12, and were competing well at the breakdown, with Dominik Bart looking back to his best and Chris Dow proving as much of a nuisance at open-side as ever! Sam Balfour and Alex Avery were notable for their efforts up front as well, but had Maids secured the ball quicker after gaining the opportunity to do so, things might have gone differently.

As it was, Saracens’ big ball carriers stole possession back on a number of occasions and launched attacks which eventually wore the defence down, and a number of scores punctuated the second half, though Maids continued to make a contest of the game and had a couple of exciting runs from Fred Reid and Daniel Andrews-Jones on the wings, which were close, but ultimately not close enough.

Maidenhead U14B 17 – 17 Saracens B
As the scoreline suggests, this was a tight game between two evenly matched squads, but had Maids woken up a little earlier, they might have just secured a win. The match started well for Maids, with Markus Olivier scoring down the right wing (though touching down a little nearer the posts might have made the conversion easier!). The forwards were competing well, but allowing ball they should have secured to be stolen back by Saracens, which stopped momentum building. Markus scored again with almost a repeat move to take Maids to 10 points, but another clear scoring possibility was missed when a final pass was not given to a man in space.

The match tightened up with scores from Saracens before strong running from Lawrence McSwan secured a try, converted by Iain Whiteford, to take Maids to 17. Tyler Bello and Tim Cronback lead from the front to take the fight to the large Saracens pack, but in the end the visitors turned pressure into points to even things up, leaving Maids ruing a missed penalty that would have clinched the game. Honours even in a close game contested in the right spirit – we look forward to the return fixture next year.