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McSwan hat trick breaks Bracknell to a duck on great day for water fowl Bracknell U14s 0 v Maidenhead
U14s 41 |
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They say Rugby Union is the game played in Heaven. The only thing Biblical this Sunday was the possibility of a flood, an Ark having been sighted on the A329. Newbury’s game at Redingensians was called off but happily Bracknell were able to provide a pitch just about fit to play and the rain could not dampen Maidenhead’s steady progress towards the Mount Ararat of the League title. The first few minutes were predictably scrappy as the sides came to terms with the conditions. The noticeably smaller Bracknell pack stood up well to the visitors and held off Maidenhead’s best efforts to drive them off the ball. Meanwhile neither back line could get any running moves going at all. Then nine minutes in Bracknell won clean ball from a scrum on their 22 but the clearance kick went straight to fullback Lawrence McSwan around the centre of the field. His pacy run to within 5 metres close to the left hand corner led to a quick ruck from the base of which Dominik Bart dived over for the first try. Given the conditions and what happened next, an old cliché about floodgates springs to mind. First Ed Kaye caught the restart and executed a slick switch move with Fred Reid. Reid ran outside the wrong-footed Bracknell chasers and sped untouched all the way under the posts to double the score. Then Bracknell’s next restart went right, away from the packs, was caught by Alex Avery who found Tom Eckles on the burst. Eckles offloaded to McSwan and he ran in from 40 metres. With these two tries converted by Will Thompson, Maidenhead had scored 19 unanswered points in 2 minutes. For a short while thereafter, Maids seemed curiously reluctant to use their kicking game to command territory, an obvious option in the conditions. When they eventually did, and a penalty was kicked forward deep into Bracknell’s 22, the last home defender was robbed by three Maidenhead chasers and McSwan ran free over the tryline. Halftime came just as Maids looked likely to score again after another kick and chase. For the opening 15 minutes of the second period, the two sides traded weary errors. Maids allowed Bracknell back into a game that looked beyond them and only a try-saving tackle by Maguire kept them off the scoreboard. But now it was Bracknell’s turn to ignore the obvious options. Three times they ran penalties from their own 22 when clearance kicks would have relieved the pressure. Inevitably the turnover came and quick passes to the right put Maguire over. Perhaps Bracknell’s resistance was finally broken now, as shortly afterwards Sam Balfour scored from a short range penalty while the home side just stood and watched. Then the last move of the match saw McSwan run through ineffectual tackles from the restart and complete his threesome. McSwan senior happily did his duty in the clubhouse bar. This was not a perfect performance by any measure but it does confirm that a victory against Reading Abbey in two weeks’ time will settle the Berkshire League title with no need to clutch at bonus point straws. For those who do revel in statistics, this U14 squad’s points difference of +217 with one game to go is already better than their +205 last year and miles better than the +148 achieved by last year’s league winners. It is also more than 100 points higher than the second placed team this year. Will Abbey be swept away by the flood tide? Or will they break the habit and part the waters? All shall be revealed. (see Braywick, Chapter 7, verse 30.03.08). Tries: Bart (9min),
Reid (10min), McSwan (11, 16 and 50min), Maguire (40min), Balfour
(46min). |