U14s victorious at the Esher Tens

Sunday 27th April 2008

Maidenhead Under 14s were victorious in the Esher 10-a-side tournament on Saturday, scoring 134 points across 4 matches and conceding only 17. The winning squad of 15 featured players from both the A and B squads and involved several people playing out of their normal positions in this variation of the 15 man game.

First opponents were London Welsh, and while it took Maids a little time to adjust to the format, 2 tries from Daniel Andrews-Jones and another from Markus Olivier, plus a conversion from Sam Maguire saw the final result a 17-5 win.

The next match was against London Scottish who had looked impressive in earlier matches, but Maids were now in their stride and a hat trick of tries for both Laurence McSwan and Calum O’Flaherty plus one apiece for Daniel Andrews-Jones, Thomas Eckles, Sam Maguire and Sam Balfour, with 3 conversions from Maguire and 3 from Duncan Jones led to something of a rout, and a final scoreline of 62-0.

Esher had 2 squads in the competition, notionally evenly matched, though in fact one proved far stronger than the other. Against the weaker side 4 tries from Sam Maguire plus others from Markus Olivier, Thomas Eckles and Duncan Jones gave Maids a 43-5 win. The final tournament decider against the other Esher side was a much tougher, tense affair, and the 3 earlier games and the high temperature took their toll. Maids took the lead through a Calum O’Flaherty try, somewhat against the run of play, and the physical Esher side would surely have equalised but for the same player twice making bad tactical decisions and running straight in to the tackle of Laurence McSwan. As it was, Maids held a slender 5-0 lead at half time, which was extended by a fine, powerful run from Daniel Andrews-Jones, with the conversion making it 12-0. Esher pulled one try back after Maids failed to play to the whistle and a knock on was ignored, but the pressure in the closing minutes was all from Maidenhead and they finished deserving winners.

The squad: Josh Edney, Mark Hine, Tyler Bello, Sam Balfour, Calum O’Flaherty (captain), Fred Reid, Dominik Bart, Luke Thomas, Markus Olivier, Duncan Jones, Leo Smith, Laurence McSwan, Sam Maguire, Daniel Andrews-Jones, Thomas Eckles