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Maids romp to Berkshire U14 title Maidenhead U14s 40 v Reading
Abbey U14s 0 |
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Seven games, seven victories; 267 points for, 10 points against. Maidenhead’s Under 14s left nothing to chance in this season’s county league competition. Abbey were blown away in the Braywick sunshine here today. True, the big tall Abbey pack won the lineout comprehensively and held their own in the scrum but, once the ball started to move around, they had no answer to the dynamism and relentless energy of the Maidenhead forwards. It is fair to say that the home backline played their part as well, in attack and defence. McSwan, Maguire and Andrews-Jones all broke the line repeatedly and Duncan Jones was in fine form with punishing positional kicking. Basson and Thompson harried and sniped from half back and winger Eckles was always threatening. Markus Olivier did not have much attacking ball to work with but made a number of telling tackles. Leo Smith’s distribution was typically precise and unselfish and his dummy calling could probably be heard at Abbey’s HQ in Caversham Park Village. Fraser Brooks was unlucky to have an offload knocked down when a try might have resulted. For all this endeavour outside, the day belonged to the low numbered shirts. Alex Avery opened the scoring with a trademark No8 pickup and surge after eight minutes. Although the second try was well scored by Tom Eckles wide on the left, it was slick passing and strong running by Mike Trevena and Dominik Bart that made the chance for him. Bart himself then scored the third try, touching down after a Jones kick wrong-footed the rushing defence. The final act of the first half was a breathtaking break by Sam Balfour from near his own line up to the Abbey 10 metre mark. Eventually held by three tacklers, he was still able to pop a pass to speedy lock Fred Reid whose pace was too much for the defenders. 26-0 at half time did not flatter the home side. The fourth try was inevitably another Avery special from the base of a 5 metre scrum. The score was wide on the left and the conversion looked near impossible against a brisk breeze. Whatever. Up stepped No6 Dom Bart to nail the extra two points and re-emphasise the Maidenhead forwards’ lock on this game. Kaye, Nicol, Jones, O’Flaherty and Bello did sterling work as well, and deserved the two live sheep and one pheasant thrown into their pit at the final whistle. Keeping them hungry obviously works. Finally with just a minute to go, Sam Balfour crowned his man-of-the-match display with a fine try, crashing through the Abbey midfield to score under the posts. Maguire’s conversion completed 40 unanswered points. It has been a successful and satisfying county league campaign and U14 coaches and players should be very proud of their achievements. Windsor (2nd this year) and Newbury (3rd) will come back strongly next season, and there is no room for complacency. But there is probably room for some celebration. Squad vs Abbey: Tries: Avery (9min, 33min), Eckles (12min), Bart (20min), Reid (23min), Balfour (49min). Conversions: Maguire (3), Bart |
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