U11s at the Chippenham Festival

Sunday 29th March 2009

Two even teams show good team spirit, but get beaten by better sides at the Chippenham tournament

Maidenhead RFC U11 Tigers played well at the Chippenham tournament on Sunday 29th March. Competing in a tournament of mixed A and B squad pools, facing teams from Stroud, Marlborough and Salisbury rugby clubs. In their first match the Tigers were against an A squad from Stroud. The Tigers demonstrated excellent passing and tackling throughout the match which end 5 - 20 to Stroud. During the game, Khalid Omar, Julian Guy and Daniel Henshaw made some clean breaks from rucks, but were beaten by strong Stroud defence, however, from a scrum near the Stroud try-line, Tigers scrum-half, Will Lawrence made an excellent pass to Julian Guy who scored the Tigers only try of the match.

In their second match, the Tigers faced Marlborough B and demonstrated why the whole Tigers squad can play excellent rugby! With a final score of 40 - 0 to the Tigers, Will Lawrence scored the first try for the Tigers, early in the first half. This was quickly followed Kieran Evans first try of the game and a third from Chris Cousins. Tigers continued to show dominance, with Khalid Omar delivering Tigers fourth try just before half time. As the game went into the second half, Ben Lawrence continued Tiger's drive with a fifth try and with great passing from a scrum down the line, Kieran Evans scored his second try of the match and the Tigers 6th try overall. As the Tigers dominance continued, further tries were scored by Julian Guy and Alex Thompson.

In their third match, the Tigers faced Salisbury A. In the first half, Tigers played and defended well, but were down 15 - 0 by half time In the second half the Tigers pushed hard with some clean passing from Will Lawrence and drives forward from Abigail Dow, however, Salisbury proved too strong on the day and won the match 20 - 0.

In the other pool, the Lions had similar mixed fortunes

Game 1 Wootten Bassett, won 15- 0
The first half was evenly matched teams and scoreless as the teams settled in to the game. In the second half, improved tackling from all players showed how games can be won. Wootten were drawn to the far right in their 22 and quick ball down the line to Tom Kynaston, allowed winger Alex Martin to score on the left from a text book move. The second try came from winning the Wootten line out, with the ball then passed down the line, to fullback Scott Prince and another score. Finally, Joel Greene caught a Wootten clearance kick and ran it back in to score a 3rd. Some exceptional tackling came from L Jones and Tom Kynaston. Mat Brienza came on in the second half to add some new talent to the team with some excellent cover on the wing. Good pressure placed by Second row Conor Dunne, getting over the gain line through forward running. We need more of this!

Game 2 Marlborough A, lost 10-5
Marlborough dominated the first half and got 2 quick tries, then the Lions began to get back in to the game, with Abigail Dow almost scoring but being pushed into touch just before the ref blew his whistle for half time.

Second half Maids began to dominate the game, tackling was excellent, quick passing and running to outside centre Lawrence Hull for a try, with Alex Martin on the wing giving excellent support. Remainder of the second half was all The Lions game but strong Marlborough defence did not allow another try through; the eventual score did not truly reflect the work that the Lions had put in.

Game 3 Bath B, won 15-0
Lions were expecting tough opposition from Bath judging by their performance with other teams, but from the start the Lions were fully charged, Bath kicking off, quickly caught by Alex Martin and fed back to Scott. A lot of ground was made; offload and fierce run by Jack Turner saw the first try.

The second try came from constant pressure from the forwards, notably Sam Hoxley and Jack Harris pushing Bath into the far corner; ball fed out of the ruck by the smallest player to a well disciplined line giving space for Scott to score.

The final try came as the result of a mistake made by Bath –a “wink “by the bath hooker to the player he was passing to gave the game away –W Doolan intercepted the pass, fed quickly to James Millwater then Fly Half Abigail saw the space and made a fast run to score.

Last play nearly saw another try from a good pick up by Joel but was disallowed and the final whistle blew. Great games and a great event. Missed the next round by a Lions whisker!!

In general
The Lions consistently put in their tackles. There was good use of the backs line with the wingers seeing much more of the ball than they would normally expect. Several times the fullback Scott Prince burst into the line taking the ball at speed and made huge amounts of ground. Support by all team members was very good. William Doolan ruled the mauls many times. On those few occasions when he didn’t emerge with the ball, he made sure that the opposition didn’t.