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U15s field 3 sides
and win 6 games in 2 days 2nd - 3rd May 2009 Newton Abbot, Tavistock, Old Elthamians, Crediton, Brixham and Torquay U15s 78pts (14 tries) vs. Maidenhead U15s 164pts (28 tries) |
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Maidenhead RFC U15s achieved a possibly unique clean sweep on their end of season tour in Torbay this sunny May Bank Holiday weekend. The club believes that no junior rugby age group tourists in the country have ever fielded three sides against A team opposition on the same day before, let alone two days running, and what’s more the Maidenhead sides won every game they played! Opponents Newton Abbot were beaten 36-7, Tavistock 29-15 and Old Elthamians 29-17 on Saturday. Sunday saw Crediton beaten 22-10, Brixham 31-19 and Torquay 17-10. Head Coach, Gareth Andrews-Jones said, “I could not be more proud of our 51 players. Their team spirit, skills and fitness have brought an incredible climax to a fantastic season. These were 6 tough matches against good sides, and as we mixed our squads up it was a real challenge for the Maidenhead boys, which they rose to really well.” All the players on tour should be proud of themselves with outstanding performances on the field and admirable discipline and behaviour off it. Not everybody can be named in match reports but all of these boys deserve to wear the club colours with pride: The Playing
Squad: Tigers
overcome spirited Newton Abbot challenge or The Silence of the Pigs After the long build up to the tour and a good 45 minute warmup session, Maids started fast. The first two minutes saw them camped in the home 22 and a panicky clearance kick fell short to Alex McCulloch, whose quick pass released Dominik Bart to brush aside weak tackles and score in the left corner. Maids continued to dominate in all departments and could have scored twice more in quick succession if the last pass had gone to hand but they had to wait until 11 minutes in when a simple passing movement along the line gave Lawrence McSwan space to step inside his opposite number and power through the fullback to cross on the right. Bart added the conversion. Newton Abbot (“The All Whites”) seemed to wake up at this point and their powerful forwards began to stuff the ball up their jumpers and make some yardage. The ball they were winning was not used effectively, however, their backs trying to play champagne rugby on a cider budget, with over-elaboration, poor passes and poorer catching negating all that low number effort. Sure enough Maids scored again, perhaps against the tide, with Michael Anderson racing round the left wing cover and round close to the posts after another precise and simple 9-10-12-13 movement opened up the space. Duncan Jones converted. At last the home side’s dominance in the loose at forward brought them a reward. Some no frills direct running pressed Maids back to their line and Newton Abbot crossed for a converted try to make it 7-19 at half time. The All Whites started the second half as they finished the first, rumbling upfield with energy and belief. They could not be certain of their set-piece ball, however, McCulloch and Reid dominating the lineout, and Nic Jones stealing scrum ball against the head, and their backs were still making everything look complicated and difficult. Yet again, when Maids eventually got themselves into the last third, simple basic rugby led to another score for McSwan, 9-10-12-13-five points again. Basson kicked the conversion to make it 7-26. The next score was another simple passing move but this time McSwan received the ball on the halfway line and his swerving and stepping run confounded the home defence and gained applause even from the home supporters. Basson converted again. Perhaps fed up with providing scoring passes, Leo Smith now decided to join in and, receiving the ball on his own 10 metre line, stepped inside his marker, outran the back row and the rest of the cover and did the fullback for pace on the outside. Jones missed the (dropkick) conversion, the kicking tee having been mislaid. A very social barbecue (100% beef burgers from Oak Cottage Farms, caravan holidays available) and bar was much enjoyed, along with complimentary home-made scones and clotted cream. A graceful speech was made by the Newton Abbot captain (Maids' players pick as Man of the Match), whose large bulk, boundless energy and impressive skills were no doubt due to his residence at Oak Cottage Farms (caravan holidaymakers welcome) and a diet of beef and home-made scones. And where were those pigs? Squad: Lions
beat Tavistock The hosts began to dominate possession and scored a second try to take the lead. This proved to be short-lived as Maidenhead No.8 Jacob Sanders crashed over from short range to level the scores with Thompson adding the conversion to give Maids a 2 point lead at half time. Playing with the slope in the second half Maids played a more territorial game and pushed Tavistock deep into their own half with an effective kicking game. The result of this was a try for Daniel Shipton in the corner after slick handling by the Maids' back line. Excellent line out work by the Maids' pack then created a chance for Sanders to add a second. He was unable to force his way over the line but managed to slip the ball to a grateful Mike Winter who touched down to extend the lead. By now the Maids' pack was rampant and after hard driving work by Tim Cronbach, Tom Allen galloped over the line to give Maids a commanding lead. Thompson added the conversion to make the score 29 – 10. Tavistock were now playing for pride and managed to give the home fans something to cheer about with a late consolation try. This was an excellent game between two committed teams, played with commendable sportsmanship and officiated by a referee who applied the laws of the game in a sympathetic way with one exception being the scrummage where he rightly insisted on the ball being put in straight by the 2 scrum halves. For some of the older spectators it was a happy reminder of how the scrum laws should be interpreted. Final score Tavistock 15 – Maidenhead 29. Squad: Leopards
beat Old Elthamians Soon after the break OE scored a converted try to give them what they thought was an unassailable lead. Little did they know that the tide was about to turn in a truly dramatic way. Unfortunately for them, OE lost both of their centres through injury and the previously resolute OE defence began to look rather more fragile as Maids pressed for a try that would give them a route back into the match. This was given to them by the versatile Ed Kaye who was standing in as an emergency outside centre instead of his usual position of loose head prop. He raced over the line to give Maids hope. Soon after Jacob Sanders, on as an injury replacement for the unlucky Ben Scolari, smashed his way over the line to continue the fight back. This was duly converted to close the gap to just 5 points. By now Maids were playing with renewed vigour as OE began to wilt under the intense pressure. Maids scored again as Markus Olivier darted off the back of the breakdown in the OE 22 to outpace the defence with an angled run for a try that was again converted. With their noses in front Maids continued to press for the score that would put them out of reach and this was fittingly delivered by the tireless Maids captain Shiv Khindria after a well worked backs move put him in for the touchdown. The icing on the cake was provided by Sam McCarthy, scoring with a flourish after a neat sidestep completely wrong footed the, by now demoralised, OE defence. From 17 nil down Maids scored 29 unanswered points to achieve a truly magnificent comeback and for the Leopards squad and their supporters this match will live long in the memory. Squad: Tigers
leave Crediton in Debit or The Money Pit The Crediton forwards caught the kickoff in their 22 and announced their intentions clearly by driving the resulting maul back almost to halfway. When the ball came out the Crediton backs made their first of many errors and knocked on trying a complicated switch move. So it went on for the first quarter, powerful forward play and comic handling. What little ball Maids enjoyed was moved crisply down the line at pace, with their best chances when Sam Maguire was held up over the line on the left, and Markus Olivier just forced into touch on the right. Eventually Maids capitalised on another error, this time a tryline clearance kick charged down by Iain Whiteford who dived gratefully on the bouncing ball in-goal. Maguire hit the outside of the left post. They then doubled their lead with another chargedown, Avery literally taking the ball of the kicker’s toe and rushing through to give Alex McCulloch, playing outside centre, a scoring pass. “Literally” is overused in sports reports but on this occasion it is meant, er, literally; the ball being in contact with kicker and catcher at the same moment. Maguire converted for 0-12. Just before half time, Maids were bundled into touch 3 metres short on the left wing. Seb Coric stole the lineout ball and went to ground. Quick ball from the half backs to Leo Smith who broke outside his marker and backhanded the ball to McCulloch in support. Alex passed on to the overlapping Maguire and Sam ran round the last man to touch down. A Crediton coach whistled his admiration: “I can see why you’re unbeaten this year”. Maguire could not add the two so Half Time came at 0-17. Pride cometh before a fall, of course, and Crediton started the second half strongly. Their scrum was solid and their ruck and maul continued to go well. At last their backs started to keep it simple and make some penetrative direct runs. They got their reward after 13 minutes, with a scrum won against the head 15 metres out and a short inside pass from fly half to blind side winger, in at pace. Smith at fullback made the tryline tackle but the Crediton pack piled over and made the touchdown. 4 minutes later they scored again, a weak clearance kick run back by the same winger to score untouched. Neither try was converted but 10-17 did not feel enough for comfort as Crediton piled in and on. Sadly for them, Crediton reverted to overcomplicating their open play. Passing to empty space, knocking on and dropping the ball, they never really set up another chance to score. Indeed Maids sewed up the game with another example of simple, direct rugby. McCulloch was given space to run by quick hands inside him and finished powerfully with 2 shuddering handoffs and a stopstep which left the last man on his backside. Maguire’s narrow miss was the last kick of the game. Squad: Lions
escape The Fishermen’s Net or You Can’t Catch Us It looked easy to start with. Will Thompson’s grubber behind a rush defence was gathered by Fraser Brooks who popped it up for Lawrence MacSwan to gallop under the posts. Bart converted. With just four minutes gone, Maids' own rush defence found McSwan in the face of the Brixham inside centre as he received a pass. Instead of the expected crunching tackle, Lawrence simply tore the ball from his startled grasp and trotted over for his second, also converted by Bart. But this was a side with backs as well as forwards. A solid scrum, a dummy crash ball to fix the defence and the very quick outside centre through the resulting gap to score. Jubilation from the home crowd and food for thought for Maidenhead. Brixham pressed strongly with disciplined and powerful forward play and some good tactical kicking. A quick ball off the top of a lineout moved wide right and then recycled wide left to put the winger over in the corner. Both tries were converted and half time scores were level at 14 all. 5 minutes into the second half and the home side went ahead, a fly half backhand pass inside to blindside wing through and round the fullback. The home crowd went bonkers and a few Maidenhead fingernails got shortened. Relief came from a familiar direction. Sam Balfour emerged from a maul in midfield and charged through and round the Fishermen like a salmon on the Severn Bore. At his shoulder was Fred Reid to finish the spawning run with an equalising try. Brixham were by no means finished, a Surya tap tackle and desperate line defence only just denying them the lead again. But there was to be no fish supper in the end. Louis Basson picked up a loose ball and kicked from the Maidenhead 10m line, charged down the clearing kick and raced over to reclaim the lead. Bart’s conversion made it 19-26 and the inevitable McSwan hat trick (guess what, yes, simple passing rugby and powerful finishing) made the game safe. The final score did not flatter the Lions, but Brixham probably felt that this was One That Got Away. Squad: Leopards
torture Torquay Or Tics tocked by waterboy Torquay started furiously, pushing Maids off their own ball and bossing the ruck and maul completely. Strong and fast backs threatened to score time and again with all the ball their forwards were winning. Much against the run of play, however, Maidenhead scored first, Ed Kaye marking his debut in the centre with a fast chase, a good bounce and nimble feet to round the last two defenders. Inevitably the superiority of the Torquay pack led to points, with two rumbling mauls leading to unconverted tries to give them a 10-5 lead at half time. The second half saw a noticeable drop in energy from the Tics and Maids' forwards began to get on terms, and then to dominate, winning scrums against the head, rucking with more technique and aggression and with Tom Allen and Kaya Baxter winning both throws in the lineout. All Maids U15 sides this season seem to have had the edge in fitness over their opponents and this was beginning to be obvious again. The side that keeps running usually comes out on top. It was Allen who brought the scores level, gathering a kick ahead and powering over through tired defenders. Maids continued to dominate possession and territory with Torquay now hanging on in desperate defence. Their frustration boiled over into a bit of ineffective fisticuffs but Maids kept their cool and drove time and again at their line. They were twice held up in-goal and it seemed that time was running out. Just when it seemed the tour 100% record would only be an unbeaten one, Cam Avery, technically on tour as a water carrier and supporter, but who “just happened” to have his full kit with him, barrelled over for the winning try, converted by Duncan Jones. The crowd went wild, and so did some of the Torquay players. Once the melée (French for scrum, English for punch up) was broken up, the sides shook hands and cheered each other in the traditional way. That’s rugby, and Maidenhead expressed their sincere gratitude to the Tics for standing in at short notice to give them the valued sixth game of the tour. Squad: |
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