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U15s blow away Bracknell at breezy Braywick Sunday 8th March 2009 Maidenhead
U15s 54 v Bracknell U15s 0 |
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Last year ex-Bracknell player Lawrence McSwan scored a hat-trick in pouring rain to help Maidenhead defeat his old club 41-0. This year he did it again, as did Sam Maguire, and four other players crossed the line too, but it didn’t rain until after the final whistle. McSwan’s first came only two minutes in, taking a scoring pass from Leo Smith on the right after a quick tap penalty. Bracknell held on for a few minutes and made some promising ground whenever their outside centre got ball to run with but with 18 minutes on the clock the pressure from the home side began to show. Eckles was stopped a few metres short and a defender penalised for offside at the resulting breakdown. Charges by Coric and O’Flaherty (for some reason trying to hide the ball behind his head) were repulsed but Balfour was unstoppable. Alex Avery was next on the scoreboard, the loosehead prop galloping down the left wing after great rugby by forwards and backs had left Bracknell gasping. Pretty much straight from the restart, Dominik Bart outpaced all but the last defender down the same wing, changed direction beautifully to draw the man and popped a scoring pass to Maguire, who ran in under the posts and then converted. McSwan then scored his second from another assist by Smith after a tap penalty by Seb Coric with Bracknell clearly expecting a forward’s crash charge rather than a slick pass and quick hands. (Coric had probably his best game so far for Maids, mixing his usual aggressive running with skilful passing and fierce tackling, and noticeably not retaliating to some strong verbal and physical provocation.) Mike Winter made the half time score 32-0 with a try from Bart’s offload after Bracknell had been so pleased with their driving maul making 15 metres they had not noticed Bart ripping the ball out and racing away down the blindside. Maids rang the changes for the second half but continued to dominate possession and territory. The next score was a Maguire special. Bracknell cleared long from their 22 and Sam caught the ball around 70 metres out, already accelerating and looking for the gap. Bracknell looked astounded as he sped untouched to their line with Michael Anderson in admirable yet unrewarded support. Bracknell now had a period of determined attacking, with their outside backs seeing some ball and making ground, and good carrying by a number of forwards as well. But it was to come to nothing as, from a scrum in his own 22, No.8 Sam Balfour picked up and sprinted to within 15 metres of the visitors line before the ball went forward. Maids won the ensuing scrum against the head, Bracknell’s pack by now looking out of gas, and the ball went quickly left. Again the ball went forward and again the Bracknell scrum crumbled, the ball spitting out towards their line with the visiting back row just leaning on getting their breath back. Luke Thomas was crudely obstructed and a forwards handling move from the penalty saw Bart crash over. A minute later, McSwan was first to the hat-trick, eating up the ground from half way after McCulloch and Avery had drawn the defence inside. Maguire converted from directly in front. It was Maguire as well who brought up the half century with a right wing overlap for his own hat-trick after a huge miss pass (with the wind) by Duncan Jones cut out most of the defence. Maids were better, fitter, faster and stronger than Bracknell, according to a visiting spectator. They looked well drilled and well organised; our boys look puffed, yours look fresh, said others. All fair comment. A strong wind directly across the pitch blew throughout the game but Maidenhead made the conditions look benign with a truly authoritative demonstration of all round rugby. It almost seems that windy conditions, after a bitter lesson two years ago, bring out the best in this squad. Squad:
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