U15s win Tournament and come 2nd too!

Sunday 12th October 2008

Maids U15s 135pts, Rest of the World 10pts

With 52 boys in this age group, Maids’ U15 coaches chose to field two mixed teams rather than A and B sides in this year’s edition of England’s premier youth tournament at Braywick on Sunday 12^th October.  That decision was handsomely vindicated as both sides finished undefeated in first and second places in their league.  The Bulls beat all their visiting opponents, scoring 70 unanswered points.  The Stags’ return was almost as good: 65 points for and only 10 against in two wins and a draw.  Perhaps inevitably, the two teams fought out a 10-10 draw when they played each other.

Highlights of the day, which started foggy but burst into glorious sunshine, included the devastating running of Sam Maguire (4 tries, including one 4-touch football dribble), Daniel Andrews-Jones and Michael Anderson (3 tries each, all from around halfway) and a sublime restart catch, run and offload by Leo Smith to put Calum O’Flaherty in for a score.  (The fact that O’Flaherty, supposedly a tight forward, was there to take the pass is testament to his tireless lung-busting effort and presumably explains his “Duracell Bunny” nickname.)  Several shuddering tackles by Lawrence McSwan (you really know it when you have been “McSwanned”) and one huge hit by Markus Olivier stood out, as did two juggling tricks by Daniel Shipton – one to score a try and one to make one – as well as a brave dive at the feet of attacking opponents by the same player.  Alex McCulloch scored three tries in an irresistibly athletic performance.  Chris Dow scored twice in his usual fashion – magically appearing out of rucks and mauls with the ball and sprinting away while everyone else is still standing still.

Visitors Reeds RFC from Weybridge, Farnham RFC and Grasshoppers RFC from Osterley should have been joined by Pentyrch from South Wales but the latter were absent due to a bizarre misunderstanding about how old their children are.  Only Reeds were able to resist the talented Maids teams, drawing with the Stags and losing narrowly to the victorious Bulls.  The whole tournament was played in excellent spirit amongst players and an enthusiastic grandstand of spectators.

The full table of results:

Selection for a Maidenhead U15 1^st XV Berkshire League side will be a nightmare this year.  There is strong competition in every position. 

This is the first time most of these players have had the 1^st team pitch as their stage; for many of them, it will not be the last.

Detailed match reports

Maidenhead Bulls 25pts vs Grasshoppers 0pts

The first game of the day started in a fog thick enough to obscure one side of the pitch from the other.  The Bulls showed, for once, that they were awake and up for it by pressing Grasshoppers back into their 22 with strong running from forwards and backs combined with training-ground recycling through five phases to set up Dominic Bart for a short range try.  No conversions would be taken on the day so straight back for a restart.  Play became scrappy for a few minutes as Grasshoppers tried to relieve the pressure and kick for territory but the Bulls relentlessly ran the ball back time and again.  Grasshoppers eventually made the mistake of kicking to Sam Maguire in space around his 10m line and his electric pace took him deep into the 22.  Michael Anderson took his offload almost to the line and the quick ruck ball went to Daniel Andrews-Jones who powered over for the second try.  Matches were 10 minutes each way without a halftime break and Bulls scored again straight after the switchover.  Alex Avery was held up over the tryline after hacking through and picking up but Grasshoppers won the ball from the 5m scrum.  The clearing kick was long but only found Maguire and this time Sam kicked back over the chase and scored in the corner after a four touch football masterclass.  A minute later Michael Anderson outpaced a gasping defence after Sam Balfour’s powerful running set up a ruck at the 22 and the ball was swung wide to his wing.  The match was closed out by Balfour’s 2 metre lunge from a ball recycled by Ed Kaye after a devastating diagonal burst by Daniel AJ.

Maidenhead Stags 25pts Vs Farnham 5pts

The Stags started more slowly than the Bulls had.  The first few minutes of the match were untidy, with both teams dropping the ball and showing little organisation.  The Stags woke up first, tapping a penalty and spinning the ball left down a steep attacking line for Lawrence McSwan to run in a regulation try in the No.13 channel with support outside had he needed it.  Farnham just had not woken up.  Strangely the roles were then quickly reversed with the Stags failing to deal with an innocuous kick ahead leading to Daniel Shipton being isolated 2 metres from his own line with a bouncing ball and three attackers in front of him.  Bravely he dived at their feet and received a (purely accidental) kick in the head for his trouble.  Forced to release the ball, he could not prevent Farnham levelling the score.  That would be the visitors’ last hurrah, however.  Two minutes later a great run by Dhruv Surya down the right wing fixed the defence there and smart passing gave Tom Eckles the chance to ignore a 3 man overlap and score himself on the left.  The Stags put their training into practice and a series of rucks and drives led to a 5m scrum form which Seb Coric barged over in regulation No.8 style.  Moments later Coric went on a rampage from a tapped penalty and offloaded to Alex McCulloch who sprinted away to score, most of the defence still clinging to Coric as he did so.  For the last few minutes, Farnham defended resolutely but the relentless pressure eventually told and a dropped pass near their line was snaffled by Daniel Shipton who sneaked over in the corner for a well-deserved try.

Reeds 15pts Vs Grasshoppers 5pts

Maidenhead Bulls 10pts Vs Maidenhead Stags 10pts

The much anticipated clash between two evenly matched home teams started with a sucker punch.  Bulls’ kickoff did not go 10m and Stag Dhruv Surya picked up the loose ball and raced past the confused defence who were expecting a whistle.  5-0 in the first 10 seconds.  Scrappy to and fro ensued, each side perhaps knowing the other too well.  Just before halftime the Stags scored again through Mike Winter from short range.  The turnaround and various substitutions seemed to change the course of the match and Mike Trevena crashed over after the Stags’ defence was stretched by a Maguire break.  Finally Michael Anderson was given too much space on the left wing and sped away to level the scores for the Bulls.  10-10 was a fair result although many spectators were hoping for more fireworks and for a more sustained opportunity to measure a few crucial one-to-ones amongst contenders for the eventual League 1^st XV.   Pity the poor coaches who have those decisions to make.

Reeds 5pts Vs Farnham 0pts

Maidenhead Stags 35pts Vs Grasshoppers 0pts

Grasshoppers were weakened by injuries by now and, with too few substitutes, borrowed Maids’ Surya.  It was not enough.  The match was memorable for rampaging runs by Alex Mcculloch who scored two tries and made one for Will Thompson, a juggling act (behind the back) by Shipton to score and two poacher’s tries from Chris Dow, who twice appeared as if by magic to run away from mauls while the others involved continued to fight for the long gone rugby ball.  Fraser Brooks also ghosted to the line with an extravagant show and go.

Maidenhead Bulls 40pts Vs Farnham 0pts

The widest margin of the day did not flatter the Bulls, who were simply irresistible against the visitors.  In the first minute, Markus Olivier battered his way to the line only to be held up.  From the ensuing 5m scrum and two or three rumbling offloads, Ben Scolari crashed over for a popular try.  There would be no respite.  Leo Smith caught the restart under pressure from two chasers, and powered away down the right wing.  Hunted down by the cover, he stepped inside 7m out and popped out a scoring pass to Calum O’Flaherty who shrugged off two tacklers to score under the posts.  What was O'Flaherty doing there?  Isn't he a front row forward?  Farnham held out until half time but the floodgates opened thereafter.  Maguire caught the kickoff on his 22 and simply ran back though and past the chase to score untouched.  Two minutes later, Daniel AJ scored after a 50 metre interpassing move by Sam Balfour, Duncan Jones and LD Basson down the left wing.  A set move with two decoy runners in the centre then gave Maguire a gap to aim at and he left the fullback standing to score again.  Michael Anderson showed his pace again taking the outside route and then Fred Reid showed a clean pair of heels to the opponents’ wings and fullback (sorry, isn’t he a lock forward?).  In the last moments of the game, Olivier brutally broke through several tackles from his 22 up to halfway and offloaded to Andrews-Jones who ran away to make the score 40-0.

Maidenhead Stags 5pts Vs Reeds 5pts

The Stags were disappointed to draw with a try disallowed after Seb Coric was adjudged held up on the stroke of halftime.  Reeds had opened the scoring with a runaway try down the right wing from the first kickoff and the Coric effort would have levelled at half time.  No complaints were heard though, the Stags just got on with it.  Eventually, Lawrence McSwan scored after another Shipton juggle and the match went down to the dying seconds.  Stags elected to try to dropkick three points to break the deadlock but the kick was missed and the match drawn.

Grasshoppers 5pts Vs Farnham 10pts

Surya, Whitehead and Dow could not help the battered and exhausted Grasshoppers avoid the wooden spoon.

Maidenhead Bulls 5pts Vs Reeds 0pts

The league came down to the last game and there was still everything to play for. A win for Reeds would give them the trophy, with the Stags second and Bulls third.  A Draw would give Bulls first place, Reeds second and Stags third.  As it transpired, the narrowest possible win gave Maidenhead’s two teams first and second places.  The game was tense, with the standard of rugby never approaching what had gone before.  Perhaps inevitably, it was won by a try from Sam Maguire finishing a crisp and clinical passing move on the right wing.  Good fast hands, accuracy and pace the story of the day.

Bulls squad:
Ed Kaye, Mark Hine, Calum Hull, Calum O’Flaherty (1 try), Dan Keir, Fred Reid  (1 try), Kaya Baxter, Mike Trevena (1 try), Bryn Evans, Dom Bart (1 try), Sam Balfour (1 try), Ben Scolari (1 try), Rich, Alex Avery, LD Basson, James Hibberdine, Duncan Jones, Shiv Khindria, Leo Smith, Daniel Andrews-Jones (3 tries), Markus Olivier, Michael Anderson (3 tries), George Thomas, Sam Maguire (4 tries).

Stags squad:
Josh Edney, Jason Bates, Blake Nicol, Nic Jones, Alex McCulloch (3 tries), Tim Cronbach, Tom Allen, Jacob Sanders, Tyler Bello, Chris Dow (2 tries), Seb Coric (1 try), Iain Whiteford, Simon Crosbie, Mike Winter (1 try), Luke Thomas, Steve Carn, Will Thompson (1 try), Fraser Brooks (1 try), Laurence McSwan (2 tries), Dan Shipton (2 tries), Tom Eckles (1 try), Dhruv Surya (1 try), Niall Collins, Gareth Orwin, Greg McHugh, Scott Gillan.