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U15 Bulls beat Basingstoke Sunday 22nd February 2009 Basingstoke U15Bs 5 v Maidenhead U15 Bulls 15 |
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A visit to Hampshire neighbours Basingstoke saw a good contest between two committed sides belying their supposed second string status. Maidenhead travelled with just 16 players but saw off a home side with a 23-strong squad on the day. Both sides were genuine Bs, Basingstoke starting with only 3 players who had seen League rugby this season, and Maidenhead with none. The first few minutes saw Maidenhead pinned back in their 22, bravely defending repeated incursions in particular by the pacy ‘Stoke left winger. The home forwards went through the training drills of advance, present and recycle and Maids did well to resist the pressure. Every time Maidenhead made yards by hand or kick, the ball came back with interest and Basingstoke were unlucky not to score points. Only a bad bounce denied their outside centre a simple try from a clever kick through by the lively scrumhalf. It looked like a home win was likely. Gradually, however, the Maids forwards began to get the measure of their opponents. After some 15 minutes of fruitless endeavour, the Basingstoke pack began to backpedal as Blake Nicol, Calum Hull and Hal Orchard started to turn the screw in the front row and Jacob Sanders started to win ball in the lineout on both throws. Nicol, Hull, Sanders and Cronbach made yards in the loose and, given more possession, No.9 Shiv Khindria was able to release the powerful running of Iain Whiteford, Niall Collins and Dhruv Surya outside. Sure enough play moved rapidly down to the home end and Rich Sullivan-Paul opened the scoring on the end of a good passing movement with 20 minutes on the clock. The half ended at 0-5 but with Maidenhead dominating in the loose and tight and Basingstoke grateful for the breather. Basingstoke made 5 changes in their pack at half time and their all-new front row began to fight back. The first few minutes were definitely theirs. Yet again, however, the home side were unable to convert possession and territory into points and Maidenhead’s kick and chase led to a quick tap penalty on the ‘Stoke 22. While the home side waited for the referee to blow for not 10 metres, Maids spun the ball left and Surya outpaced the sleepy defence to score. Maids really turned it on now with strong running from forwards and backs. With 5 minutes to go Maids won a series of 5 metre scrums and looked set to score as Collins burst on to a short pass - but he was upended by a high tackle. Bravely Maids opted for a scrum and this time Collins was unstoppable, taking Sanders’ scoring pass to make the game safe at 0-15. To their credit, the Basingstoke players came back and scored a consolation try almost straight from the restart, committed rucking and accurate recycling showing how good they could be if given the chance, but there was no time for them to do more before the final whistle. Squad: |
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