Maids lose unpleasant and scrappy game

Saturday 26th September 2009

It's an old adage that a good team will always beat a good bunch of individuals and the truth of it was amply demonstrated by this match. At the kick-off Oxford Harlequins looked to be very 'lightweight', but it soon became clear that they were quick to the breakdown, which they arrived at in twos and threes driving over the ball to secure possession, quick to get the ball back from the breakdown, quick to move it across the full width of the pitch and quick to line up in defence and even quicker to come up in formation when Maidenhead had the ball. All-in-all a well organised and well drilled team.

Unfortunately Maidenhead were none of these things and only had parity at the set scrums where the front five more that held their own thanks in part to the return of Tony Rawlings to the front row.

It wasn't long after the start that Harlequins were 10 - 0 up thanks to a penalty and a try under the posts after some missed tackles and frantic and scrappy play by Maidenhead. If Maidenhead were going to win this game it was becoming clear that the only way they were going to do it was by the forwards bullying and overpowering their opposite numbers. But it took until the early part of the second half before they worked that out, by which time Harlequins had scored two more tries.

Maidenhead did score a good forwards try after applying a lot of pressure to the Harlequins try line when Tony Rawlings drove over, to make it Maidenhead 5 Harlequins 20 at half time.

Immediately after the restart Maidenhead scored again when the forwards again applied good pressure and Rob Wilkins sold an outrageous dummy to go in under the posts. Alex Menard converted to make it 20 - 12. Game on?

It should have been, as the Maidenhead forwards were at last beginning to dominate. Route one and relentless pick and drives were needed but weren't used anything like enough. The next score was going to be crucial but it went to Harlequins who took a quick penalty in the Maidenhead 22 and went over virtually unopposed and this while Maidenhead were down to 14 men thanks to a silly yellow card for stamping right in front of the referee.

Then at the death Lester Martin broke clear and ran virtually the length of the pitch score in the corner to make the final score 27 - 17 to Harlequins. A fair result after a pretty eventful afternoon.

Man of the Match : Charles de Jager