A Good win for Maids at Oxford Quins

Saturday 27th February 2010

The words of the Hippo Song came to mind when Maidenhead went to Oxford Harlequins and won.

"Mud, mud, glorious mud,
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood"

Heavy rain and a quagmire of a pitch, that was very sloped along it's length, meant that the whole of the game was played almost exclusively in one half and in a sea of mud that made the Somme look like the Kalahari. So not much hope of a game of running rugby.

Given that Maidenhead were playing up the slope in the first half they did very well to turn round only 6 - 5 down.

The Oxford Harlequins team started well with a penalty and their backs playing simple rugby, but Maidenhead were comfortable in the set scrums and were using the right tactics of keeping the ball in hand and driving straight at their opponents through the forwards.

Another penalty to the Harlequins on the Maidenhead 22 put them

6 - 0 up. But then a break out by Maidenhead saw Tony Rawlings break free from a series of picks and drives and David Williams go over for an unconverted try. This meant Maidenhead were only one point adrift at half-time and this after 95% of the play had been in their half.

The second half was almost a complete reversal of the first half in terms of territory, the only question being could Maidenhead use the advantage. They did but it was a long time coming!

Rich Parsley collected a poor kick out of defence by Harlequins and set off on a sparkling solo run straight at the heart of the opposition defence, finally chipping ahead over the head of the full back and diving on the ball for a try.

At 10- 6 ahead and 10 minutes to go it was still squeaky-bottom time but Maidenhead kept Harlequins pinned into their own half and finally a penalty by Rob Wilkins made it 13 - 6 to Maidenhead who held on for a well deserved win.