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U10s at Brean Sands 1st-2nd May 2010 |
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Match
1 Maidenhead - v - Burnham-on-Sea A good start driving forward, but sloppy play concedes penalties. As the half progressed, more loose play developed with Maids keeping their shape. More importantly, our forwards maintained and increased pressure in the scrum which nearly resulted in a try. On the stroke of half time, and the final play of the half, we won a scrum from which Fraser Miller opened the scoring with a great blind side run. The second half commenced with Maids maintaining the forward pressure and again scoring from a blind side move off the scrum, this time from Alec McEwan. Following a Burnham fight back, great defensive play turned suddenly into attack with a strong, driving run from James Ford ending in a try. Match
2 Maidenhead - v - Olney Warriors With a change of players for our second game, Olney started the stronger with their forwards out-muscling our backs at the first ruck. Olney then used the ball well in the hands to score the first try. Maids were just not putting in the tackles and were paying the price. Olney's second try followed some very good handling skills again displayed by their backs. Maids started the second half much stronger with an intercepted pass almost producing a try. From there, Maids dominated territory and with sustained pressure eventually producing a fantastic solo try from James Ford. Unfortunately, from the restart Olney broke through the Maids' defence for the first time in the half to score right at the death. Match
3 Maidenhead - v - Hinckley Immediately from kick off, Hinckley concede a penalty. Brilliant runs from Fraser Miller and Philip Wells put Hinckley onto the back foot and after getting the ball out to the wing, James Ford runs the ball in for the first try. Straight from the restart, Maids win the ball and another searing right wing run from James Ford from half way secures try number 2. Dominant forward play follows ending in a series of passes down the back line ending with James Ford who secures his hat trick. Maids dominate completely and it's only down to good defending Hinckley keep the score down. Elliot Frisby makes a fabulous run down the left wing, stopped by a heroic tackle from Hinckley. This is swiftly followed by a typical Matty Hine forward drive, breaking free from their defenders but tackled 3 meters from the line bang on half time. A refreshed team restarted with more of the same from the first half. Awesome forward play and an excellent run from Fraser Miller puts Maids deep into opposition territory with Fraser continuing his jinking run to score try number 4. A strong run from Thomas May shrugs off the opposition and Samuel Riches makes a brilliant looping run to take us 5 meters from the try line where we unfortunately concede a penalty. The remainder of the half is spent in Hinckley territory demonstrating superb forward play and excellent passing among the backs. A great team display. Match
4 Maidenhead - v - Woodford Bulldogs Entertainment from the start with a back flip from Coach Al McEwan to win the toss! From the start, Maids surged forward lead by Philip Wells. A driving scrum released George Hickey on the left, releasing the ball to Elliot Frisby who was tackled just short of the line but presenting Alec McEwan with a free ball to score try number 1. Try 2 swiftly followed and resulted from glorious passing rugby involving the entire team, with Elliot Frisby scoring in the corner. Try number 3 resulted from turnover ball - a very strong tackle gave free ball to Matty Hine to bore his way through into the corner. Once again, our passing was supreme and another fine move released Oscar Aincough to score our fourth try. By half time, another Matty Hine drive took him over the line to make it 5 and 25-0. A wobbly start to the second half saw Woodford breach our defence for the first time and a certain try was foiled by a last gasp tackle from James Ford. There then followed a series of penalties which gave Thomas May the opportunity to drive forward and score try number 6 which heralded an early finish to the game. Match
5 Maidenhead - v - Cobham Tigers With tension building from a delayed start and expectations of our toughest game so far, the early dominance was with Maids. Fraser Miller gave Cobham lots to think about with darting runs from his own half and when we lost the ball, we were defensively supreme with big tackles from Philip Wells. Despite lots of possession and pressure, the first half ended only 1 - 0. following a driving run from Fraser Miller. The second half started in much the same way, Maids with plenty of possession with forwards driving and releasing the backs to attack. The second try by Oscar Ainscough came from exactly that style of play. There then followed a period of "wobbles" where Maids gave away a succession of penalties and lost a lot of their shape. However, the boys soon got back into gear and released Fraser Miller to score his second. By then the game was over, leaving Cobham to grab a consolation try with the very last play of the game. A bruising, but victorious encounter! Match
6 Maidenhead - v - Old Rutlishians Our final pool game and all to play for. Old Ruts, whom we narrowly lost to in last years Plate final, were the form team of the pool and were so far unbeaten with some very impressive scores. Old Ruts kicked off but immediately conceded a penalty to Maids. Driving forward, we were fighting hard in the rucks and mauls, eventually securing a scrum. Again, our front row dominated and the ball flew out to George Hickey who drives for the line, but is stopped just before it and Old Ruts manage to get numbers in to turn the ball over. From there, Old Ruts run the ball straight up to the other end to score try number 1. From the restart, Old Ruts manage to turn over our ball but Thomas May forces them to knock on with a scrum to Maids. The game is held up with an injury to scrum half Anthony Brayshaw who leaves the field and is replaced by Sean Franks. Again, our scrum is dominant and we break down the line heading for the corner but foiled by a last gasp tackle. We win the lineout, but take the ball back into touch. Old Ruts win the ball and drive into us, but we hold them up. Old Ruts manage to break, but with Maids players offside, a penalty is given. Old Ruts break away again, but a tackle from George Hickey is enough to stop them and having infringed anyway, half time is blown. Maids drive from the kick off, but poor handling results in a scrum to Old Ruts. Once again, we dominate, but are unable to make it count and concede a penalty from which Old Ruts engineer a very good passing move to score a second try. Despite going 2-0 down, the boy's heads did not drop for a moment as they continue to pressure with strong forward drives and then releasing the ball to the backs. Despite the loss, the boys played heroically which was summed up by Old Ruts coaches who stated that they had played the best drilled and organised team they had come across. PLATE
FINAL Maidenhead - v - Cwmbran And so to the final! Both teams were welcomed by a noisy but friendly Welsh contingent of supporters. However, they were soon joined by the much noisier Maids U11 contingent. The vocal support reinforced the encouragement the boys got from Cameron's pre-game talk and they took to the pitch heads held high and confident of the win. Once again from the start Maids dominated, employing the driving moves and passing game they had successfully developed as the tournament went on. They were soon rewarded with a try from Fraser Miller. Our dominance continued and following a sweeping, cross field move which started in our own half on the right, Elliot Frisby touched down in the left hand corner. At this point, the Cwmbran's boy's heads went down and the game was won. The second half saw a raft of changes to ensure that as many boys as possible got onto the pitch. The Cwmbran boys seemed to have gained a second wind at half time, but in reality were no match for us. The third try came from a typical jinking run from our top scorer, James Ford. At the final whistle, the boys were rightly jubilant and were joined on the pitch by parents and the U11 boys who made a triumphant arch for them. Cwmbran were a valiant opponent, but Maids just got stronger as the tournament progressed. A well deserved win from a squad of boys who are just getting better and stronger. Roll on 2010/11 season and Brean 2011. My thanks to all the parents who committed to this festival. The weather held up for us and everyone, I believe, had a great weekend. Its great to come away with silverware and moreover, it has been a joy to see the boys not only enjoying themselves but putting into practice the skills we have been working on across the season. I would urge everyone to make the effort to attend next year so that we can field 2 teams. Finally, my thanks to the parents who compiled the above match reports. Unfortunately, I can't remember who wrote which one!!! Kieron |