U16s bend it round Beccehamians

Maidenhead U16As 12 v Beccehamians U16As 8

Sunday 22nd November 2009

Two tries to one Bosh on Beccs

Visitors Beccehamians must have thought it was a long way to come from Southeast London/Northwest Kent only to be greeted by howling wind and driving rain. Maidenhead's weather was not the most welcoming, but home coaches and spectators were pleased to see a well supported side make the journey and put up a spirited attempt to wrest the spoils on the field. That they returned empty-handed was largely down to Maids proving the better side in broken play and to Beccehamians' repeated inability to catch the ball in midfield. Time and again the ball went to ground whether from team-mates' pass or opposition kick. Credit is certainly due to Maids' pressure but, on another day, the visitors would surely have got closer to scoring more than the one try they managed.

A Beccs supporter said they were looking forward to a testing game because they have run out of worthy opposition in their own backyard, Kent not having a league competition below U17 and most regular friendly opponents struggling to compete. This age group won the Newbury 10s last year, beating Henley Hawks in the process, and have won the Kent Cup competition for the last two seasons. Touchline spectators from both clubs shared excuses for how many top players were away on tour/injured/county and academy duty etc., neither side really believing the other, as always. The nerve-endings were visible all round but the visitors were probably more confident than they pretended.

When the game proper got under way it was rapidly obvious that the visitors were a much bigger side, not something Maids have often seen in the last two seasons. The Beccs scrum looked 20% heftier than Maids' and the difference showed immediately, Beccs wheeling at will and shoving Maids off their ball. Despite this the early exchanges were pretty even, Beccs failing to use the ball they were winning, and the first signs of butterfingers beginning to show. Maids looked more assured on their scraps of possession with linebreaks by Leo Smith, Laurence MacSwan and Louis Basson catching the eye and Fraser Brooks kicking well behind the rush defence. When Beccs did get the ball down the line their fullback showed effortless pace but could not break the cover.

The deadlock was broken with a try for Alex Avery after 15 minutes.  Smith went left at first receiver from a rare unspoiled Maidenhead scrum and set Michael Anderson free down the wing to be bundled into touch at 10m. Not straight at the lineout; good channel one ball taken into contact by Sam Balfour, ruck a metre short cleared out by Mike Winter and the rest of the pack - and an Avery short-range special. The Beccs supporters looked thoughtful, Maids shared a quiet smile.

Back came the visitors with a vengeance and their scrumhalf started to show some silky running and good hands to offload to his big forwards. Maids tackled doggedly, spoiled, snaffled and ran, the defence held, just. Now a penalty for holding on was kicked to the corner, fast ball to the front of the lineout but the certain scoring pass went to ground. A short reprieve. Another penalty kicked to the same corner, long throw this time but not straight. The siege lifted and a return to broken play chaos saw Maids all the way down to the other end one pass short of a try for Olivier. Back came Beccs, a huge up and under caught and run back by Smith. Another holding on penalty 30m out, then 10m closer for audibly disagreeing with the match official. The visitors kicked to make it 5-3, clearly needing some points to show for all their effort, and visibly frustrated with their inability to impose their game on the home side.

The last five minutes of the half ran true to type, Maidenhead revelling in unstructured broken play, Beccs rather ponderously trying to impose order but running laterally and, more often than not, dropping the second or third pass. The broken-field master Louis Basson was taken out late and needed treatment but finished the half with a great cornerflagging tackle on the left winger in their only real threat to the home line.

The second half started much the same, Maids raiding in the loose and defending quite easily those attacks which Beccs were able to launch. Smith gathered a clearance kick and launched an up and under. In truth it was a bit long, into the 22 rather than just outside, but two Beccs made a mess of the catch and mark which would have defused the bomb. Central scrum 10m out and for once quick tidy ball. Basson went right and drew the cover but his well-timed pass was just too flat and Olivier could not gather to score.  Beccs won the lineout ball and tried to run out of defence but, almost inevitably, knocked on in the centre. Another central attacking scrum, this time launched to the left with Daniel Andrews-Jones. His pass to the wing blocked by aggressive defence, DAJ span and twisted and bullied his way past and through four defenders to score a brilliant solo try. Brooks converted for a nine-point lead.

Beccehamians missed a kickable penalty but then, with seven minutes remaining, scored a try to give them some hope. Penalised for closing the gap at a lineout and marched back another 10 for dissenting, Maids watched almost helpless as Beccs repeated their front of lineout set move and this time kept the ball in hand. The conversion was just too far. The last five minutes were frantic as Beccs tried to come back but by this time their forwards had tired and were no longer bossing the scrum - and they were still no match for Maidenhead in broken field.

This was a really good test for both sides and could have gone either way. Maids won because they stopped a bigger, stronger side from playing the way they wanted to, and took their own opportunities well. Often it's not the size of the dog in the fight that matters, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

Squad: Avery (capt.), Tolan, N Jones, Hine, Hull, Reid, Trevena, Allen, Winter, Kaye, Balfour, Basson, Thomas, Brooks, MacSwan, Andrews-Jones, Olivier, Surya, Anderson, Smith