U16Bs bring league leaders down to earth

Maidenhead U16B 25 v Bracknell U16A 15
Berkshire U16 League Div 2

Sunday 11th April 2010

Character, belief and growing confidence saw Maidenhead U16Bs convincingly overcome runaway league leaders Bracknell U16As on the 1st team pitch at Braywick. Bracknell arrived with 6 wins in 6 matches and a 183 points difference, and left with nothing.

The story of the day looked likely to be very different when the visitors scored from a 4th minute tap penalty. Even after Maids equalised with a tremendous Fred Reid powerplay through the outside centre channel almost straight from the restart, and indeed went 2 points ahead through Scott Atherton’s conversion, Bracknell dominated possession and territory and looked every bit the champions-elect. Their forwards were quicker to the breakdown, and more effective when they got there, working together and winning the ball on the floor. Their backs, particularly at centre and fullback, looked strong and fast, and made metres with every carry through ineffectual tackling.

Maids had individual moments, Jacob Sanders and Ed Kaye featuring prominently, but collectively seemed off the pace, perhaps too respectful of the visitors’ reputation.

On 22 minutes, Bracknell won a penalty (for holding on in the tackle, something both sides were guilty of throughout the game, and for which either could have been justifiably yellow carded) and chose to go for goal from more than 35m. In truth the attempt had the distance and was not far wide, but the decision to try such a difficult kick was perhaps a suggestion of frustration at their inability to translate pressure into points.

As it happened, Maidenhead did suffer a sinbinning shortly afterward, Kaye taking the rap for a two man tackle lifting an opponent dangerously off his feet. Bracknell upped the energy, running from everywhere and making good progress. Sure enough the effort paid off, Bracknell’s outstanding No.6 finishing off a great interpassing move with a try, to go into half time with a 3 point lead and looking quite likely to pull further away.

Well, how often this season have we seen a Maids' U16 team come back fitter and stronger in the second half? The As did it against a rampant Newbury side, the Bs against some of the same Newbury players. Now the Bs did it again, against a Bracknell team obviously unused to such impertinence. The home scrum started to make the visitors creak; the lineout went two to one on both throws; crunching tackles from Dhruv Surya and Blake Nicol cut down runners behind the gain line. Iain Whiteford slotted a precise penalty kick – holding on, inevitably – to level the scores. Jacob Sanders picked up at the base of a scrum against the head and ran through the defence for 40 metres, fed the supporting Khindria whose surely scoring pass just failed to stick. Greg McHugh, Matt Becksmith, George Lewis and Surya made good incursions. After 20 minutes, Maids got the reward they deserved. Running yet another holding penalty (the ref warning both sides that the next such offence would lead to a forced breather for someone), Whiteford, Sanders and Becksmith combined for the latter to score.

Playing some really good rugby now, Maids turned the screw with a try for Scott Atherton wide out on the right, after Becksmith’s dummy and dart broke a tiring Bracknell backline. You had to feel for the visitors in one passage of play as Sanders offloaded to Kaya Baxter, on to Hal Orchard, inside to Will O’Callen-Smith and thence to Tom Allen. That lot take some stopping.

So do Bracknell, however. They were not going down without a fight. Gaps always appear as games go on and their outside half kinked and swerved his way under the posts from the halfway line in a virtuoso solo run. 20-15 would have been 20-17 and a nervous finish had he set up his conversion further back. As it was, the charge blocked the extra points.

Maidenhead were not to be denied the bonus point try however, Tom Allen converting a 15m tap penalty with typical power in the last play of the game, coincidentally preventing Bracknell from a bonus point of their own.

Bracknell U16A still hold all the cards in the league, with a 3 point lead and greatly superior points difference, but they were given a sharp reminder here of the strength in depth of Maidenhead U16 rugby. The county’s best B team could still theoretically win the division with one game to go.

Squad: Josh Edney, Blake Nicol, Will O’Callen-Smith, Callum Hull, Hal Orchard, Bryn Evans, Tim Cronbach, Kaya Baxter, Alex McCulloch, Tom Allen, Ed Kaye, Iain Whiteford, Jacob Sanders, Steve Carn, James Hibberdine, George Lewis, Shiv Khindria, Matt Becksmith, Fred Reid, Dhruv Surya, Greg McHugh, Scott Atherton