U17s' deserved win over Bicester

Maidenhead U17 22 v Bicester U17 18

Sunday 20th November 2011

The Maidenhead U17 boys looked good and they felt good - it was great to see the boys all together after such a long time. This first match of the BBO league was going to be exciting.

The conditions were damp and foggy. The game started well with stolen ball by George Dutton driving forward and giving everyone confidence. Ollie then intercepted a loose ball and took the play to their 25, forcing a penalty by Bicester, duly put into touch, Maids throw in. Good clean ball through the backs gave Tom Mitchell the opportunity to ground the ball. 5-0.

From the kick-off Maidenhead still had the upper hand and a determined run by Dan cutting their defence in half took the play within 5 yards of their line and finished with a penalty to Maidenhead. The ball was kicked to touch and the resultant scrum won by Maidenhead was won and Dan burst through again to score a great try. 10-0.

The game became a bit scrappy from both sides and after a soft off-side penalty Bicester took advantage and slotted over a kick. 10-3.

The game ebbed and flowed until Bicester made some headway to our 10 yard line, but Frankie kicked through and after some great forward interplay between George Dutton and Cam, George powered over for a fine try, injuring himself in the process. Conversion by Frankie. 17-3.

It then appeared that the boys thought it was a good time for a rest and allowed their centre to go over for a weak, unconverted try just before half time. 17-8. During half time the crowd was boosted by other sessions finishing, however, we still hadn't really woken up and the ten minutes after the restart Bicester piled on the pressure. A missed penalty by Bicester and some unforced errors by Maidenhead gave Bicester a penalty in the middle of the field, taken quickly it caught us unawares and resulted in an unconverted try. 17-13.

Bicester were really firing on all cylinders now and after a long period of scrappy play and a line out to them on our 25, subsequently won and forced over for a forwards try, fortunately not converted. 17-18.

Game on, and we decided to wake up, this was the first time we were behind and it was also time to ruck hard and following another crooked line out and resultant scrum we stole the ball at the breakdown and we were awarded a penalty for offside We decided to take the line out option, but missed touch and put pressure on their full back, who kicked away possession to us and another passage of good forward play finished with Dan going over for his second. 22-18.

The following few minutes were intense, with Maidenhead just managing to keep the upper hand and hold out for a deserved win. Didn't do much for the health of the match reporter and many of the supporters, but a good run out for the boys and something to work on for next week against Redingensians.

Good luck boys!

1 Cameron Avery, 2 Pranav Pillai, 3 George Dutton, 4 Marcus Bateson, 5 Bertie Kennedy, 6 Frank O'Keeffe, 7 Jack Targett, 8 Andrew McGregor (c), 9 George Chetwood, 10 Emi Repetto, 11 Dan Cable, 12 Ollie Wilson, 13 Tom Mitchell, 14 Michal Matera, 15 Jonny Garius. Replacements: Keiran Egan, James Preston, Jack McGrath, Jordan Moore.

Tries: Mitchell, Cable (2), Dutton

Conversions: O'Keeffe (1)

Man of the match: Cable and Dutton