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Maids Under 14s
Triumphant at Tadley
Tadley U14s 0pts vs Maidenhead
U14 84pts
Maidenhead
Under 14s maintained their lead at the top of
the Berkshire League with a resounding win away at Tadley,
scoring 84 unanswered points. In truth, the score could
have been even higher but for some uncharacteristic
handling errors and the fact that the Maids forwards
slipped into a slugging match with the bigger Tadley
pack for a long period in the first half. The win was
convincing enough, however, and the character and temperament
of the Tadley squad did not deserve any greater humiliation.
14 tries in all were scored, by
10 different scorers. Man of the Match Sam Maguire scored
4 of these, and notched up a personal total of 34 points.
Luke Thomas, Michael Trevena and Calum O'Flaherty scored
their first tries of the season for Maids, as did Daniel
Shipton on his debut for the League squad.
Laurence MacSwan opened the scoring
after Alex Avery fielded an attempted clearance kick
from the Tadley full back and some neat handling sent
the centre on his way. His centre partner Daniel Andrews-Jones
joined him on the score sheet shortly afterwards as
winger Thomas Eckles caught the re-start, the forwards
drove it on and then released quick ball for Daniel's
pace to take him through the defence and under the posts
to make the conversion straightforward.
Fresh from his successful conversion,
full back Sam Maguire caught another attempted clearance
from his opposite number and an extraordinary jinking
run put him straight through under the posts to earn
himself another conversion.
Perhaps upset that the backs seemed
to be scoring at will, the forwards then got scrappy
and a poor period of play ensued, with what ball there
was emerging untidily and causing errors where simple
handling was required. Eventually 2nd row Fred Reid
remembered that he can also play in the backs and galloped
up the wing to score.
Things now began to improve, and
quick ball gave Maguire his second try, whilst Luke
Thomas did well to take a reflex catch of a poor Tadley
kick and score to round off the half. With victory looking
certain and the important bonus point secured, numerous
changes were made at half time, and the fresh players
set about making their impression on the game and the
score sheet.
With the exception of kick off
receipts, virtually the whole second period was played
in the Tadley half, and the next try came after a fine
break from Dominik Bart saw wing Markus Olivier in support
and too quick for the defence. Shortly afterwards Sam
Maguire, scenting a hat trick, held on just a moment
too long but Laurence MacSwan arrived in support to
score his second. A fine run from Daniel Andrews-Jones
was stopped just short as he cut in to head for the
posts rather than the corner (too much consideration
for the kicker!).
LD Basson, excellent throughout
the second half (despite being denied protection by
his back row) made a searing "Matt Dawson-esque" break
through about 6 defenders before feeding Daniel Shipton
to score on his debut, and loud cheers greeted Sam Maguire's
hat trick which followed moments later after a break
from skipper Alex Avery. (Loud groans could be heard
from Sam's father, whose brief delight when the bar
appeared to be shut after the game was happily short-lived!).
Tim Cronbach on his debut caught
clean ball in the line out which lead to a forward drive
towards the line, and following an ensuing scrum Michael
Trevena made a classic forward's run (of about 3 metres)
to score his first try of the season – just reward for
his best game of the season.
Another debutant, Tyler Bello,
had a powerful game and was next seen once more driving
into contact, was joined by his colleagues in a driving
maul that had been worked on before the game, and eventually
Calum O'Flaherty span off with the ball to score from
the 22.
There was just time for Sam Maguire
to claim his 4th of the day after a fabulous run from
Sam Balfour, hitting the line at pace from deep and
carving straight through the defence before putting
his namesake clear, and then, as the ref allowed an
unduly generous or sadistic amount of injury time, depending
on your perspective, Alex Avery rounded off the match
with a trademark number 8 pick up and stroll over. Maguire,
of course, converted
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There wasn't much indication of what
was to come when the Maidenhead pack were pushed back
at a rate of knots at the first few set scrums. But
once they secured some ball and moved it along the backs
the scores started to come. 
This was then followed by some good
handling and support play that put Paul 'THE' Savage
over near the posts for a try converted by Rob Wilkins
– nil after about 15 minutes 
It didn't happen and Maidenhead got
another score almost immediately after the re-start.
A classic wings try. Lester 'The Man' Martin got the
ball out wide and set off down the touchline, swerved
inside to fix the full-back and then out again
to go round the outside for an excellent try. 
pressure for a period of 15 – 20
minutes but Maidenhead were well able to cope clearing
their line with relative ease. The game then got a bit
scrappy and neither side threatened to score until the
Maidenhead forwards drove over for prop Paul Kingsley
to score near the posts, converted by Dave 'Gooders'
Goodman, followed a few minutes later by a good pick
and drive, a short pass to Mike 'Barrel' Anthony who
moved the ball on to Ed 'No Neck' Poulding who dotted
down under the posts. 
The score was now 43 – 0 and although
Grove got a consolation try right at the end to make
the final score 43 – 7 it was an excellent all round
performance by Maidenhead. However a much sterner test
is looming on the horizon – Wallingford the league leaders.
