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Comfortable victory
overshadowed by injury to key player
Reading U14s 0pts vs Maidenhead
U14s 46pts
Chris Dow's injured knee dampened
the celebrations as Maidenhead's U14s scored an emphatic
victory over Reading's Green Machine at Holme Park.
A cold wind was howling across
the pitch when Reading kicked off. The early minutes
saw Reading win plenty of ball and show their ambition
to run.
Several times the ball flowed down
their line but there was little forward progress and,
as soon as Maidenhead's canny backs got some possession
the ball was kicked firmly down to the leeward corner.
Once a side naïvely incapable in windy conditions, these
Maids players now know how to use the elements to their
advantage.
The Reading defensive lineout failed
to gather the ball and a series of phases resulted in
an opening try for Alex Avery. Avery and his fellow
backrower Dominik Bart were prominent in the build up
for the second try, ripping the ball from a maul and
passing quickly out to Daniel Andrews-Jones whose pace
and strength took him outside the first defender and
straight through the second and last for another try.
The third try came from an unpromising
position. The previous day England had conceded
a heartbreaker against Wales with players passing wildly
back to teammates in progressively worse positions.
Something similar now happened,
with the ball eventually reaching Lawrence McSwan isolated
on his own 22. Where Balshaw had tried hopelessly
to kick clear and was charged down and exposed, McSwan
simply powered back through the chasing Reading team
and ran 60 metres to score. Duncan Jones converted.
Now Reading tried to play the ball
tighter, their big forwards carrying strongly and punching
holes. They were never able to break the line
decisively however and, cruelly, just when they had
finally and slowly progressed to within 5 metres of
the Maidenhead tryline, a spilled ball was hacked upfield
and only a desperate defensive tackle at the other end
prevented a try. Respite was short as Maidenhead
yet again stole the ball from the Reading throw and
good backs handling put Markus Olivier over wide on
the right. 22-0 at half time and the game was
all but over.
If Reading had hopes of a revival,
they had the stuffing knocked out of them within two
minutes of the restart. Solid lineout ball from
the right, dummy switch between 10 and 12 and a short
pass to Andrews-Jones put him into the gap between the
green and white centres with the rest of the defensive
line beaten. He simply ran round the cover and
that was it. A training ground move executed perfectly
in match conditions. Fraser Brooks scored the
extras with a dropkick in the face of the defensive
charge, having reacted quickly when the ball was blown
off the kicking tee.
There were three more Maidenhead
tries, Alex Avery scoring after a slick inside pass
and Olivier after a textbook 5 metre scrum blindside
break, both assists by Will Thompson; and a crashover
forward's try by the forwards' forward, Ed Kaye, whose
joy was obvious and infectious.
Just seconds later Dow's painful
injury took the gloss off an otherwise satisfying day.
He will certainly not be available for what now looks
even more like a league decider next week at Windsor.
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