Maidenhead U13's Vs Teddington U13's
A Team
Maidenhead
under 13's kicked off their season with a tough away
fixture against London side Teddington.
Moving up to the under 13 age group means a move from
mini rugby to juniors and mini pitches to full size.
It was difficult to predict how the boys would adjust
to the new rules, but 10 seconds into the game gave
a good indication. From the Maidenhead kick off, the
Teddington second row caught the ball only to be smashed
backwards by the rampaging Maids captain, Matt Balmer,
in his new position of open-side flanker
Teddington
remained in possession for the next few phases until
turned over by the Maidenhead pack. The ball was whipped
out of the ruck to Colin Kerins who scorched round the
Teddington defence to run in from 40 yards and then
converted. Teddington then got their hands on the ball
a bit more and tried to test the Maids backs, but could
not penetrate the well organised rush defence
It was from
defence that Maidenhead scored the next try. The Teddington
wing spilled the ball just outside the Maidenhead 22
into the hands of the lurking Colin Kerins who was simply
too quick for the Teddington defence and scored and
then converted his second try.
From the re-start,
Balmer caught and then bulldozed through 3 defenders,
the pack supported well and quickly recycled the ball,
which scrum half Kieran Egan swiftly passed out to his
backs and Kerins finished off to secure his hat trick
after just 10 minutes. The forwards were very nearly
rewarded for their hard graft soon after when number
8, Marcus Bateson picked up from the back of a ruck
and went through 2 defenders before off-loading to Balmer
who was stopped only after making another 10 yards.
Sadly, the ball was turned over and Teddington launched
their first real attack of the game. The left winger
looked destined to score and surely would have done
if it had not been for the superb cover tackle by full
back George Chetwood
Maids very
nearly had a fourth try through Emiliano Repetto, who
was bundled into touch inches from the line after running
half the length of the pitch. The Maidenhead pack was
starting to really dominate now and had some fantastic
pick and go phases which led to Repetto scoring a deserved
try which fly-half Jonny Garius duly converted to make
the final score 28-0.
B Team
With lots
of players missing and some borrowed from Teddington,
this was always going to be an uphill struggle. The
Teddington backs contained a lot of pace and playing
on a full sized pitch really made it difficult for the
Maidenhead backs to keep up. Despite the difference
in pace, Maidenhead put in a sterling effort, and came
away with plenty of positives. The two centres, Joe
Avis and Jack Pettigrew combined well and seldom let
anyone through their channel. Number 8, Matthew Martin
got around the pitch well and made himself a nuisance
at the breakdown to the Teddington pack and Will Brockwell
played well in a difficult match at fly-half. The final
score of 38-0 to Teddington didn't really reflect the
competitiveness of the game, but nearly all of the Teddington
tries came simply from having too much pace for Maidenhead
to cope with
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