Look-alikes

Following last week's suggestion that John Sudbury looked like one of the Mitchell brothers, I was informed that in fact this was incorrect as is proved below.

                        
                    Hood (Thunderbirds)               John Sudbury

If you know of any other club look-alikes then please mail them in.  The more cruel, the more chance they have of being entered

Of course if I do not get any suggestions then I might just have to make up a few myself - be warned - the ed

Maids overcome lethargic start to win comfortably
Maidenhead 3rds 28pts vs Shire Hall 0pts 

It was a good job that this wasn't a top of the table clash because the Maidenhead team didn't really turn up until half-time

It wasn't as if the result didn't matter but the forwards didn't commit enough men to the break down, delivered little decent ball to the backs who were careless and a general air of lethargy seemed to infect the whole team. As a result they spent most of the first half around their own 22 metre line only getting into the opposition's half as a result of some relieving kicks out of defence by John 'Mitchell Brother' Sudbury and Dave 'Gooders' Goodman.
However halfway through the half a quickly taken free kick saw Tim 'Van Diesel' Robinson run through some weak tackles and pass on to Rob Wilkins who dotted down under the posts. Easy conversion and Maidenhead were 7 – nil up

Then a few minutes later a kick ahead, and a quick ruck-ball, was picked up by Lester 'the Man' Martin who ran in under the posts completely unopposed to put Maidenhead 14 – nil up at half time

This did seem to shake Maidenhead out of their lethargy as almost immediately after the re-start another quick ruck saw the ball go to the short-side putting Bale 'Fiji it up' Nasili clear in the corner for another try under the post. Good work. 21 – 0 up and effectively game over

The only further excitement for the watching crowd was a long, mazy run by Lester 'the Man' Martin from deep in his own half which would have yielded a try except for the fact that he was bundled in to the corner flag in the act of touching down. From this point on the game meandered along mainly in the middle of the pitch until in the last few minutes when Ed 'No Neck' Poulding took an inside pass to score under the posts

Penn Motor Company Man of the Match: Lester 'the Man' Martin

Written By David 'The Pencil' Anthony

Lisbon survives U17 tour

In their last year as juniors, Maidenhead U17s travelled to Portugal for their annual and last tour before moving into the senior section of the club

A touring party of 25 enjoyed not only good rugby but also great....... well you know what I mean!

Two tough games 'under tour conditions' took place with one win and one loss

Unknown to the Maids, the second game, soon after the first, was against the leading team in Lisbon, littered with U17 Portuguese internationals

Tour highlights included a trip to watch Benfica 'play', seeing the qualifying session for the Moto GP, a great kangaroo court, training  sessions on the beach, a quick swim in the Atlantic (not voluntarily on the ed's behalf I might add) and of course........well you known what I mean! 

Here's to having more fun next year, on and off the pitch

Under strength Maids still too strong
Maidenhnead U14s 24pts vs Aylesbury 22pts

Missing over half the age group through school trips and holidays, Maids took a composite A and B squad to take on Aylesbury in a friendly fixture on Sunday, and just edged victory by the margin of one conversion

The Maids backs looked the more dangerous, but could not get enough ball, as the Aylesbury forwards dominated the set piece despite the best efforts of Mike Trevena and Nic Jones in particular. Initially, though, Aylesbury could do little with the ball and it was Maids who opened the scoring when Alex Avery took a pop pass from Chris Dow (making a very welcome return after a nasty knee injury) to crash over  in the corner. A second try followed soon afterwards, as Nic Jones took advantage of defensive disarray to touch down after great interplay between Chris Dow and George Thomas 

Aylesbury strengthened their side, most notably with the introduction of their very large and talented (and bearded!) Number 8, and suddenly they were making possession tell, while Maids fell off tackles and the home side were on the scoresheet. A rare piece of clean possession saw a sweet backs move put Daniel Andrews-Jones straight through to score from the 10 metre line, with Fraser Brooks converting, but Aylesbury came back again with another try of their own to keep things tight 

Andrews-Jones looked to have made things safe with another long range strike, this time with what would transpire to be the vital conversion from Will Thompson, but the big Number 8 came back again with a further try and the very determined Aylesbury side were awarded a final try in the corner when the ref adjudged that all passes had gone backwards

Fortunately Maids' kicking had been somewhat better than Aylesbury's, and the margin of 2 points was enough to secure victory. It was a great game played with good spirit and a good opportunity to see players unused to playing together in the same squad

Maids U13s push Saries to the limit

Maidenhead U13s took on Saries on Sunday and although losing both games came away with heads held high

The A team found themselves 39-14 down with 15 minutes to go but finished much the stronger pulling the score back to 33-39. The scorers were man of the match Emi Repetto with three tries, Colin Kerins two tries and another long range conversion and Jonny Garius scored three from four conversions

The B team came alive in the second half after a lacklustre first period ended 24-0 to Saracens B. However a much improved last 25 minutes saw Maids win the second half culminating with a fantastic team try scored in the corner by Alex Matthews following a great run by Kieran Egan. The final score was 19-31. The other try scorers were Alex Matthews  again and Michael Corio with Will Brockwell scoring two conversions

Other Squad Leagues
State of Play

Maidenhead 2s BBO Premier A

Team	P	W	D	L	Pts
Redingensians II	21	20	0	1	40
Maidenhead II	21	17	0	4	32
Windsor II	21	13	0	8	26
Witney II	21	12	1	8	25
Oxford Harlequins II	21	12	0	9	22
Marlow II	21	11	0	10	22
Chinnor III	21	11	0	10	20
Buckingham II	21	7	0	14	14
Bracknell III	21	6	1	14	13
Henley II	21	6	0	15	6
Abbey II	21	7	0	14	4
Bletchley II	21	3	0	18	2

Maidenhead 3rds BBO 1
Team	P	W	D	L	Pts
Wallingford II	19	15	1	3	31
Maidenhead III	19	15	1	3	31
Harwell	19	14	0	5	28
Thatcham	19	13	1	5	27
Oxford Harlequins III	19	12	2	5	26
Aldermaston	19	9	0	10	18
Tadley II	19	7	1	11	15
Grove II	19	7	0	12	12
Berkshire Shire Hall	19	6	0	13	8
Didcot	20	2	0	18	0
Slough II	19	2	0	17	-6

Colts BBO - Final Standings

Team	P	W	D	L	Pts
Newbury	10	9	0	1	42
Maidenhead	11	7	0	4	36
Henley	10	5	2	3	29
Marlow	11	4	2	5	25
Chinnor	8	5	0	3	23
Windsor	8	4	0	4	20
Reading	8	2	0	6	10
A & Chiltern	8	2	0	6	9
Drifters	8	1	0	7	6

League standings

As this is the last weekend of the season, it would be great if all coaches involved in league structures could forward them to the newsletter

These will then be included in a full seasonal summary next week