Colts

Maidenhead Colts 10 v Grove Colts 8
Sunday 19th March 2006

Maidenhead Colts players were serving two masters last weekend. Maids, already crowned BBO champions, had a big BBO match against the powerful Grove at Braywick but had to play without their contingent from Burnham GS, who were playing the Lagunya Township touring team, from Cape Town, later the same afternoon.

In the end, it was a great day for the club. Maids beat Grove by 10-8, making light of the absences and a raft of injuries sustained in the match, while BGS beat the smaller but brilliantly-skilful South Africans by 25-17 at Phoenix.

Two Maids who have been injured all season made their welcome re-appearances - Pat McSweeney, the outstanding prop, came on as replacement for Maids and Tom Lewis, the fly-half, played for BGS. Maids' players did all the scoring for the School, with Dave Hodgson kicking five penalties for and a conversion, with the kicks including a stunning effort from near half way in a strong wind; while Drew Jones and Mitch Batten were the School try-scorers.

It could have been different at Braywick. Grove were also short of players and could only field a 17-man squad but they gave a tremendous performance, impressing Maids with their all-action style, their excellent attitude and sportsmanship, not to mention their running ambitions. Maids could not have complained had the wide-angled conversion of a late Grove try given Grove the draw.

However, Maids' coaches Gordon McDonald was delighted that Maids had been able to dig deep into their squad strength and graft for a victory. Sam Stefan had to move from fullback to scrum-half, with the two regulars absent, and typically, Stefan performed wonders. Alex Cannon scored a stunning individual try, a reminder that Cannon remains one of the most accomplished all-round backs in the League and outside. Will Grant, taking his chances well, was typically full of aggression on the wing. Up front, Karl Kempton, Jason Ouston and Tom Plumer led a storming forward effort, with the other try coming from Adam Dean on the wing after a driving maul set up good possession for the backs.

Maids have one more League game remaining, at home against Oxford. This is a match that all the Maids squad are anticipating with the keenest focus. They will also be relaxing by entering a team in the BBO 10s event.

Maids squad:
Sam Brown, Carl Corcoran, James Emmanuel, Tim Johnson, Karl Kempton, Pat McSweeney, Andrew Mitchell, Tom Morgan, Jason Ouston, Tom Plumer, Jack Robinson, Grant Shearer, Joe Thomas, Alex Cannon, Ryan Christian, Adam Dean, Will Grant, Andrew Hogan, Chris Richardson, Simon Standfast, Sam Stefan, Matt Wardle.