Match report courtesy of the

Saturday 19th January 2008

THIS 12-try rout of a hopeless St Ives team on Saturday should have restored some confidence to Maids' flagging season without quite giving them the strenuous workout in all departments they might really have needed.

Maids opened the scoring in the fourth minute and dominated throughout, playing almost a sevens style of game. So porous was the visitors' defence, every home player fancied his chances of scoring, and indeed had Maids possessed a little more ruthlessness, and not missed six conversions and a penalty, the scoreline would have topped 100.

St Ives, lacking any pace in the backs, and any power or presence up front, rarely reached Maids' 22, and their only opportunity to score came from a 26th minute penalty from Mike Crump which was missed.

The only negative for Maids was the sending-off of Simon Cripps two minutes before the final whistle for a blatant punch which laid out the St Ives' centre. It was an uncharacteristic reaction from the Maids' winger, in a match which had exhibited no bad feeling.

Despite the muddy underfoot conditions and the constant drizzle, Maids' handling, especially in the first half, was exemplary and contributed to some memorable, eye-catching tries. These commenced when, after centre Warren Abrahams hooked his early penalty attempt wide, Stuart Mackay was the first to fill his boots when he touched down after four minutes courtesy of two missed tackles down the flanks.

Abrahams then helped himself to two tries, one after joining the line at speed and punching through the flimsy St Ives defence, and the other after being on the shoulder of Mackay who picked up and passed on the gallop to the rapid South African. On 20 minutes Mackay bagged his second, and best, when he reacted first to full-back Simon Swadling's chip over the slowly advancing defence, scooped up the ball one-handed, juggled but held on before cruising over the line.

With few big hits coming in from the visitors, Maids were able to pass and catch with confidence, and express the undoubted talent they have, especially in the backs. Cripps was next to get his name on the scoresheet after a maul had sucked in the defence and the Maids winger was free out wide, and then Mackay secured his hat-trick after Abrahams took two defenders with him and laid off to the winger who powered past St Ives' stationary fullback Crump.

Cripps, on 30 minutes, completed the first half scoring when he was on the end of a virtual 15-man move.

With a 41-0 scoreline, the second half was always likely to be a formality for the hosts and the only limitations on how many they could score would be time and the players' focus. Abrahams got the ball rolling just eight minutes after the break when, from a counter-attack, Swadling broke through and released Abrahams who side-stepped his way to the line.

Although the second half was more stop-start than the first, the inevitable avalanche of Maids' tries continued. Registering a rare forwards try on the day, flanker Alex Gallina touched down after a pick-up and dive, and then Mackay snatched his fourth after the St Ives markers once again proved themselves not up to the mark. The match was ended when substitute Deego Arends used his explosive pace to good effect, and then the same player touched down after Swadling and skipper Mark Ruddick joined forces in the last throes of the match.

In addition, Abrahams added two conversions and Swadling four, out of their combined 12 conversions and a penalty. Cripps' sending off, which occurred as Arends touched down for the first time, and was in reaction to a shirt pulling, took some of the gloss off the day, but should not detract from a thumping good victory.

Whether this is good preparation for a trip to Oxford Harlequins on Saturday remains to be seen.

Maidenhead:
Swadling, Cripps, Abrahams (Arends, 60), Hammond, MacKay, Ruddick, Edwards, O¹Byrne, Craig (Barber, 65), Hadfield, Babich, Mueller, Gallina, Parkhouse (Cheney, 65), Riley. St Ives: Crump, Bishop, J Stevens, Earp, Eddy, Thomas, R Rowe, Noott, Taylor, Varney, Sidgewick, Trudgeon, Paul, Rainey, L Stevens. Subs: Bramwell, J Rowe, Cutter.