Oxford Harlequins 3rds 15 v Maidenhead 3rds 0
Saturday 26th January 2008

It looked like complacency was at the root of Maidenhead's demise.

Oxford Harlequins bested Maidenhead in every aspect of the game and it was only in the last 10 minutes that Maidenhead looked like forcing a score, but by then it was too late.

The line-out didn't work at all well, a number of set scrums were lost against the head purely as a result of being pushed off the ball, the breakdowns weren't contested as they should have been and the backs were poor. The midfield defence missed too many tackles and except for one excellent move towards the end of the game they kicked away what ball they had, and did it badly so never threatened. Consequently most of the first half was spent in and around the Maidenhead 22 metre line.

After about 15 minutes a mix up in the Maidenhead mid field defence saw Oxford score under the posts and with an easy conversion they led 7 - 0. Then about 10 minutes later a very loose pass to an opponent led to another try to make it 12 - 0 to Oxford at half time.

Maidenhead needed to score quickly in the second half to get back into the game but everything was being done too hastily and the set scrums were turning into a disaster area for Maidenhead. Then finally after a long period of scrappy play Maidenhead put together their only three-quarters move of any consequence when outside centre Ed Poulding cut back and broke through the opposition defence and passed on to Chris Richardson who very nearly got over in the corner. This seemed to wake Maidenhead up, but a long period of pressure deep in the Oxford 22 metres area didn't yield a much needed score.

The final score was 15 - 0 to Oxford, and Maidenhead are going to need to be a lot more bloody minded and a lot more committed when they entertain Aldermaston in two weeks time.

Written By

David 'the pencil' Anthony