MATCH REPORT
Maids get fingers burned by Cinders (11.09.04) MAIDS kicked-off their Division 1 programme with defeat to promotion favourites Cinderford on Saturday. Maids were encouraged by the return of outstanding centre Johnny Hammond from trials with Henley but, after a sharp shower made the ball slippery to handle, it was Cinderford who started strongly. They penned Maids in their own half for the first quarter with a constant stream of loose ball which inevitably led to a successful penalty for them to open the scoring. However, from a rare visit to the Cinderford half, a short penalty gave Ben Ayres the opportunity to feed Danny Walton, who gave wing Stuart Mackay plenty to do but he rounded his wing with ease for a fine touchdown. Mark Ruddick converted – kicking in place of the absent Rob Hawkins who had a calf injury. From the restart Maids dropped the ball – an irritating feature so far this season – again putting the visitors on the back foot to concede another penalty kicked by full-back Trigg. Maids No.6 Jacques Botha then retired with a damaged ankle to be replaced by Nick Kertesz, who made an immediate impact in the lineout. The Maids pack was being pushed around and, after two successive heels against the head, home centre Roberts took advantage of a defensive mix-up by Pete Nesbit and Hammond to score a straight-forward outside break try, converted by Trigg. With constant possession, and in spite of brave tackling close to the scrum by Ayres, Robin Bryant and Ruddick, fly-half Fanolua scored another try from close range, converted by Trigg, for Maids to cross over 20-7 down, having had hardly any possession. The second half saw quite a turnround with the introduction of Richard Craig at hooker, and with Kertesz winning plenty of lineout ball, Maids took the game to Cinderford, only good tackling keeping Ayres and Ruddick out. Home fly-half Fanolua was then yellow carded for a high tackle and Maids spent the next 25 minutes in the Cinderford half without actually scoring. Nesbit and Hammond were not quite clicking in the centre and a rare incursion into the Maids half led to a number of short passes among the home forwards and a converted try for right wing Coates for a 24-7 lead. Centre Roberts then finished off a passing move among the forwards from broken play to give a relatively soft try near the posts for Trigg to convert. Maids continued to cough up the ball in the loose after good approach work, but a clean catch by Kertesz gave Maids a rare opportunity for Hammond to make a clean break in the centre and put winger Dave Knight over in the corner for an unconverted try which completed the scoring. Maids will not be too depressed at this defeat, the score flattering Cinderford, who nevertheless deserved to win. But injuries to Botha and Craig, and the inability to win loose ball, will give coach Simon Edwards plenty of food for thought. |
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