21/12 U17’s Beat Maidenhead in Top of the Table Clash
December 21, 2008
Newbury U17s vs. Maidenhead U17’s OBB U17’s League - Div 1 (21/12/08)
Newbury completed the first phase of their OBB Div1 league campaign with a home fixture against Maidenhead at a very windy Monks Lane on Sunday. Newbury were without 2 front-row regulars and two centers, but such is the strength in depth of this squad that the touchline fans were confident it would make little difference to their early Christmas present.
Newbury started strongly with the wind at their backs, and on 3 minutes, the forwards won good ball, which they spread along the line. Chris Lawrence did well to hang on to it after a juggling act, and moved it wide to Darren Smith, who powered through 30 metres to score under the posts. George Rossiter was as reliable as ever with the conversion.
3 minutes later it was nearly two as Newbury’s superior scrum won a penalty on their own 10-metre line. Michael Hobbs took it quickly and ran all the way into Maidenheads 22, where his pass did not quite go into James Monger’s hands. Another good chance came on 10 minutes, which in the blustery wind resulted in a Newbury forward pass in the Maidenhead 22. But Newbury took the ensuing scrum against the head, and Hobbs picked up from the back and drove through the despairing tacklers to score.
On 20 minutes, James Monger found a great line and although he was just stopped, a Newbury penalty was the result, which Rossiter kicked for a lineout, 7 metres out. The catch was clean, Hobbs and Guttridge both drove it closer to the Maidenhead line but the score would not come.
On 27 minutes Mr. Reliable George Rossiter accepted an easy penalty chance for 17-0. But at this point of the game that score line was poor reward for their pressure. Totally dominant in the set scrums and the line outs, Newbury’s back line ran the ball inventively, none more so than Chris Lawrence who had a barnstormer of a game, but scores were hard to come by.
At half time, against this massive wind and with no further score coming Newbury surely faced a huge task just to hang on. The loss of Michael Hobbs with an injury surely would not help, but a reliable deputy in Tom Clark was on hand. Sure enough, on 4 minutes Maidenhead drove and drove again to secure their first try (17-5).
On 10 minutes, Maidenhead won a scrum 5 metres out. Newbury won it against the head twice, but each time it was reset as it went to ground, Third time Maidenhead won it, but Josh Bartlett (also having a storming game) disrupted the scrum half brilliantly to halt the scoring opportunity.
Although Maidenhead had all the territory, Newbury kept them at bay quite comfortably, so it came as a shock when, with 15 minutes left, Newbury were guilty of over-complicating things in trying to run the ball out of defense, and a stray pass let Maidenhead through for a (converted) try. Thus at 17-12 the away side were now totally back in this game.
Newbury’s response was to work the ball forwards through their pack, and keeping it tight through 15 or more phases set up Tom Clark to score in the corner. Although the conversion was too much to ask, even of Rossiter, 22-12 now gave them breathing space. Newbury now used all their fresh legs and as we have noted before the changes failed to upset the rhythm of the team.
After the game, the victorious team emerged from the changing rooms magnificently dressed (Tom Clark though proved himself to be better with “tries” than “ties”) with manager Mick Futcher the smartest of them all.
After the Xmas break, the top four teams in the league go on to play the “reverse” fixtures, carrying over the points they have already earned. So Newbury approach the restart with a magnificent 5-point lead over the chasing pack.
Newbury Under 17s Squad: Guttridge, Sanders(Martin), Caunt(Gibson); Sherratt(Tarquini), Dyer(Craigen); West, Hobbs(T.Clark), Spanswick; Bartlett(Thorne), Rossiter; Monger, Lawrence, D.Clarke, Smith(Futcher); Mcintyre
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