Sun 11 Feb 2024, 13:30
Wallingford and Henley U18s welcomed Maidenhead to Henley for a friendly fixture on a surprisingly pleasant February afternoon, as they looked to bounce back from their disappointing performance at Reading two weeks prior.
In selection, W&H were without a raft of regulars due to half term holidays, but were able to give debuts to Spike Webb and Harvey Doyle whilst Archie Nokes and Aidan Murphy made their long awaited return to the squad.
W&H started well as they dominated the opening five minutes, but after a sustained spell of pressure on the Maidenhead line they ultimately came away with nothing.
After weathering the early storm, Maidenhead worked their way back into the game and very nearly opened the scoring. After some soft tackling in midfield their player took the ball deep into the Wallingford half but just as it looked like a try seemed inevitable, the referee adjudged the scoring pass to be forward as W&H were lucky not to go a try down.
Both teams were looking to spread the ball on the wide Henley pitch and had some success but all too often they failed to execute the scoring pass as the half remained scoreless.
Finally the deadlock was broken from a somewhat fortuitous try. With Maidenhead looking to kick a penalty to touch in the W&H half, Aidan Murphy did incredibly well to keep the ball infield, but unfortunately his teammates had switched off and the ball bounced kindly for the chasing Maidenhead player who gathered the ball and raced under the posts.
Ball in hand W&H still looked dangerous, with the likes of Jack GJ and Harry C carrying powerfully, but good Maidenhead defence and a lack of support meant that the chances W&H created weren’t converted.
Their real issue was in defence, as a notable lack of intensity and aggression meant that Maidenhead’s runners broke through tackles all too easily, as they began to dominate play, eventually culminating in a second converted score.
But just as heads were beginning to drop, some simple route one rugby got W&H back into the game just before half time. From a penalty on halfway, Harry C had a monumental carry taking play up to the Maidenhead twenty-two, before the impressive Oscar S picked from the ensuing ruck and raced in from 25m for a fine try that Pete C-C converted.
Half-Time W&H 7 – 14 Maidenhead
The second half saw Maidenhead start the stronger, as they had a long period of pressure on the W&H line, but excellent W&H defence somehow managed to repel their opponents.
Despite plenty of half chances being created by both sides, it was only going into the final quarter that the next score came, as Maidenhead moved the ball right to set up a score which was again well converted.
The final 15 minutes was a niggly affair as some unsavoury play saw frustrations nearly boil over but the referee just about kept the peace.
Going into the last five minutes, Wallingford threw everything at their visitors, and they were duly rewarded as a well work-worked backs move set up an Arthur C special as he scythed through midfield and raced in from halfway for an excellent converted score.
To add to the drama of the closing stages, Maidenhead then lost their talkative hooker to a red card for backchat to the referee, as momentum swung back to the hosts.
Unfortunately, from the last play, the ball didn’t quite go to hand on the blindside and Maidenhead held on for the win.
The team was hugely disappointed at the final whistle. If they were honest with themselves, Maidenhead deserved their victory. Not much separated the teams in terms of ability, but the visitors’ intensity in attack and defence was greater than their hosts, and if you can’t match your opponents intensity in rugby you’re rarely going to win the game.
That said, there were lots of positives for W&H. The scrum was much more solid with Spike making a big difference in the set-piece, the backs still looked dangerous from first phase attack with Peter and Arthur looking dangerous throughout, whilst Harvey, Aidan and Archie all had excellent debuts/returns.
All in all, considering the number of regulars unavailable and the fact that we were playing against a Div 1 side, a narrow defeat isn’t the worst result, but the players know that the performance wasn’t anyway near what they’re capable of.
Man of the Match went to Oscar S, who whose was a shining light in defence and even showed his attacking prowess with his first score for the side.
Match Photos:
