Tough day at Maidenhead

Maidenhead 15-38 Titans

Hi to all, a tough day on the pitch today. The score looks more one sided than it was.

Maidenhead played a cracking game today using their forwards, the weather conditions and the 3/4 size pitch to their advantage.

I spoke with the squad before the match and said that we would be starting with our strongest 2nd XV and that to win these games everyone has to put in 100% That's what I saw today.

Not exact but I would guess that it was 60% possession to Maidenhead today. Their forwards kept the ball in hand with some strong driving, good rucking and mauling. The tackle rate from the Titans was fantastic, I don't think many if any missed tackles today. We lost possession a few times in the first 10 minutes or so with the backs trying to move the ball too fast and too far in the wet conditions. Maidenhead also turned us over a few times at the break down due to their superior weight and speed to rucks, something we need to work on a bit more with our forwards.

Once the game settled down our forwards were setting the ball well and we used our backs to our advantage. The boys had closed up to make sure the passes went to hand.

Our superior speed and passing was Maidenheads down fall.

A few players to mention. Rhys had a great game as Captain. Couldn't have asked more from him. Jack and Hugo for good distribution of the ball from the break downs. All the backs for keeping their nerve and getting the ball out wide, Dexter who took the ball at pace to score 4 tries/ maybe 5? Nominated by Maidenhead as our Man of the Match

And Ed who has the dubious honour of being yellow carded, the first we've had in our age group. The work of an overzealous Ref who carded him for the heinous crime of "hands in the ruck"! Shame as he had only just come on. I'm sure he wont be the last?

Sorry not to have got everyone on the pitch.
The game was to tight to call by the end of the 1st half (10-12) to us.

I had hoped to have had a bigger lead going into the second half and hopefully added a few more points to take it out of Maidenheads grasp. The game was still too close to call with 10 minutes to go (15-26) It was only in the last 5 minutes of the game that we pushed ahead with a comfortable lead that allowed me to bring on lots of subs.

Next round 13th March.