U11A v Maidwell Hall Won 12-7

In a tough and bruising encounter S. Anselm's Prep School squeezed home to a great victory, but it could have gone either way. As usual Maidwell were well organised and rucked the ball brilliantly. They moved the ball down the line and had dangerous wingers. The first half was a heavyweight contest with both packs unrelenting in their tackling. Edward S bossed proceedings from the fly half position and always managed to break the gain line, offloading well to support that was there from all the team. The first try came from a good spell of pressure and Ollie R sniping around the side of a ruck to slide home. With the conversion missed it was 5-0 at half time.

Maidwell rallied in the second half with some strong interplay, and they camped on the S. Anselm's line for some time. Great defence kept them out for about 5 minutes but eventually their big second row powered over from close quarters. With the successful conversion they were in front. S. Anselm's surged forwards with bullish runs from Harvey W, Cameron D, and Nick P. We came so close so often but were held out. Eventually some wide play stretched the defence and Ollie R broke through two tackles to hit the line with the ball and take S. Anselm's into the lead. With the conversion going over it was 12-7, and despite several attacks, the home team kept Maidwell out and won the day.

It was a superb team performance and the level of commitment and work rate from all was a considerable step up from the last game and last year in particular. This was hard proper rugby!

Man of the match Cameron D