St. Brendan's College A 19pts vs. Maidenhead U16s Jaguars 13pts

For the first ten minutes of this match it looked highly likely to be an easy win for Maids. Jamie Tolan and the rest of the pack destroyed the home scrum. Their first five put ins were hooked by Tolan and, when the shove came on, St Bs had no answer. Maids were winning their lineouts too. For all the ball won, however, the points did not flow. Just a Bart penalty kick to show for almost total dominance.

The home side were bigger than the BACRC teams had been but still smaller on average than Maids. The two biggest boys now combined to put St.Brendan's ahead. First their No.8 powered through tacklers up to 6 metres. Maids were penalised at the ensuing ruck for an over-aggressive clearout reminiscent of Bakkies Botha. Up popped the big No.3 to crash over for a try quite against the run of play. The easy conversion made it 7-3.

Maids had a kickable penalty in the last minute of the half and opted to go for the try but could not make it happen.

The first few moves of the second half looked good for the visitors. The scrum continued to go well and a burst of energy won some more loose ball. Sam Balfour tapped and ran to a couple of metres and the ball was recycled and moved right for Lawrence MacSwan to dive over. This was the control and precision that was needed.

Unfortunately, that was the last we saw of it. The home scrum began to win a little ball and St Bs started to play in the backs. Just simple passing as quickly as possible to the wings, not seeking contact, stretching across and looking for an opening. Right, left, right and the overlap appeared. The home forwards were faster to the breakdown now, and more effective at it. 12-8 with 20 minutes to go.

Tails up, St. Brendan's continued to play uncomplicated fluid rugby. They did not try to bash through the bigger Maidenhead midfield, just to move from wing to wing. When their forwards had the ball they rolled and mauled and drove as a unit, making good ground each time. Then the backs would spin it away to the wings and the process would start again. By contrast, Maids were playing as individuals, perhaps each player trying too hard to make something happen. The earlier fluency had gone and the team looked like they were struggling for a pattern.

Sure enough, St. Brendan's made the game safe with a textbook lineout catch and drive and a conversion for 19-8 with five minutes left.

To their credit, Maids did not fold. On the contrary, they came back with fury and passion. Will O'Callen-Smith scored a trademark no-one stops me from here to keep the margin of victory within one score but there was no doubt that the home side deserved to win on the day. They played better as a team and rugby is a team game.

Squad: Avery A, Tolan, O'Callen-Smith, Whiteford (Capt.), Orchard, Balfour, Sanders, Winter, Hibberdine, Smith, Eckles (VC), Bart, MacSwan, McHugh, Basson, Nicol, Khindria, Cronbach