MAVERICKS II 26

HALSTEAD TEMPLARS II 29

HALSTEAD Templars' seconds headed down to Brentwood to take on a very youthful Mavericks twos in search of their first-ever victory and the visitors got what they were after with a 29-26 victory.

Bolstered by players from both Witham and Ilford, the Templars took on the look of a Barbarians side but the cohesion between the three teams was easy to see from the start.

The Templars put pressure on the Mavericks from the kick-off, with their bigger pack chasing the hosts around the park putting big hits on anyone carrying the ball.

It wasn't long before the Mavericks opted out of taking contact and tried to get their backs into the fray.

Ed Merry, playing fly-half, tested the wings and full-back early on with high swirling kicks and centres Joe Harrison and Harry Sanders harried the home side into making simple mistakes.

The Templars controlled the scrum throughout the game and the opening score came from on after five minutes.

With Witham's Ryan Logue harrying the home scrum-half from the flank a speculative pass was picked off by Merry, who raced over for a try that was converted by Sanders for a 7-0 lead.

An attacking line-out then set up the Templars' second score.

Darryl Warnaar found Merry who hit the fast-moving Harrison who burst through the now well-spread defence.

Brought down just metres short, he had the presence of mind to pop off the floor to Sanders who had followed him through the gap and who scampered over for his first ever Templar try.

Sanders then added the extras himself for a 14-0 lead after just 12 minutes.

The youthful home side kept their heads, though, and kept the pace of the game at a high tempo.

With a little over ten minutes left to play in the first half, the Mavericks finally got on the scoreboard from a quickly-taken penalty.

Unforgivably, the Templars were guilty of allowing the exact same scenario to unfold less than ten minutes later and, with both tries converted, the game was tied 14-14 at half-time.

Mavericks stayed in the ascendancy after the break and two tries, one of which was converted, took them into a 26-14 lead, however, a moment of magic from Sanders brought the visitors back into the game.

It came when the ball was shipped wide and Harrison drew his man before finding Sanders on the charge.

Excellent footwork and speed carried him through the covering defence and away under the posts for an excellent score which he duly converted to make it 26-21.

The Templars had their tails up, none more so than man-of-the-match Ryan Logue who was carrying brilliantly.

Ten minutes of intense pressure on the Mavericks line eventually ended in Aeron Stubbs crossing wide on the left and although Sanders couldn't add the extras it was tied at 26-26 with ten minutes to play.

It was still in the scrums where Halstead knew they had total dominance and time and again they turned to their pack to move them up the pitch.

With Mavericks conceding a penalty, Halstead skipper Phil Foster opted for a kick at goal.

Once more Sanders was accurate from the tee landing his fourth from five attempts to give the Templars a slender 29-26 lead that they held on to despite Mavericks throwing everything at them in the final few minutes.