Mold 17 - 62 Mavericks

Welcome back everyone.

Firstly Happy New Year to everyone and I hope we all had a fabulous Xmas and New year.

First game of 2019 after a long break saw The Mavericks travelling down the M53 to our good friends Mold who once again provided an excellent afternoon of rugby and a great post match atmosphere.
The Mavs struggled to raise a team for this first sojourn into 2019 and turned up with 13 players after suffering late drop outs. In true social rugby style Mold provided the necessary replacements and both teams started with 15.
The quality of the Mavs taking the pitch became evident early on with two well taken tries in the first ten minutes and the quality of the two Mold players provided became evident with strong running and a great physicality.
As always the score in a friendly is irrelevant albeit the Mavs recorded the win.
What was more important was the performance from the players on the pitch.
Despite the gaffer constantly bemoaning the fact he has to stand on the touchline every week as opposed to getting stuck in on the pitch, this week was a real pleasure to watch. I saw a complete team performance from 1-15 (well 13 as we borrowed two) but the fact of the matter is every player out there this week earned their stripes. Strong forward play and fast direct backs provided a great overall performance.
Mold provided an excellent opposition with some real strong running players the big pack and agile backs could have really caused some damage if it weren’t for the monumental defensive performance from our front foot tacklers. Gaffer has always said about tackling the opposition on the front foot as oppose to letting them run at you, and that’s exactly what happened. Mold found it difficult to break our first line of defence and when they did excellent covering tackles provided little opportunities for tries. With Andy and Del tying up the centre of the park and the pack keeping the forwards at bay it was time to let loose with the attack and some great performances from the excellent Harry Southern at 9 who completely dominated as one might expect and nullified the big Mold No 8 from the base of the Scrum, Billy ‘wiz’ Alderson and the new star at 10 Dave ‘ John Holmes’ Edge. A welcome return by the dynamic father and son act Chris and Dion and a debutant in Sean all provided for an exciting and energetic match.
Tries quickly came with Harry gaining a Hatrick and at half time the score of 40 - 0 was an ominous sign.
Half time brought some changes to the Mold team and the second half was a different proposition. Strong running and excellent interplay between forwards and backs saw Mold score two good tries with a third being judged ‘held up’ over the line. This required some strong personalities on the pitch and it would’ve been easy for The Mavericks to crumble under pressure. However, tries from Dave Edge, Sean Walker and Dion Elwell saw the Mavs weather the storm and the final score was a fair reflection of a very good performance and another excellent day of rugby.
Special mentions this week obviously go to Harry Southern, who showed what a classy player he is, the dynamic tag team of Andy and Del in the centres who tied the Mold backs in nicely and of course Dave Edge playing his first game at 10 but definitely not his last. As stated at the beginning In was one of the most complete team performances I have seen for a long time and a real joy to watch. Every player who took to the park on Saturday deserves the man of the match , without exception. However, one of the tougher duties of being the Gaffer is choosing a man of the match and for me there was one who really deserved it. It is always difficult coming into a team as a new starter, especially at such a young age, playing in a physically demanding position in the pack and facing a big physical opposition . This player dominated in the line out winning all his own and the majority of opposition ball, tackling and hitting rucks and mauls ferociously, being on the shoulder at almost every breakdown and supporting players. Finally scoring his try on debut and playing a very mature game despite his young age as a result this weeks man of the match goes to Sean Walker.
Once again thanks to Mold for their excellent hospitality, thanks to every Mav who donned the shirt and here’s looking forward to 2019.

Semel a Mavericus Semper a Mavericus

The Gaffer