Mavericks Opener

Anselmian Mavericks v Tarleton

And so the first league game of the season arrives, and following a successful game the previous week plus the ever developing selection process the Mavs took the field in confident manner with a good strong team despite some no-shows prior to kick off.
The weather continues to disappoint with warm sunny skies above us and hard ground under foot. Despite this the team prepared well prior to kick off and even Mike Potter managed to take the field prior to his usual two minutes to kick off showing . So big thumbs up !!
Tarleton arrived at Anselmians as a new entity. Having never played them before we didn't know what to expect and first impressions were not promising as a group of young athletic looking players took to the stage. Tarleton fielding a third team based upon a previous colts team for the first time and we wish them well with their future.
Anyway, kick off arrived and The Mavs kicked off up the pitch. For the first twenty five minutes both teams were evenly matched with Mavericks forward dominating whilst Tarleton backs gave us some challenging moments, with a particularly scary moment occurring after about ten minutes when Tom Redfearn carried out his try saving tackle in the corner to prevent the rapid Tarleton winger going over for an opening try. Unfortunately in putting in the tackle Tom was injured and took no further part in the game .
The stalemate was broken on 25 minutes with a penalty try being awarded to The Mavericks following a great push over scrum from 8 metres out . Great pressure and control from the eight forced the Tarleton defence to come in from the side and collapse the dominant scrum. 7-0 Mavs. More forward dominance followed with The Mavs using great running lines around the fringes and from the calls to punch holes in the Tarleton defence and 7 minutes later one such explosive run created a fine try for Neil Davies to go over and touch down over the white wash. Following the failed conversion attempt Tarleton lined up to
Kick off , the ball failed to go the required ten and a scrum was awarded. Resulting in more Mavericks possession.
Half time arrived with the score at 12-0 to the home side.
Second half saw a continued level of pressure from The Mavs with increasing dominance around the park both with forwards and backs combining excellently. Dan Jenner received the kick off and started running . Straight through the Tarleton forwards , straight round their winger and past their full back to score under the posts. Great score and 17-0 up a successful kick this time from Gordon gave the extra two.
Onwards and upwards and further tries from Neil Brookes and Andy Smith plus a fine strong finish from Josh Farrelly using all his strength to touch down after being tackled by several defenders . Referee judged it to be continuous movement which was a great call from him. Dan Jenner completed the tries with another fine solo effort out sprinting the cover defence to score.
Overall a fantastic team performance, however special mention must go to the forwards today who totally dominated up front. Winning all our own scrums and several against the head and forcing the opposition into uncontested scrums. Great line out work and some fabulous running lines. Our defence was strong only allowing one try against, even that was due to some missed positioning which can be easily rectified.
Today's man of the match was Dan Jenner who was a continuous thorn in the side of the Tarleton team , scoring two (possibly three as he was 8 on the push over penalty try and controlling well) and leading from the front. Special mention must also be given to Nev Pickard who once again had a ferocious game on the open side. Sam Braithwaite was our new debutant at outside centre and is a player to watch. A real development player who is showing some great promise .To quote our skipper Andy the morning after
"Forwards where f*##*%^ amazing yesterday!!
Says it all really . Special thanks also must go to Ed Byrne who played 80 minutes for Tarleton who arrived one short.
Well done Mavs was great to watch a great performance and lets take it into next week .
Remember "Training Training Training"

Semper a Mavericus, semel a Mavericus

The Gaffer.