Mavs caught short

Mavs fall short

The Mavericks produced another convincing display last weekend against a strong Prenton side who have a habit of surprising us with a constant change in playing strength.
The third different team of the season turned up at Malone Field on Saturday. We turned up with a full 19 pumped for 3rd game against Prenton. As we looked over to the opposition we soon realised this was the 3rd different team we had played this year. So let’s just put it in context... Mav’s V Prenton 1’s in September, Mav V Prenton 3’s in November and now we face Prenton 2’s! As we all looked in amazement to each other skipper Andy Smith gathers the lads and says ‘as long as we play our game then we will beat anyone!’ And that’s exactly what we did (well all apart from the beating part)

Prenton arrived at Malone field with about 25 players (all in their fully kitted our chester university gear!) laughing and joking thinking this was going to be a walk in the park! The mavs has other ideas!!!!!
Mavs where strong from the off and put the pressure on the opponents. First scrum and the pack pushed them off! They knew from then this was going to be a struggle. After 9 mins of attacking and recycling
Dan jenner cut Prenton apart straight up the middle from just about midfield. Andy Thompson converts and the Mav's secure a 7-0 lead

From the subsequent kick off It's all one way traffic however, unfortunately the wrong way..Prenton pressure pays off with the 8 crashing over between the Mavs sticks. Conversation is good 7-7

It’s been said that the devil is in the detail and so it proves with Prenton’s second try with The Mavs failing to deal effectively with the ball and failing to clear the danger as a result Prenton scored another through their fly half from a 5 metre scrum. Conversation missed. 35 minutes gone.

It’s from this point that the true character of The Mavs shone through from a Mav's scrum inside the Prenton 22 Wellsy gets quick ball away and Captain fantastic Andy Smith smashed over 12-12 as Dan narrowly misses the conversation.
A rattled and frustrated Prenton Team then suffered the loss of a player for ten minutes in the bin following a GBH assault on Plum and Mavs are awarded a penalty.
Once again simple things let us down and a high ball was left to bounce and down the undefended side line sees Prenton wing run onto it and unchallenged to run in. He missed the chance to convert his own try. 12-17
It appears we perform best in adversity and the Mavs pinned Prenton back into their own 22and set up camp for the next 10 mins with great pressure and hard running.
Maverick's pack bullied the opposition pack today which allowed the backs to run riot. This was a great performance against a Prenton team that where much better than the team fielded back in September when they steamrolled us...
Once again Prenton attack and another try scored by the Prenton flanker going over close to the posts. Missed tackles and switching off cost us here and I’m sure valuable lessons learnt in relation to doing the simple things well. Conversation was good 12-24

Again the mavs set up camp (which was much the story of the 2nd half) Maverick's going again through the phases.. Good work results in a pay off. Andy Smith cutting right to get his second try. Wellsy misses extras

It was at this stage that the game had to be stopped as prenton where in process of using their 7th sub! It was agreed that we would stick to the rules this week and only use the 5 subs the league allows you to do. Prenton used 6 and that was taking things a bit far however when the 7th person cane on that’s when concerns were raised. It’s one thing to bring replacements but when you are changing half your team that is outside of the spirit if the game. This desire to change so many players could be viewed as a result of the pressure the mavs where putting to them the young guns could not cope. However I’m sure it was just to let everyone get a game.

Prenton round of the scoring with a late try 22-31 final score.

It was generally felt the The Prenton squad got a shake today cause the Maverick's to a man played heads up rugby which perhaps wasn’t what was expected by the opposition.
I would have to pick about 10 players as man of the match today so I’m going to leave it at that as I think it’s wrong to single 1 person out with the team performing like that.

Match analysis shows us that the team are great at performing when things are working in our favour, however simple errors in relation to tackling, and decision making are still our Achilles heal, so, to take anything from this game we all need to remember the basics.....

1. Don’t allow the ball to bounce
2. Never take dummy’s
3. Tackle as though your life depends on it

Prenton are in an enviable position with a strong player base and links to University Rugby which has shown dividends over recent months. They are a good team and we should be aware that their league position does not reflect their ability as a club.
Overall a great Mavs performance once again against a strong opposition . Well done lads.

Semel a Mavericus, Semper a Mavericus

The Gaffer