Exciting times at Braywick
Maids’ brand of rugby has got the whole league talking but it’s too early to talk of titles
The brand of rugby Maidenhead RFC are playing this season has got a lot of people very excited, but head coach David Mobbs-Smith feels it’s probably a little premature to start talking of them as title contenders just yet.
Maids are four games into their new Regional 1 South Central season - having made a sideways switch out of the London & South East Premier Division - and so far they’ve chalked up four very impressive bonus point victories.
The latest of those came away at Banbury on Saturday, where the visitors ran in five tries for a bonus point 31-19 victory. New signing Alex Turton scored three of those tries, while Antonio Kiri Kiri and Jamie Maddern touched down the other two in what on paper looks like a comfortable away win, however, Mobbs-Smith would assure you it was anything but.
Maids ran in eight tries in last week’s 48-10 victory over Royal Wootton Bassett at Braywick Park, and were so comfortable they became a little complacent, failing to score with another four or five opportunities that came their way.
Saturday's game was much closer. Mobbs-Smith believes Banbury purposely left the grass a little longer to put Maids off their free-flowing, expansive game and it worked to a degree. Maids led 19-12 going into the interval, having trailed 12-7 in the early stages, and it wasn’t until Turton and Maddern touched down two tries in the 50th and 52nd minutes that Maidenhead could really breathe comfortably knowing the game had been all but won.
Reflecting on the win, and Maidenhead’s start to the season, Mobbs-Smith said: “As a group we’re very excited about the start we’ve had. The brand of rugby we’re playing has got a lot of people excited, so we’ll try to keep it going.
“It was a grass pitch, which is different to what we have at home; I think they might have left it a little long on purpose. They don’t play too dissimilar to us so there wasn't really a clash of styles. It was a case of who could come out on top playing quite similar and in the early part of the game that
was them. There was a period in the second half when it was 19-12 and they had a lot of possession.
“They had territory and got several penalties in and around the poles. They chose to run from a scrum, and they didn’t manage to score and that gave us a chance to get out and we managed to score, and it gave us that little gap that we needed. That was the turning point in the game. We were thinking whoever scores next has a very good chance of winning this game. But instead, we scored twice, and we won the game.”
He added: “We've come under a lot of pressure so far this season and our defence has so far held up, and that gives you a chance to win matches.
“We’ve scored some wonderful tries and that’s what’s often focused on, but it’s the defence that's keeping us in the game and allowing us to win the match. We have a couple of new players who have helped us and brought some excitement into the team. They’ve also brought a willingness to keep playing and we now have a nice mixture of young talent with some older heads.”
Saturday’s win took them three points clear of Oxford Harlequins at the top ahead of Saturday’s match up between the league's pace setters at Braywick Park on Saturday. Maids have generally been in unstoppable form at home this season, sweeping aside London Welsh and Royal Wootton Bassett, but Mobbs-Smith knows they’ll be in for a tougher test against in-form Harlequins who, like Maids, have won all their matches so far but have picked up fewer bonus points.
“We play a very good side this week,” he said. “Who knows what pressure we’ll find ourselves under then. They’re a very good team, there's no question about that. Very well organised and it is a clash between first and second in the league.
“It’s a big game, no doubt about that. They haven’t lost yet either, we’re just ahead on bonus points. What's going to be the difference at the weekend? Can we just outplay them in the attacking sense?
“The bonus points system rewards the sides that attack more, or try to attack more, so it can be one of the difference makers. You’re always hunting that fourth try even when you’re winning.”