Match report and photo courtesy of the

Hawkins puts boot into Cheltenham

THE accuracy of Rob Hawkins’ boot helped Maidenhead earn a hard fought but well deserved 20-13 win at Cheltenham on Saturday. The full back’s five goals compared to the hosts’ one settled the match, although the visitors nearly – and should have – scored at least six more tries.

Both sides defended well with good tackling keeping out the dangerous visiting backs, so it was that after continual attacking by Maids in the first 20 minutes all they had to show was two penalties from Hawkins. Cheltenham jumpers McMahon and Crabb were winning good line-out ball but Maids had the edge in the loose and set scrums and it seemed only a matter of time that thrusts by Hammond, Cripps and Martin would produce scores, the ball rarely going danger man Hocking’s way without two defenders ready to take him out.

Against the run of play Cheltenham scored a very good try with slick passing down the line and back for prop Hanby to find himself as the man over to touch down half-way out. The relatively easy conversion was missed by Nelmes. Maids replied with a characteristic individual try by Martin when Hawkins fielded a speculative kick down the field, made good ground and gave Martin a pass on the touchline. The speedy winger made a long grubber to the corner somehow managing to keep the ball from going into touch and beat everybody for pace to score an excellent try. The conversion was narrowly missed from the touchline. Nelmes kicked an easy penalty to make the half-time score 11-8 to the visitors and Maids must have been kicking themselves not to have put the game away with so much ball.

There was over-elaboration in the backs when McKay, coming on for Hocking, ignored a three man overlap by cutting inside. The decision kept Cheltenham in the game, but obstruction on Ruddick following up a clever chip gave Hawkins the chance to land a long penalty. Meanwhile, Cheltenham began to ignore easy kicks at goal in favour of going for tries in the corner, which did not materialise. Maidenhead returned to being profligate with the ball in attack, which was being regularly supplied by the solid front row of Blackwell, Craig and Johnston, while Jones, Mueller and King nicked a few line-out balls on the home side’s throw.

After a good thrust by Mueller, who proved a handful for the home defence throughout, Hawkins again punished Cheltenham with another penalty for killing the ball to take the score to 17-8. Even after tricky footwork by McKay and strong running by Hammond supported by Craig, good home defence prevented another try. Continuous pressing by Maids with Ayres receiving the ball in open play inevitably led to another penalty by Hawkins to put Maids in a winning position at 20-8. There was to be a sting in the tail though as, just before the end, Cheltenham scored a try in the corner from a short penalty. Then, a high tackle on Ayres gave Hawkins the chance to increase the visitors’ lead but, for the third week running, he hit the upright.

It was a good win for Maidenhead, the only surprise being that even with quality attackers like Hammond, Martin, McKay, Hocking and Cripps, the only try was an individual effort by Martin. However, man of the match Hawkins again showed his worth with five successful kicks out of seven proving that, without a decent kicker, you will struggle in the modern game.

Boss happy to win ugly

MAIDENHEAD boss Simon Edwards paid tribute to man of the match Rob Hawkins after his team ground out a result in difficult conditions at Cheltenham on Saturday. "It rained the whole game, very heavily. If any side didn’t need rain, it was us down there," he said. "Anyone who can kick in those conditions is a good kicker – Cheltenham couldn’t do it. He (Hawkins) was also solid under the high ball and he had a good all-round game." The manager admitted Maids were not playing the most fluent rugby at the moment, but he had been impressed by his team’s ability to translate pressure into points. He said: "You can criticise, but if the referee has awarded five or six penalties, that means the opposition has cheated in some way to stop us scoring. "Whether it’s tries or penalties, it’s converting pressure to points, and that’s what we did in Cheltenham." Edwards added he was expecting a similarly difficult game at Clevedon tomorrow (Saturday). He said: "Clevedon is renowned for its conditions – it’s not one of the best grounds. "We have to play our upfront game – we just want to get two points, the score is irrelevant."