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Epic battle goes to the Wire

Magic moments turn Chinnor clash into a classic

EVERY season produces a handful of truly memorable moments, but Maidenhead’s titanic clash with Chinnor at Braywick on Saturday produced an absolute hat full. Few among the large crowd will easily forget the roar that went up when speedy flanker Will Lowden snatched possession on the halfway line and accelerated away to score the winning try in injury time.

And many will cherish the memory of Stuart Mackay’s dazzling run out of defence, which culminated in Mark Mueller charging in under the posts. In short, gentlemen of Maidenhead who lay a-bed shall think themselves accursed they were not there.

In a game, which can only be described as an emotional roller-coaster, it was the hosts who took the early initiative, with Mark Ruddick slotting a penalty in just the second minute. Chinnor replied with a sustained attack on the Maidenhead line, as their powerful forwards carried the fight to Maidenhead’s smaller but speedier pack. With the pressure building, penalties were inevitably conceded, but it was Chinnor’s highly effective scrum which finally produced the breakthrough, when they wheeled Maidenhead’s put in, then took clean ball on their own and spun the ball wide to Tolich Rewi, who jogged round behind the posts. Richard Williams converted for a 7-3 lead.

On 22 minutes Chinnor scored a second try, when Eric Brown crossed in the corner to complete a routine backs move. But back came Maids, with a strong run from Mackay setting up good field position inside the Chinnor 22. Several attempts to force their way over failed, but Maids eventually succeeded with a short penalty move, crashing over to the left of the posts. Chinnor responded with another successful penalty kick in a frantic close to the first half.

The second period began with a confused passage of play, which ended when Rewi scored a second try in the corner to make it 22-8. Maidenhead were then reduced to 14 men, when hooker Richie Craig was sin binned, and minutes later the hosts were shoved over their own line, gifting Williams a simple conversion for a seemingly unassailable 29-8 lead. With the points in the bag, Chinnor made a double substitution, but then began a quite remarkable fightback. With less than 20 minutes remaining, powerhouse centre Jonny Hammond dismantled the Chinnor defence before popping an inside pass to Lowden, who sprinted past the cover to score in the right-hand corner. Ruddick missed the conversion, but Maids’ tails were up and they went on to dominate the rest of the game. Lowden almost bagged his second try of the afternoon on 25 minutes, but he and then Mueller were held up over the line. However, from the resulting five-metre scrum Maids surged forward and Piers Morgan dropped on the ball to narrow the gap to 11 points. With three minutes remaining that gap became four points. Mackay was thrown a long pass inside his own 22, before setting off on a scintillating run into the Chinnor half. His long pass found Mueller on the burst, whose powerful run could not be stopped from 30 yards. Ruddick added the extras and Chinnor were teetering on the brink of a serious upset. It still seemed impossible that Maids could actually win this match, but win it they did, when Hammond’s crunching tackle shook the ball loose from Darren Oxley’s grasp, leaving Lowden to cap a man of the match performance with a truly memorably try. Ruddick signed off with a successful conversion, sending Chinnor home to rebuild their shattered confidence and ponder their severely compromised promotion hopes.

Maidenhead: Edwards, Mackay, Hammond, Cripps, Cassidy, Ruddick, Ayres, Johnston, Craig, Riley, Gallina, Mueller, Vorster, Lowden, Morgan. Subs: Jones, Beaumont, Blackwell (all used).
Chinnor: Buckley, Rewi, Soane, Oxley, Brown, Williams, Thompson, Lee, Immelman, Harris, Burrows, Millburn, Rixon, Cook, Hennessey. Subs: Devine, Maxwell, Reekie (all used).

Tense victory is perfect present
SATURDAY’S magnificent win over Chinnor was the perfect Christmas present for Maidenhead coach Simon Edwards, who had asked Santa Claus for at least one win over top-three opponents before the New Year. Talking after the game, he said: "We’ve been through a hard run of games, but the players have done what I asked and nicked a win off one of the top three sides. I’m hugely proud of them. "They refused to lie down and that’s all credit to the team. It’s a massive tribute to them. "But the truth is, if Hawkeye (Rob Hawkins) had been playing, and if Mueller had finished as well from five yards as he did from 35, it could have been a convincing win."

And Edwards was in no doubt of what the defeat meant to Chinnor. He said: "We’ve upset their promotion charge. They put out their strongest side and came to us with a couple of big new signings. "Their centre was a Tongan international who was making his first start for them. That’s a pretty heavy investment." However, despite their expensive signings, Edwards believed tactical errors ultimately cost Chinnor the game. He explained: "When Richie (Craig) was sin binned they brought on all their subs. But they weren’t as good as the ones they took off. They thought they had it won. It was a tactical mistake. "I thought we had to do something and we only had one way to go – and that was to run it. "I switched players and that changed the style of play. It pulled their defence out of shape and gave Mueller and Lowden the space they needed. We changed the way we were playing and really tested their defence."

Unfortunately, the victory came at a cost, as scrum-half Ben Ayres pulled up lame with a knee injury, adding to Maidenhead’s already deep injury crisis. Edwards said: "We lost Jamie Morris with an injury in training, Ben Ayres with cruciate or medial ligament damage during the match, and we were already without Danny Martin (cruciate), Danny Walton (cartilage), Rob Hawkins (broken leg), Alex Greer (shoulder) and Sam Hocking (cruciate). "We’ve got a whole backs division missing." Five of those are wingers, but Edwards had some good news on that front, having signed former Maidenhead Colt and Oxford Blue Stuart Douglas.

Edwards said: "It’s a big signing. I’m delighted. Fingers crossed he’ll make his debut on Saturday against Weston." Having made tactical blunders in the reverse fixture, errors which Edwards believes cost his side the game, the Braywick boss was looking forward to the rematch. He said: "Weston is another huge game, but my team will be well prepared and we have nothing to lose. "We probably can’t go up now, so that’s how we’ll play it. "It’s a long way to a ground where we’ve never won, and they haven’t lost at this season. "But this team can beat anyone in the league. If they really want it, they will win."