Match report courtesy of the

Maids take their chances at Chippenham

Maidenhead overran a tenacious Chippenham team with a destructive 25-minute spell late in the game on Saturday.

Until that point it had been a largely disappointing affair with both teams making unforced errors and Maids looking nervous after their thrashing by Clifton the previous week. Chippenham were certainly up for the clash, looking to gain revenge over a 51-20 loss at Braywick earlier in the season. But although they enjoyed periods of sustained pressure, they never looked capable of tearing Maids apart – it was the boot of Andy Williamson which kept them in the game.

Conversely, Maids’ kicker Mark Ruddick (and his replacement Danny Walton) struggled with their kicking, but fortunately a team performance which yielded seven tries made sure the outcome to this encounter never came down to who could kick the straightest.

It was all about tries, and Maids grabbed their first within a minute of the start when Simon Cripps on the angle took an inside pass and sliced through the static Chippenham defence for the best of starts.

To the hosts’ credit they then applied a period of pressure and were unlucky when the referee decided their No.8 Jon Whiteman had not grounded the ball having gone over from close range. Chippenham also wasted a glorious overlap when the last pass was deemed forward. These constant infringements added to the disjointed nature of the match, but it was Maids who eventually found some rhythm and made the most of the chances on offer.

The excellent Brendan Lynch touched down after a pick-up from the base of the scrum, and then in the final minute of the half, Stuart Mackay found space out wide and ran in from 20 yards. Ruddick missed all three conversions, and with a Chippenham try on 37 minutes from wing Al Fereday, an even half ended with Maids 15-7 ahead.

This became 15-13 after just 10 minutes of the second half when Williamson slotted over two penalties, and it was game on.

However, Maids finally found some momentum and in a devastating 25-minute spell they ran in four tries to turn a tight match on its head. Will Lowden’s touchdown started off proceedings, and his effort was followed by tries for Danny Walton, Joe Plamus and skipper Ruddick as Chippenham were unable to match the visitors’ change of gear. The hosts grabbed two tries at the death, when the game was lost, but these failed to improve their mood.

Essentially, this was an excellent victory away from home against a motivated team, and especially as Maids were never really at their best.

Chippenham: Livesey, Angell, Kirby, Shuker, Boddington, Sherratt, Jones, Whiteman, Williamson, Trwatha, Martin, Crockett, Champion, Fereday, Brant. Subs: Pratt, McMillan and Squires.
Maidenhead: Riley, Craig, Johnston, Gallina, Mueller, Parkhouse, Lowden, Lynch, Edwards, Ruddick, Walton, Cripps, Mackay, Ellwood, Plamus. Subs: Morgan (for Parkhouse, 65), Cox and Jelski (not used).

‘Comfortable’ win for Maids
Maidenhead 1st XV coach Simon Edwards was very satisfied with his team’s 39-25 success at Chippenham as the match went, as he saw it, according to plan. Although there was only two points in the match with 25 minutes remaining, Edwards was always confident of success.

He said: "I thought it was a comfortable win in the circumstances. "It was hard to come back after the Clifton loss the previous week. "We weren’t at full strength and psychologically it was tough. "But we showed good character." Edwards added: "It was also a pleasure to see a referee who knew what he was doing, but also who left the players in doubt about the decisions also." Edwards, never one to miss a trick when it comes to winding up the opposition, enjoyed pointing out Chippenham’s displeasure at the defeat.

He said: "They were desperate to win, you could see that. They had this down as a must-win." He added: "We knew we would have to do a lot of hard work up front before the points came and so it proved. "Our lineout work and scrummaging was excellent. "Then finally we were able to run them ragged. "It was only when we reached 39 points with five minutes remaining that we took our foot off the pedal. "But by then the match was over. Those late tries made the game look closer than it was."

Edwards singled out a few players for praise, starting with man of the match Danny Walton. He said: "Danny was great and will only get better as he gets fitter. Full-back Joe Plamus produced some fantastic lines, while his Kiwi counterpart Brendon Lynch did a lot of the dirty work and tackled hard.