Match report courtesy of the

Maidenhead were unable to record their first win against Weston in a match in which the score did not reflect the actual run of play and flattered the home side. However, Maids did make elementary errors as they have done all the season with dropped passes, bad defensive alignment in the threes, failure to find touch and poor tackling in open play giving Weston chances to score which they took efficiently without having to produce much ingenuity.

Maids started promisingly with Stuart Mackay, in the unusual position of full-back, making a long break with his own brand of jinks and side-steps which came to nothing. Weston fly-half Lowis then missed an early penalty to open the scoring before the hosts took the lead. Former colt Richard Beaumont making his starting debut for Maids on the wing tried to deal with Weston pressure by jinking out of trouble when a kick into touch would have been the answer. With Maids under the cosh in their 22m area, a missed touch by Mark Ruddick enabled home full-back Vucicevic to run the ball back and desperate Maids defence led to Piers Morgan receiving a yellow card. From the ensuing scrum Maids were unable to prevent a pushover scrum scored by No.8 Cook, converted off the post by Lowis. Bad defence at the back from a speculative kick ahead gave home scrum-half Jones a soft try converted off the post again by Lowis.

Weston missed going further ahead when Lowis missed another penalty and although Maids were getting plenty of ball from Alex Gallina in the lineout and a solid scrum, the backs continued to pass badly reducing the threat from dangerous runners Jonny Hammond and Simon Cripps in the centre, while Oxford blue Stuart Douglas hardly received a pass which was not man and ball. However, a good passage of play for Maids, in which the ball did go along the line twice, led to Mackay scoring a good try to show what could happen. Johann Vorster and Mark Mueller got through useful work in attack and defence, but with Morgan back on the field, Weston scored a simple back row move try when Cook picked up from a scrum on half-way, showed indecent speed from the base, to draw the sole defender Mackay and give winger Hughes a simple try converted by Lowis to give a half-time score of 21-5.

The second half saw Maids spending long periods in the Weston half, but with a combination of sound Weston defence and basic handling errors, Maids were unable to finish off moves. Morgan worked hard but his attacks from No.8 were contained by good home defence or foundered through lack of support. A succession of lineouts on the Weston line won by Gallina and Paul Jones failed to produce the normal tries from rolling mauls. Hammond nearly got over after a clever switch by Ruddick and eventually scrum-half Gareth Edwards scored an excellent opportunist try in the corner to bring the score to 21-10. However, the home side increased their lead by snapping up a dropped pass by the Maids backs to score an unconverted try by prop Derrick. Poor play by Maids from their own re-start allowed a long break by centre Madamombe to make a try for Lowis who also converted for 33-10.

Maids then missed a chance to reduce the deficit when MacKay ignored a two-man overlap, but they were still winning plenty of ball. But the schoolboy error of kicking the ball directly into touch from a 22m restart gave Weston an attacking scrum from which the home No.8 and scrum-half worked prop Derrick over for a touchdown.

To complete the scoring Weston soaked up Maids pressure in their own 22 and moved the ball quickly for the visitors defence to prevent a sweeper move which finished with Cook scoring under the posts, neither of the last two tries being converted. Maids continue to frustrate their loyal supporters by mixing basic simple errors with exciting attacking running. Unfortunately, the better sides such as Clifton and Weston are ruthless in turning the errors into points without having to rely on their own efforts.

Maids man of the match was lock Alex Gallina.
Maids are next in action on Saturday, January 7 at home to Oxford Harlequins