Maidenhead powered through to the second round of the National Knock Out Cup by convincingly disposing of Grove, the previously unbeaten Oxfordshire team, in front of a large crowd at Braywick in a match expertly refereed. The final scoreline of 25-10 was flattering to the opposition.

Maids' scoring hero was the all-action Sam Stefan, who scored all three tries as he continued his remarkable start to the season. Stefan, who ended last season on the flank, filled in during an emergency recently as scrum-half, and normally plays at full-back, scored his hat-trick from the wing. Dave Hodgson added two conversions and a penalty, besides playing a superb hand in Stefan's second try after following up a high kick. The other two Stefan tries came after excellent combined play.

Maids' effort was based on a fierce defence, on a superb line-out and driving maul and clever back play. Half-backs Matt Wardle and Olly Styles orchestrated play well, Karl Kempton was outstanding in the forwards and Dave Hodgson and Simon Standfast were electric behind the scrum. Maids are clearly not on anything like full power at present and will be happy to remain unbeaten.

The news was not all good by any means. The game was not played in a good spirit. In the first half alone, Grove lost two players to the sin bin for foul play, they had three penalties reversed. Maids skipper Simon Standfast was also yellow carded for a technical offence in a ruck.

In the second half, two more Grove players went to the bin — and with 10 minutes to go, what had been remarkable Maids' composure finally cracked and Sam Brown, and Wardle were yellow-carded. A neutral present expressed surprise that Maids players had kept their cool for so long but this was no excuse, and Maidenhead coaches afterwards remonstrated with their players losing their discipline.

Both teams have a responsibility to the game to play in a proper spirit next time they meet.

Tom Plumer: an apology.
Apologies to Tom, who informs us that he was NOT yellow-carded in the latter stages of the Grove match as previous version of this report stated.

Maids team: Alex Cannon, Ryan Christian, David Hodgson, Simon Standfast (c), Sam Stefan, Matt Wardle, Olly Styles, Sam Brown, Jack Robinson, Carl Corcoran, Tom Plumer, James Emanuel, Karl Kempton, Joe Thomas, Ben Sedler. Replacements: Grant Shearer, Chris Richardson, Luke Knowles, Adam Dean, Andrew Jones, Chris Parrott, Zak Pope.