Match report courtesy of the

Saturday 2nd December 2006

Maidenhead scaled a mountain and put down their marker for the season with the wholesale dismantling of previously unbeaten league leaders Mounts Bay at Braywick on Saturday.

The Cornish team (the semi-professional arm of Penzance & Newlyn) came into the match with a record of played 10, won nine, drawn one, lost none, and were unbeaten for two years, but left with their tails between their legs after being thoroughly outplayed in all aspects of the match. Most notable was the host's ferocious tackling, which saw them pin the visitors in their own half time and again, eventually forcing them to kick away possession to gain territory.

Allied to this commitment in defence was Maids' customary incisiveness and cutting edge in the three-quarters as they produced lines of running that the immobile Mounts Bay backs could not read or contain. However, the first 20 minutes did not indicate what was to come as, although the visitors looked nervous, they took the lead on 13 minutes when pressure on Maids' tryline eventually created a gap for lock Ben Hilton to exploit from close range. Lee Jarvis kicked the conversion and the visitors' game plan seemed to be on target.

But Maids at home are a real handful, as they soon proved. Despite Dan Martin missing a simple penalty effort and Max Willcocks dropping an interception which would have put him clean through, Maids finally got on the scoreboard with a try for skipper Mark Ruddick. Pressure on the Mounts Bay scrum forced the ball to go loose and, after a session of soccer, Ruddick hacked on and was first to fall on the ball after it rolled over the tryline. Martin squandered the straightforward conversion chance, but Maids had tasted blood and, for the 20 minutes remaining in the half, produced some of their best rugby of the season.

With former Welsh international Jarvis drifting wide a kickable penalty, Maids took heart to bag their second try on 27 minutes. From a lineout, the ball was whipped out to the backs, where Jonny Hammond broke through, then offloaded to the rampaging Willcocks. Despite seemingly being stopped 10 metres out by two defenders, Willcocks shrugged off the challenges to touch down a classic Maids try. Martin was again off-target with the conversion, but this was a blip as the hosts were soon on the attack again.

On 34 minutes, Maids bagged their third try when, again from lineout ball, winger Stuart Mackay came in on the angle and sliced through the flat-footed defence to score under the posts. Ruddick took over kicking duties and duly converted for 17-7. Then, in time added on and with Mounts Bay temporarily down to 14 men because of a yellow card for Ali Durrant, Willcocks underlined his title as the league's top try scorer. After a scrum and a couple of phases, the ball was worked to fly-half Ruddick, who put through an expertly judged grubber kick. Willcocks out-thought and out-paced everyone else to it, and duly touched down his second of the match. Ruddick's conversion made it 24-7 and Maids were coasting.

The second half had a different feel as Maids were more content to hold what they had and pin the visitors back in their own half, defending high up the pitch. Mounts Bay did reduce the deficit on 47 minutes, again through use of their heavy pack and a break from Hilton, but their one-dimensional play never looked like undermining Maids. For a team riding high at the top of the table, and with big name players, they lacked imagination and a second string to their bow. Maids by contrast, spurred on by some excellent solo performances, especially from Gareth Edwards and Greg Riley, showed they could tackle like demons and scrummage with the best while still producing the silky, eye-catching three-quarter moves.

The test now for Maids is to prove that this result is the start of something promising and not in itself the high point of their season.

Maidenhead: Martin, Cripps, Hammond, Willcocks, Mackay, Ruddick, Edwards, Grove, Craig, Johnston, Gallina, Mueller, Lynch, Parkhouse, Riley. Subs: Thomas (for Lynch, 70), Blackwell (for Grove, 75), Hawkins (for Martin, 82).

Mounts Bay: Larkins, Edyvean, J Semmens, Evans, Morrison, Jarvis, Kearey, Flide, Salter, Clackworthy, Humphries, Hilton, Durant, Dyer, Reid. Subs: D Semmens, Griffiths, Pellow.