Match report courtesy of the

Saturday 13th January 2007

Without ever being at their best, Maidenhead eventually comfortably overcame stubborn opposition at Rosehill on Saturday.

The match was dominated by a strong, chilly wind which blew virtually straight down the pitch for the entire 80 minutes and, unsurprisingly, the result hinged on which team dealt best with the conditions. Finally that was Maids, who showed their flair in the backs to cut a plucky Abbey defence to ribbons, and their strength and organisation in the scrums and lineouts.

However, fifth-placed Maids were not at their sharpest; switching off on occasions, producing unforced handling errors in midfield and not always sticking to the best gameplan for the conditions they faced. They also lined up with Simon Cripps in the centre and Stuart Mackay on the wing when surely the opposite would have made the best use of both players' abilities.

But what they did do well was defend in the first half against a stream of wind-assisted attacks from the hosts prompted by scrum-half Steve Drake. But all this backs-to-the-wall tackling did mean that the penalty count was high and, initially certainly, in the hosts¹ favour. So after 25 minutes, Abbey were 9-0 up from three straightforward penalties from Tom Waterhouse.

To their credit, Maids eventually realised the way to play against the wind was to hang on to the ball, not kick it away, and when they started doing this the tide turned. With the forwards crashing through back-pedaling defence, Maids were able to move the ball with short popped passes and put together a series of phases. This pressure led to Rob Hawkins having a chance to score with a kickable penalty, but he hooked his effort into the wind, and then Maids worked a three-man overlap five metres from the try zone, but the final pass was controversially given as forward. However a minute later Maids were finally on the scoreboard when skipper Mark Ruddick made an uncharacteristic break across the gain line, fed his support and was then on hand to receive the final return pass before falling over the tryline for a well-worked touchdown. Hawkins notched the conversion.

The rest of the half saw Maids try to run down the clock and nick what they could with again a missed Hawkins penalty being their closest shout. But just before the break, with Richie Craig trudging off the pitch after being yellow carded and Maids expecting their hosts to kick the penalty in front of the posts, the ball was tapped and moved wide where a dozing defence was unable to prevent Abbey's Tom Green from strolling over. The conversion was missed and at half-time the hosts led 14-7.

But this was never likely to be enough of a buffer against a Maids team champing at the bit to throw the ball around and with the wind at their backs. Abbey held out, and played well for the first 15 minutes, even missing a penalty attempt, but as the match progressed Maids camped in the Abbey half and finally the pressure told. Danny Martin, who enjoyed a good game, counter-attacked with a mazy run down the right flank, and with the Abbey defence spread, the ball was moved quickly to the opposite flank for Max Willcocks to enjoy an easy run in. Hawkins's conversion levelled the score.

The visitors grabbed the lead on 63 minutes when a Hawkins penalty sailed through the uprights, and then three minutes later Maids underscored their dominance with yet another Martin counter from deep, eventually stretching a tiring defence allowing Willcocks an even easier canter to the tryline. The conversion made it 24-14. Maids continued to press and substitute Alex Cannon should have scored with his first touch of the game, but dropped the pass when within spitting distance of the posts. However, one minute later, this was rectified when Cannon played the pivotal linking role in setting up Martin for a deserved try. Willcocks took the conversion which was adjudged to have missed, although many watching disagreed.

Overall, Maids were well worth their first win in four matches, but one suspects a month ago the points difference would have been twice what it was.

Maidenhead: Hawkins, Martin, Cripps, Willcocks, Mackay, Ruddick, Edwards, A Riley, Craig, Johnston, Gallina, Mueller, Lynch, Parkhouse, G Riley. Subs: Knox (for Parkhouse, 73), Cannon (for Hawkins, 74), Dibb.

Reading Abbey: Waterhouse, Fairlie, Underwood, Burns, Green, O'Flanagan, Drake, Bratt, Mutepfa, Walsh, S Hallett, Finnie, J Hallett, Robinson, Willis. Subs: Jefferies, Brougham, Burch.