Match report courtesy of the

Saturday 15th September 2007

MAIDENHEAD Rugby Club's promotion dreams are in tatters following an embarrassing 38-5 thrashing at newly-promoted Redingensians on Saturday.

This was the most one-sided of local derbys there was only one team in it from the start and it wasn't Maidenhead. It was a special day for the South West 1 newboys who broke a losing run over Maidenhead that stretched back to 1983. But in truth Simon Edwards' side got exactly what they deserved - nothing.

They were second to everything and produced a laxidaisical performance that almost smacked of complacency. From the off Maids were outfought, outmuscled and outplayed and once Redingensians got a sniff of an upset they snapped up their chance with relish. It was a worrying result for Edwards who must question his side's title hopes after this defeat.

From the kick-off their performance was littered with mistakes. Simon Swadling's poor clearance kick gave the hosts the chance to counter as early as the second minute, indeed Gensians could have scored even before they went 5-0 up through Juan Costa after eight minutes.

The imperious Spike Chandler added the conversion and was to prove the architect of Maids' demise. Chandler added two penalties to make it 11-0 after 20 minutes and two quick tries before the break through Bobby Castell and James Baker made it 21-0 at half-time. Stuart Mackay missed Maids' only real chance of a first half point scuffing a straightforward penalty wide of the posts.

The start of the second half did offer some hope. Mark Mueller hadn't given up and his typical barracking run through a host of tacklers for a try hinted the game might not be over. The conversion was missed but at 21-5 Maids had hope. That lasted a matter of minutes as firstly Maids watched their main attacking spark, Max Willcocks, limp off with an injured right foot and then stood by and allowed Chandler take a tap penalty and run past stationary Maids defence to score and restore their lead now at 28-5.

Chandler added a further penalty and the magnificent Jeremy Flynn ghosted past seemingly dozens of Maids tacklers to rub salt into their wounds. It was a hugely impressive performance from Gensians whatever the poverty of rugby coming the other way.

For Maids the soul searching begins. There is no doubting the potential in this side but the attitude of the players was called into question for the first time in a while on Saturday now let's see how they respond against Bracknell.

Maidenhead RFC:
Plamus, Swadling, Cripps, Willcocks, Mackay, Ruddick, Edwards, G Riley, Lowden, Gallina, Mueller, Babic, Morandi, Craig, Blackwell. Subs used: A Riley, Andrews, Parkhouse.