A CHEEKY comment on a Clifton website has riled Maidenhead Rugby Club coach Simon Edwards ahead of their crunch meeting tomorrow (Saturday).
The boss at the Braywick-based team said he was incensed to see the Clifton website refer to their amateur club’s position one place above the ‘professional’ team of Maidenhead.
Edwards said: “None of our players are paid, I’m not paid, we are all amateurs here. I would like to thank them for giving us another reason to try and beat them.”
The manager added his team had plenty of other good reasons to look for a victory after losing heavily in their first fixture against Clifton.
He said: “It’s a huge game. It’s away from home and I don’t think they have lost there all season.
“They also gave us a thorough spanking at the beginning of the season.
“They really taught us a lesson, and since then we have only lost two games.
“I’m looking forward to going there to see how far we have improved.
“I believe we have improved a lot and we can go down there and nick a result.”
Although promotion looks to be beyond Maidenhead this season and relegation is surely no longer a danger, Edwards said it was still important to win these games against top opposition.
He said: “We’re probably not going up or down, but we have still got to play Bridgewater and Cinderford as well as Clifton, and these are the best teams in the division.
“We have already beaten Bridgewater – in fact, we were the last team to beat them.
“If we don’t get one or two results in those three games then we can say we are not going to get promoted next season.
“It’s very important for the side and the club to win so we can understand what sort of position we will be going for. ”
The coach complained his side were showing a tendency to ease off, as they did towards the end of the Penryn game after a very slick spell of around 50 minutes.
He said: “That slackening off has to go if we think we can beat the best.
“We need to focus on our rugby for 80 minutes, not just 40 or 50 minutes.”