MAIDENHEAD'S league campaign kicks-off tomorrow (Saturday) with a long trip to title favourites Cinderford in Gloucestershire, who launched their season last week with a 30-5 away win at Keynsham.
Maids coach Simon Edwards said: “Our first league game and we’re away to the league title favourites!
“They’re a very powerful side, they’re semi-professional and they need promotion. They’re moving grounds next year and they need to be in National 3 to make that work.
“They are not going to want to slip up against a little team like Maidenhead.
“But I’m delighted they think they are favourites for the title.
“Their coach Peter Glanville said his team was playing excellent rugby and it was now a matter of fine tuning. He’s a very lucky man to be fine tuning after three games.
“I’m nowhere near that. I’m still rebuilding, and we’re a long way from being a competitive side in South West 1.”
But Edwards stopped short of conceding defeat, adding: “We’re in for a hell of a battle, but we’re looking forward to it.
“It’s probably a game too soon, but we’re going down there to win, and it could be an upset.”
Beating Cinderford would certainly be a huge feather in Edwards’ cap.
However, the season has already provided him with some notable achievements, not least beating Coney Hill in the PowerGen Cup on Saturday.
The Gloucestershire side do play their rugby in a lower league, but last season they beat Cinderford in a county competition, and only lost out to Dings Crusaders on try-count in the final.
Edwards said: “The week before us they beat Chinnor 43-30 at Chinnor, and they were 35-0 up after 30 minutes. So we knew we were up for a game.
“But then we went 19-0 up in 25 minutes.
“We played 30 of the 40 minutes in the second half with only 14 men due to yellow cards. That made a lot of difference. That’s what brought them back into it.”
The game also gave Edwards a useful gauge of his side’s progress.
He said: “We went to Barnstaple and beat a weak side very well.
“The next step up was the home game in the cup against Brixham, and we put 30 points on them. So we improved.
“We then had a massive test against Coney Hill away from home, where they hadn’t lost for two seasons.
“So as far as I’m concerned we’ve stepped up another rung on the ladder.”