MAIDS all but guaranteed their promotion back to South West 1 with an astonishing display of total rugby at Braywick on Saturday, as they dismantled Oakmeadians to record a massive 62-3 win.
With one game left to play, the Berkshire side now have a two-point lead over nearest rivals Swanage & Wareham, and a massive points-difference advantage of plus 61.
Consequently, victory or a draw at Marlow in a fortnight's time would assure them of the title – and even a narrow defeat should be good enough given that Swanage are playing third-placed Reading Abbey.
Clearly moved by the prospect of his side’s imminent promotion, coach Simon Edwards said: “What a result and what a fantastic performance. I couldn't have asked for more.
“There was a big crowd again and they thoroughly enjoyed it. The players enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it.
“It was a thoroughly professional performance.
“We had targeted this game as one of the most important games of the season. Once we had done that, we decided we weren't going to take our foot off the throttle, no matter how far ahead we got.
“In the past we have got 20 points up and stopped, but not anymore.”
However, despite the size of the win, Edwards believed the referee had prevented a wholesale slaughter.
He added: “Oakmeadians got a lot of decisions against them in the first 20 minutes, but the referee spent too much time explaining his decisions instead of just showing them a card. I thought it was poor display of officious refereeing and I told him so after the match.
“He stopped the game from flowing and in some respects that let Oakmeadians off the hook. He effectively kept them in it.”
The second half was a different matter entirely, however, as Maids ran in 46 unanswered points.
Edwards said: “I don't think we kicked a single ball in the second half.
“We played keep-rugby and ran everything. And now we have a set of backs that can tear teams apart.
“They're young, arrogant and talented. And they're horrible to play against.”
But Edwards also had plenty of praise for his pack, adding: “The backs couldn't do it without the forwards. At half-time it was only 16-3.
“Someone had done a lot of work, and that was the forwards. But we've moved on from being a nine-man side.
“We've convinced Allan Greene (Maids prop) the backs can run the ball and that they're not going to drop it.
“It's easy to defend against a good set of forwards, but it's almost impossible to defend against a really good set of backs.” Still reluctant to count his chickens, Edwards added: “This win has got us as close to promotion as we could have hoped. But I have to give credit to Swanage. They still haven't stopped chasing us, and there probably isn't another league in the country that's gone this close.”