MAIDENHEAD RFC’s promotion campaign received a double boost this week, with an exhilarating 31-18 win over title-favourites Oxford Harlequins, and the timely return of mighty Samoan Ray Malesala.
The 18-stone No.8 caused tremors in South West Division 1 last year with his awesome tackling and powerful running.
An offer of national league rugby took him to Narberth, in Wales, during the summer, much to Maids chagrin.
However, despite winning several man of the match awards, Malesala is now back in Berkshire, amid rumours of a bust-up with his former club.
Initial reports suggest he is fitter and faster than ever, which will undoubtably add further impetus to Maids’ title bid.
Maids coach Tony Brooks said: “He’ll be training with us on Thursday (yesterday).
“We’re just waiting for his registration papers to come through.
“Assuming they do, he’ll be on the bench on Saturday.
“I’m sure the fans down in Narberth will be sorry to see him go, but from our perspective it’ll be very useful to have him back in the family.”
However, with or without Malesala, the Braywick side confirmed their status as genuine title challengers on Saturday, when they ground down their free-scoring opponents with a relentless stream of penalty kicks, stunning tries and fierce tackles.
Brooks said of the win: “There are still things to work on but I’m pleased for the team that they got a result.
“One through to 15 they all played well, but we can still do better.
“We’re still playing with shackles on to a certain extent, but nonetheless a satisfactory performance.
“I was particularly pleased with our control of the game.
“We did what we set out to do. We controlled the territory.
“They had a very useful back line but we managed to put pressure on them and shut them down.”
He continued: “Given the chance they would have broken out – as they did when we had them under pressure on their own line and they ran away to score at the other end. But we ended the game by pressurising them and scoring a try, rather than sitting back and absorbing the pressure.
“It rattled them a bit. You could see it in their eyes. They were thinking 'This shouldn't be happening'.
“They hadn't lost this season, and they only came up into this division last year, so they probably didn't lose many the season before. But that was our game plan, and it worked well.”
One feature which was still absent from Maids game, however, was wingers.
Once again, neither was given the ball with any space to run in to, although Brooks claimed this too was part of the plan.
He said: “We picked a team to do a specific job. They went on and put that into effect, and the result was the right one.
“It was never going to be an expansive game on our part. We just took our chances when they came along.”

Tomorrow (Saturday), Maids make the long trip to Dorchester, who are third from bottom in the league, with just two wins to their name.
However, Brooks is not underestimating his opponents, saying: “The danger is that we don’t get our feet back on the ground, which is a must. The players will realise that after tonight’s training session. But I’m still anticipating a close match.”