IT’S high noon for Maidenhead Rugby Club on Saturday (tomorrow), as they welcome promotion-chasing Dings Crusaders to Braywick, kick-off 3pm.
A string of poor results before Christmas have left Maids in deep relegation trouble and now nothing but a win will do.
However, even two wins from their remaining two games may not be enough to ensure their survival in South West 1.
Coach Simon Edwards said: “This is a week when the players have to put their bodies on the line. They have to do it for Maidenhead.
“This club is just too big to go down.
“There is no doubt we are up for this game and if we play to our potential we will beat them. But if one player has a weak game we will struggle.”
Last week, Edwards blamed his players for creating the current crisis, following their recent defeat by relegation rivals Keynsham.
However, last week the Bristol-based side beat promotion prospects Barnstaple by an even larger margin, highlighting some serious concerns over the league structure. Only eight points separate second placed Barnstaple from the relegation zone, while there is a massive 10-point gap between Maidenhead in 10th and Swanage in 11th.
Edwards said: “We have won five of our last seven games and we have 18 points.
“I think it’s an appaling situation that any side with 18 points should even be considering relegation. To me that’s a complete nonsense. I think we finished third last year with 22 points. The whole system needs looking at.
“It may sound like I’m whingeing but it’s nonsense that six sides could go out of South West 1. All they’re doing is wrecking the league.”
But whatever the rights and wrongs of the system, Maids’ problems are almost entirely of their own making, although their survival may now rest on results elsewhere.
Chinnor, Stroud and Keynsham are all catchable, but the possible permutations of results are mind-boggling, with the added complication of a promotion dog-fight between Barnstaple and Dings.
Edwards concluded: “We haven’t had a single stroke of luck in four weeks. By the law of averages it’s time one or two results went our way.”