MAIDENHEAD Rugby Club kick-off a new season at Braywick tomorrow (Saturday, 3pm), when the pressure will be on from the off.
With the club targeting promotion, Maids can only afford two or three defeats all season, so new coach Brenton Fielke will be keen to start the campaign with a convincing win – no easy task against the notoriously powerful Wimborne pack.
Unfortunatley, Maids’ job will be made all the harder by a long list of absentees.
First team regulars Dan Martin and Mark Mueller are both out of the country, Jody Dance is moving house and brother Rene is nursing an Achilles strain.
Maids have also lost the services of influential fly-half Anton da Silva – probably until Christmas – with a ruptured Achilles tendon, while veteran flanker Paul Rogers is still considering his future, having threatened to retire at the end of last season.
In addition, mighty Samoan Ray Malesala has returned home, and club stalwart Andy Barron has jumped ship to join Windsor as a backs coach.
Further adding to Maids’ woes has been a paucity of new recruits.
That could change this week, as Fielke attempts to secure the services of young South African second-rower Jo Velthuizen, who had an impressive try-out for Maids on Saturday.
Several players are also making the step up from junior rugby this year, with former Maids colts Nick Cortez and Alex Greer likely to start tomorrow, giving Fielke some grounds for optimism.
He said: “Wimborne should be a good starting point for us.
"I don't imagine it will be an easy game and we certainly don't want to get into a wrestling match with them. But we're looking forward to it. I'm keen to get the season underway. I think everyone is fairly keen to get going."
Anyone looking for clues as to how Maids might perform will be out of luck, as their pre-season results have been at best inconclusive, with a heavy defeat to the Army champions followed by a relatively comfortable win over Wimbledon on Saturday.
However, despite Saturday’s 10-point winning margin, there was something worryingly familiar about the scoring pattern, as Maids eased into a 19-point lead, before sitting back and letting their hosts back into the game.
Fielke agreed, saying: “For 20 minutes we played okay. Then it went a bit haywire.”