A SHIFT in emphasis eventually saw Maidenhead RFC run Salisbury ragged on Saturday, a tactic the club may now employ against Wimborne, who are the visitors to Braywick tomorrow (Saturday).
While this may be the preferred option, chief executive and backs coach Simon Edwards appreciates that the reality of the situation may result in a more forwards-dominated affair.
Edwards said of the Wimborne contest: “I went down to watch the game at their place. They’re a good side and we were lucky to win, so we’re expecting another hard game on Saturday.
“Their strength is their pack, which is obviously one of our strengths too, so it’ll be another battle of the forwards.
“With home advantage we’ll be hoping to do better than we did down there.”
However, Maids will be leaving nothing to chance, as they attempt to bring their season to a successful conclusion by securing the promotion play-off spot.
Unfortunately, this means beating champions elect Oxford Harlequins in two weeks’ time.
However, Maids first need to beat Wimborne. Edwards added:“If we don’t win on Saturday the result in Oxford will be irrelevant”.
Maids had their promotion ambitions bolstered by a 39-16 win over resurgent Salisbury on Saturday – plastering 30 unanswered points on their guests in the final 20 minutes of play.
Edwards attributed the result to an improved performance from the backs – an argument supported by the fact they outscored the pack by five tries to one.
He said: “We went out with a slightly different game plan but it took us until half-time to convince ourselves it would work.
“But then it all happened quite quickly in the second half.
“You could see things changing almost from the restart and we played a much more open game after that.”
Some might ascribe the size of the win to a poor showing from the the visitors, but Edwards was keen to highlight the Wiltshire outfit’s recent surge in form.
He said: “You must not underestimate them.
“In the last month they’ve beaten Swanage & Wareham and Chippenham.
“They worked us very hard when we went down there and I always thought this would be a hard game.
“We were up against that, and we were trying out a new game plan, so it was no great surprise that it took us 40 to 50 minutes to sort it out and put the whole thing together.
“Salisbury are not a bad side and they always fight to the end, but we put 30 unanswered points on them in the second half.”
On the down side, fiery young centre Stuart Mackay damaged his hamstring early in the match.
However, his replacement Dan Martin demonstrated his ability by scoring two quality tries to seal the result.
Edwards said: “Stuart is a very promising young player, but I’ve coached Dan since he was a tiny boy and he’s a very, very talented lad too.
“He’s one of the best tacklers in the club and he’ll be back in the team this week.”