RECORDS are made to be broken, but Reading Abbey RFC saw theirs smashed at Braywick Park on Saturday, as Maidenhead RFC poured on the passion to record a 22-17 win over the previously unbeaten league leaders.
Last week, Maids’ coach Simon Edwards claimed this clash of the titans had come too early in the season for his side, which is still restructuring following the sacking of former coach Brenton Fielke.
However, the players begged to differ, as they patiently dismantled Abbey's formerly impenetrable defence before kicking the visitors off the park.
Edwards was clearly delighted to have pulled off such a major upset, but insisted he had always had faith in his troops, saying: “I'm delighted for the team but it was a game we always felt we could win.
“The referee said to me before the game they (Abbey) were the most disciplined team he had ever refereed at his level. Any team which has only conceded five points in four games has to have a very organised defence.
“So we set about disorganising it. We threw a lot of heavy artillery at their weak areas. And I have to say, we should have been another two scores ahead.”
Another important element of Saturday's winning strategy was a gradual build up of momentum, quite the reverse of their early season habit of pulling out a seemingly decisive lead and then fading in the second half.
Many had blamed insufficient levels of fitness, but Edwards believes fitness is largely psychological, especially in light of Saturday's result.
He said: “When you play poorly people are very quick to say you're not fit enough.
“But when you play with a spirit and the team knows what it’s doing – and it comes off – fitness suddenly isn't an issue.
“Abbey came to us as the best organised, most disciplined and fittest side in the league. They went away as one of the worst organised, least disciplined and unfittest sides in the league. It's psychological.”
And psychology seems to be an important part of Edwards' strategy for the rest of the season.
He added: “Braywick used to be somewhere other teams didn't want to come and play. There was an aura that we couldn't be beaten there.
“We had lost that aura, but the lads now believe in themselves and it's something we want to build up again.”

On Sunday, Maids entertain Slough in the PowerGen Intermediate Cup at Braywick, kick-off 2.30pm.
Edwards said: “The league is our main ambition, so in terms of results the game doesn't really matter.
“But we want to win it because we want to keep the winning momentum going. Winning is infectious.”