Edwards proud of Maids

Maidenhead coach Simon Edwards had nothing but praise for his injury-ravaged squad who secured the bravest of one-point victories over Old Patesians on Saturday.

Despite being without a host of key players, Edwards’ squad claimed an unlikely 13-12 victory in Cheltenham.

Edwards was delighted with the level of commitment his players showed.

He said: “Massive credit has to go to the players. They executed the plan we put together.

“Eighteen guys went down there and put their bodies on the line. They deserve the praise.
“They went down there and got one of the best results we have had in a while.

“Nothing is coming easy but it’s another two ugly points. We’ll take that all day long.”

Edwards revealed that on top of the almost comical amount of injuries his team is carrying they lost another two in the last 48 hours before the game.

He added: “It’s even more impressive when you consider we lost Mark Parkhouse on the last run of training on Thursday night and we lost Gareth Edwards with a tight hamstring on Friday.

“On top of that we were without Jonny Hammond and Simon Cripps, I mean the list just goes on and on.”

Edwards also revealed that the coaching set-up learnt a huge amount from the last meeting of the sides, the 45-27 EDF Energy Cup defeat, to prepare them for this match.

He said: “We really put a plan in place based on our last trip down there.

“So on training on Tuesday and Thursday we worked purely on defence and how to stop them scoring.

“We didn’t worry about how we would score because I am a great believer that defence causes chaos.

“I think they maybe underestimated us.
“They thought they could maybe put us up the slope in the second half and win the game without a fight. “
Edwards was quick to praise debutant tight-head prop Richard Hoskins.
He said: “Richard made a big difference, of course he would.

“When you throw in the best part of 20 stone of experienced tight head on top of that you throw in Mark Mueller as well that makes a big difference to any team. I thought they were superb.”

Maids now have a one week lay-off before they host title challengers Chinnor.