Captain French 'impressed but not surprised' by Maidenhead's fightback

Maidenhead captain Alex French. Photo: Paul Morgan

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Maidenhead captain Alex French said it was no fluke his side held their nerve in the final minutes of Saturday’s nail-biting 27-26 win over Brighton at Braywick Park.

Having fought back from 19-0 down in the first half to lead 27-26 with around 15 minutes to play, the home side came under some pressure from their visitors in the closing stages.

Unlike last season’s home match against Brighton – when Maids lost by a single point to the very last kick of the game – the home side showed great composure to see the game through for a deserved victory.

It was a vitally important one as well, with Maids cutting the gap to fifth placed CS Stags to five points ahead of a tough run of fixtures, starting away at second placed Jersey RFC on Saturday, November 30.

French – who stormed through to score one of his side’s four tries and should really have had another - said: “It’s something that we’ve worked very hard on in training.

“It’s no accident that we managed to carry that out. We do a lot of scenario-based stuff such as this is the picture, this is the score, there’s this many minutes on the clock and this is how we play.

“We worked on that exact scenario on Thursday so it’s not like that was a fluke, it calmed the heads down a little bit.”

French admits Maids were a little flat in the first half – and even before that in the warm-up – but two tries late in the first half from Max Thomas and Iwan Hughes got them back within touching distance at the interval. They then maintained that momentum into the second half with French powering his way through the middle of Brighton’s defences to add a third try before Drew Prince was left in acres of space on the right to dot down a fourth.

French drove over again later in the game, and appeared to ground the ball over the line, however, the referee felt he couldn’t award the score – creating a somewhat nervier ending to the game than perhaps Maids deserved.

“I think we were a little bit flat in the warmup,” said the captain. “

“We had a little chat about it and tried to flick the switch. Our tackles weren’t going in as well as they probably should have done.

“But this time last year, we’d have probably crumbled there. We got beat by them by one point last year, so it was nice to be on the right end of a tight one.”

“The comeback we made is a reflection of us as a squad. The character that we’ve got to come back from being 19-0 is impressive, but not surprising. I’m not surprised at all that we did it. We’re missing a few players, so some lads have come in and stepped up.

He added: “We know they are a forwards-based team, and they started to get a bit niggly at the breakdown. Discipline cost them a yellow card and we know we’ve got the ability to play a little quicker. As soon as we started to turn the screw when they were down to 14, that’s when the momentum came.

“Going in at 19-10 down at half-time, I don’t think we were sat there feeling like a side that was two scores down.”

On his 50th appearance, winger Alex Turton led out the side, and although the flying winger didn’t score on this occasion, Brighton’s fear of Maidenhead’s pace on the flanks left space for others to exploit.

“We do carry a big threat out wide. They’re so worried about the wide threat that they leave little holes and start drifting,” said French.

“The likes of me and others can then cut back against the grain and make some ground.

“100 per cent I scored another try. The ball went down, bounced up and they got under it and the referee wasn’t quite up with play, but we’ll let him off. Throughout the rest of the game, he was a very good ref, and they are tough to give when you can’t see.”

Maids now play all the top five sides in succession, so claiming a bonus point win from this match, against the league’s bottom side, was absolutely vital.

French added: “There’s a clear divide between some of the top teams in the league, the likes of London Welsh and Jersey, they are tough places to go to and they are a cut above in this league.

“So, we need to look to this kind of game against sides that are outside of the top four and make sure we come away with wins and don’t let them slip so that’s why it’s massive for us today.”

Maidenhead captain Alex French said it was no fluke his side held their nerve in the final minutes of Saturday’s nail-biting 27-26 win over Brighton at Braywick Park.

Having fought back from 19-0 down in the first half to lead 27-26 with around 15 minutes to play, the home side came under some pressure from their visitors in the closing stages.

Unlike last season’s home match against Brighton – when Maids lost by a single point to the very last kick of the game – the home side showed great composure to see the game through for a deserved victory.

It was a vitally important one as well, with Maids cutting the gap to fifth placed CS Stags to five points ahead of a tough run of fixtures, starting away at second placed Jersey RFC on Saturday, November 30.

French – who stormed through to score one of his side’s four tries and should really have had another - said: “It’s something that we’ve worked very hard on in training.

“It’s no accident that we managed to carry that out. We do a lot of scenario-based stuff such as this is the picture, this is the score, there’s this many minutes on the clock and this is how we play.

“We worked on that exact scenario on Thursday so it’s not like that was a fluke, it calmed the heads down a little bit.”

French admits Maids were a little flat in the first half – and even before that in the warm-up – but two tries late in the first half from Max Thomas and Iwan Hughes got them back within touching distance at the interval. They then maintained that momentum into the second half with French powering his way through the middle of Brighton’s defences to add a third try before Drew Prince was left in acres of space on the right to dot down a fourth.

French drove over again later in the game, and appeared to ground the ball over the line, however, the referee felt he couldn’t award the score – creating a somewhat nervier ending to the game than perhaps Maids deserved.

“I think we were a little bit flat in the warmup,” said the captain. “

“We had a little chat about it and tried to flick the switch. Our tackles weren’t going in as well as they probably should have done.

“But this time last year, we’d have probably crumbled there. We got beat by them by one point last year, so it was nice to be on the right end of a tight one.”

“The comeback we made is a reflection of us as a squad. The character that we’ve got to come back from being 19-0 is impressive, but not surprising. I’m not surprised at all that we did it. We’re missing a few players, so some lads have come in and stepped up.

He added: “We know they are a forwards-based team, and they started to get a bit niggly at the breakdown. Discipline cost them a yellow card and we know we’ve got the ability to play a little quicker. As soon as we started to turn the screw when they were down to 14, that’s when the momentum came.

“Going in at 19-10 down at half-time, I don’t think we were sat there feeling like a side that was two scores down.”

On his 50th appearance, winger Alex Turton led out the side, and although the flying winger didn’t score on this occasion, Brighton’s fear of Maidenhead’s pace on the flanks left space for others to exploit.

“We do carry a big threat out wide. They’re so worried about the wide threat that they leave little holes and start drifting,” said French.

“The likes of me and others can then cut back against the grain and make some ground.

“100 per cent I scored another try. The ball went down, bounced up and they got under it and the referee wasn’t quite up with play, but we’ll let him off. Throughout the rest of the game, he was a very good ref, and they are tough to give when you can’t see.”

Maids now play all the top five sides in succession, so claiming a bonus point win from this match, against the league’s bottom side, was absolutely vital.

French added: “There’s a clear divide between some of the top teams in the league, the likes of London Welsh and Jersey, they are tough places to go to and they are a cut above in this league.

“So, we need to look to this kind of game against sides that are outside of the top four and make sure we come away with wins and don’t let them slip so that’s why it’s massive for us today.”