Hayward hat-trick helps Maids bounce back in crucial victory over Hammersmith & Fulham

Maidenhead head coach David Mobbs-Smith had to make sure ‘everyone was ready and willing to climb a mountain’ as the first team looked to bounce back from their 67-0 opening day defeat at CS Stags.

They managed this on Saturday, running in eight tries of their own in an entertaining 47-15 win over Hammersmith & Fulham at Braywick Park, and the head coach already feels the five points they collected could prove crucial to their hopes this season.

With a relegation play-off meaning the team finishing ninth could still be dragged down this season, there’s extra jeopardy on results and on the sides fearing they might be in the mix in the final weeks of the season.

Those fears were only heightened by Maids’ one-sided defeat to the Stag last weekend, a match that Mobbs-Smith admits the hosts bossed from first to last.

However, they responded in rousing fashion at Braywick on Saturday, with Luke Hayward running in a hat-trick of tries after stepping up from the colts’ team last season. Tom Marland also returned from university in the summer, and he dotted another down while new signings Alex Ropeti and Will Hibberdine in the centre were also on the scoresheet.

Unfortunately, Ropeti later went off with a shoulder injury that’s likely to keep him out for the season if not longer, so an encouraging day didn’t come without some damage.

Mobbs-Smith felt his side were a step quicker in their thoughts and actions as they raced into a seemingly unassailable 26-3 lead before half-time. However, scores either side of the break from Hammersmith meant momentum was with them at 26-15 in a more even clash after the interval. Maids managed to repel that fightback and respond with four more tries before the end to put some gloss on the performance.

“Last week we pulled everyone together and we made sure everyone was focused and ready to climb a mountain,” said Mobbs-Smith. “And those who were willing to climb a mountain understood what was needed of them. We ended up getting two good victories for the firsts and seconds.”

He added: “For both sides (Maidenhead and Hammersmith) Saturday was a massive, must-win game.

“To be sitting in a league where ninth is in a relegation play-off. And we played each other having both lost our first matches. It’s a huge game to have so early in the season. An apex match.

“Both sides were very much aware of how important that match was or potentially could be. It’s more the potential of it.

“We collected those five points and how valuable will those five points be at the end of the season?

“We looked like we often are at home. Wonderfully attacking, a step quicker than our opponents. We scored in the fourth minute and then the game settled down a bit. It was 20 minutes of rugby being played to-and-fro and then we scored again.

“And seven minutes later we scored again, and the game very much looked like it was going our way. When we scored again to go 26-3 up after half an hour, we were nearly scoring at a point a minute, so we were thinking game over. But of course, that’s not the Maidenhead way.

“They scored just before half time to make it a very interesting match at 26-10. They then scored again a minute into the second half. It was looking like a canter and then suddenly it was 26-15 and all the momentum was with them. For the next 15 minutes, it was very much all them. We had the lead, but you could see this game being very tight.

“But we scored a couple of great tries that gave us a little bit of leeway, and it took the wind from their sails. We scored two further tries and it made it look much more comfortable. But at that point in the second half, when it was 26-15, it could have gone more in their favour and have been quite tight.”