'Strange Game' against Camberley offers harsh lessons for young Maidenhead side

A depleted Maidenhead side were beaten by Camberley on Saturday, despite the visitors being reduced to 14 players in the first half. Photo credit: Paul Morgan

--

Maidenhead lost a ‘strange game of rugby’ to league rivals Camberley on Saturday, going down 22-33 in a game which the visitors controlled and dictated, despite being down to 14 players for an hour.

When the visitors saw one of their players dismissed on the half-hour mark, Maids were still very much in contention, and not too far behind on the scoreboard.

This seemingly presented David Mobbs-Smith’s side with an opportunity to take control of the game and push their opponents onto the back foot, but - if anything - the opposite thing materialised, with Camberley able to control the game in the forward pack, while their centre Jack Rossiter and number 10 Alex Seers managed the game beautifully along the back line.

An increasingly frustrated - and inexperienced - Maidenhead side also contributed to their own downfall, gifting back possession to Camberley with some basic errors and ill-discipline. While two wild passes were intercepted and ran in for converted scores. Had they just managed to cut those two errors out of their game, they’d have likely finished on the winning side.

Mobb-Smith admitted afterwards his side hadn’t performed as well as they should have, given their numerical advantage, however, he also heaped praise onto their experienced visitors, who did so much to nullify Maids’ momentum in the match.

“It was a strange game really,” said the head coach. “Obviously there is a rivalry between the clubs and all that sort of thing. But the game ebbed and flowed, we had a few opportunities and so did they.

“After 15 minutes it was 3-5 so it was a tight game which we were expecting. And not long after that they got a red card, with about an hour to go in the game.

“When we turned at half-time, it was 3-12 and it still felt that we were very much in the game even though it was tight. We thought we might be able to take advantage of having an extra player. But we just made some fundamental errors just at the wrong times and it hurt us.

“There were a couple of intercept passes, which they managed to score 14 points from. Even at 10-19, we felt we had a good chance, but they managed to get away from us. It ended up being tight, but we didn’t manage to get a bonus point from the game, which at the very worst, we should have done.

“There were lots of positives in the play, but it was a younger, less experienced team being outplayed a bit by a more mature side who knew what they were doing. They have two very experienced props that have played at a high level, and they were a factor in the game. They got the game played at a pace that suited them. And Jack Rossiter at centre and Alex Seers at 10, two very experienced players who ran the game for them. We’re a lot younger than them but there will be lessons learned from that.”

Mobbs-Smith hopes lessons will be learned from this defeat, and learned quickly, as Maids have now chucked away the chance of picking up points - at least bonus points - in their past two matches.

They now head into an incredibly tough, but exciting, trip to Regional 1 South Central leaders Jersey on Saturday, knowing they’re very much underdogs to even pick up a losing bonus point. That said, there was an expectation the side’s start to the season was going to be difficult and that’s how things are panning out. Saturday’s defeat leaves them in 10th place.

“These past two games against Bracknell and Camberley, we should have got something from these matches,” added Mobbs-Smith.

“I’m not saying we should have won but to not get any bonus points is disappointing. We have new, inexperienced players. They’re young, 18/19 years old.

“They’re growing as players, and we’ve also got some new players in the team so we’re gelling at the moment and it’s just not quite there.

“There was a frustration from the players, the coaching staff, the crowd. I think that’s unavoidable, and it adds to the disappointment. We were given a very good chance to do something, and we couldn’t take it. But a lot of credit must go to Camberley and to how well they played in that situation. They managed it very well indeed. They can’t be unhappy with what they did.

There were moments in the game where the momentum changed. Some of the mistakes we made were tactical and some were technical. They gave Camberley belief that what they were doing was working.

“You must compliment them on how well they played. At times we played some wonderful stuff. One of the highlights would be Paul Hodgson, the lock, running through from way out and getting past the last defender to get over by the posts. He’ll remember that try for a long time.”