Mobbs-Smith: 'The stakes are high and the consequences of defeat could be costly'

David Mobbs-Smith has said the stakes are high for Maidenhead and opponents Wimbledon ahead of Saturday’s clash at Braywick Park, and the consequences of a defeat could be costly - even at this early stage of the season.

Maids have won just once this season, at home to bottom of the table Hammersmith & Fulham in their second game of the season, but they’ve been competitive enough to have picked up a few more bonus points from their losses to Bracknell (26-14) and Camberley (22-33).

Not surprisingly, they were brushed aside by league leaders Jersey in a 60-12 defeat away from home, but Mobbs-Smith felt the scoreline didn’t accurately reflect his side’s positive and competitive performance in parts. They certainly gave their visitors a bloody nose as Louis Monk and Thomas Marland crossed the line in the first half to keep Maids within touching distance at 17-12. But their hosts power and experience eventually told, and they took the game away from their less experienced visitors in the second period.

Wimbledon have also had a far worse start to the Regional 1 South Central Division season than many would have been expecting. They’ve lost all their matches so far - but have picked up a few useful bonus points - and currently look a long way short of the side which finished last season in fifth place.

A 60-5 home defeat to Jersey on the opening day appears to have knocked the stuffing out of them and though they’ve been more competitive in their matches since against Tunbridge Wells (38-0), London Scottish Lions (12-20), Worthing (38-31) and Farnham (43-44), they’ve lost all of them.

“I’d expect it to be a very tough game on Saturday,” said Mobbs-Smith.

“Both sides will be thinking the consequences of losing could be high. Both teams will know what that means.

“And how well you play against your other competitors in your area of the table usually dictates where you’re going to finish in the league. Most teams are not going to beat Jersey home or away. Jersey might lose no matches this season.

Despite their unconvincing start, Mobbs-Smith isn’t expecting an easy game for his side on Saturday. He believes they’re probably in a slightly false position and fears they may well be ‘due a victory’ - he’s desperately hoping that doesn’t come at Braywick Park and believes his players have the tools to continue Wimbledon’s current trend of defeats.

He said: “Wimbledon aren’t in the position everyone expected them to be in. We’d have thought they might be second or third in the table, but they haven’t suddenly become a weak side. But for whatever reason they’re not winning matches right now and we must make sure that trend continues.

“I don’t believe their league position is a true reflection of who and what they are. At the start of the season they’d have been second or third favourites to Jersey. Why they haven’t won any games, yet I don’t know, but they’ve been losing games quite narrowly in some instances.

“You do worry they have a victory in them somewhere and you hope it’s not at our place.

“It’s a massive game. They lost last week 43-44. They scored a lot of points. They are kind of doing what we did last season where they’re picking up bonus points while losing. This season we’re just not scoring enough tries to give us bonus points. Both at Bracknell and against Camberley we felt we should have.”

Maidenhead should have a more accurate idea of where they are, and where they’re likely to be competing in the table after another five matches have been played. Mobbs-Smith says at this stage it’s too early to say how the frontrunners will perform when the weather changes and the pitches become muddier. How they contend with the injuries they pick up will also determine how they perform over the winter months.

He said: “I think we must wait and see what happens to the early runners, when they pick up injuries. We’ve had quite a few injuries. We had quite a few debut makers and players with low caps at Jersey. We’re only five matches in. The winter months are very different because of the mud and the injuries that are picked up. We’re not sure yet where we’ll be standing in another five matches.

“Old Alleynians, Farnham and London Scottish Lions have all started well. But what happens if they pick up a few injuries. Can they still win those games they’re winning now?

“In December, you get a better feel as to where you are. Unless you start overperforming you know you’re pretty much in this zone in the league.

“We’re now going to play quite a few of those sides that were expected to be more in that middle section. We have to see how we do in these games, but we’d rather be higher up the table than we currently are.”