Maidenhead can't be 'defeatist' ahead of home clash with leaders Jersey

Greg Smith has been in good form for Maids. Photo: Paul Morgan

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Maidenhead head coach David Mobbs-Smith believes the next three league matches will go a long way to determining which of the four sides at the bottom of the Regional 1 South Central Division are in the biggest danger of automatic relegation.

Bottom club Hammersmith & Fulham look a little cut adrift from the rest on 15 points, but Maidenhead, Wimbledon and Camberley in ninth, 10th, and 11th spots are all now locked together on 23 points with less than half the season remaining.

One of those three will likely be relegated automatically alongside Hammersmith – barring an unexpected run of form from the bottom placed club. While the other two will face off against each other in a relegation play-off. The losers of that would then take on a team pushing for promotion from the league below to determine what level they’ll play at next season.

Right now, with Worthing still 12 points clear of all three, that looks like the best option from what’s been a challenging season for all those teams.

On Saturday, Maids were on the brink of a potentially significant win over Camberley, but they had it ripped from their clutches on the final play of the game. Ben Harrison crashed over close to the posts and Finley Parker swept over the decisive conversion to deliver a 36-35 win for the home side.

Reflecting on the game, and where it leaves Maids’ hopes this season, head coach David Mobbs-Smith said: “It’s disappointing really. Camberley managed to get 10 points from the games against us this season and we’ve got two. That’s the difference.

“We should have won both to be honest and it’s disappointing we didn’t. We should have won both, there’s no question about that, but we didn’t.

“Camberley had a new coaching staff, a little bit more ambition. Like us they’re quite a young side and positive young guys get a feeling when they’re playing.

“The next two weeks might divide us, or the next few weeks might see us in the same position, and we’ll know then it’s going down to the wire. The next three matches will give us an idea on that. Maybe one of us will get away.”

The league leaders Jersey roll into town this weekend looking to protect their unblemished record of 14 wins from 14 so far. But it was a similar story last season when Maids managed to beat them by a single point. Lightning couldn’t strike twice, could it?

“They didn’t lose many games last season either, but we were one of the teams that stopped them from being promoted,” said Mobbs-Smith.

“But they’re a very polished side. They have a substantial number of ex-professional rugby players. Even if they weren’t household names in the Premiership they still played at that level. They came unstuck against us last time, but they won’t come to us thinking they’re playing a bottom half team. They’ve also been more clinical this year, scoring nearly 650 points, and no one else in the league, apart from Old Alleynians, has come anywhere close to 500 points.

“Their points difference is 421 positive and London Scottish, the next team in the league table, have a points difference of 112. Anything we get out of Saturday will be a massive bonus.”

It’s a daunting task for Maids, who come into the game off the back of two narrow defeats to Bracknell and Camberley. But Mobbs-Smith doesn’t want any defeatism creeping into his players’ minds ahead of kick off.

Jersey might be top of the table with a 100 per cent record, but he doesn’t think they’re unbeatable. Having flown across the channel every other weekend for the past few months to play away games, he also believes they’ll be feeling effects of that commitment, both physically and mentally.

He added: “They will want to go through the season without losing a game I’m sure, but they came to us last season with a very similar record having lost only once to London Welsh.

“Can we put in the same performance we did last season? If we do, we’ll be in the game. It’s a great chance for the players to play against this team

It’s very motivating for the players in training and you can’t write us off. There’s no point in being defeatist. It could come down to how they travel. At home they’re almost unstoppable, but away from home, they lost a couple of matches last season and weren’t promoted.

“That’s part of their identity; they must travel on a flight every second weekend. How do they manage that. So far this season they’ve managed it very well, but quite a few of their team have kids, so it becomes tougher for them, leaving very early in the morning and getting back late at night. That’s their cross to bear and we’ll be trying to emulate what we did against them last season.

“We’re also not sure what Jersey side will come over to us. What frame of mind will they be in because they’re so far above everyone else in the league. It’s theirs to lose.”