Maidenhead & Windsor

Maidenhead ended the first half of the season on a bum note, losing heavily at Weston-Super-Mare after having given themselves a fighting chance following a disastrous start.

Just a month ago the two clubs met at Braywick where the Maidenhead Maids were punished for a yellow-card for number 8 Paul Jones when leading with 12 minutes to go.

Last weekend it was a yellow for No 8 Piers Morgan which gave the Somerset side the chance to get in front.

When Morgan was penalised in the 18th minute, Weston scored unopposed from the ensuing fivemetre scrum by their own No 8 Cook and the try was converted by new signing Lowis.

Three minutes later, Weston struck again when, from another five-metre scrum, their scrum half Jones was able to dive over the line.

The conversion, like the first, glanced over off the woodwork, but Weston were suddenly 14-0 ahead.

Maidenhead Maids struck back when Stuart Mackay - another experiment at full back - entered the line during a smart three-quarter move and raced clear to score.

The conversion was missed.

Within minutes Weston replied when their winder Hughes escaped the clutches of the Maids' defence to give Lowis an easy kick which he made to take the home side into the break 21-5 ahead.

As in the first encounter, the game ebbed and flowed, and Maidenhead reduced the deficit in the 55th through Gareth Edwards who switched from full back where he has been covering for the injured Rob Hawkins to scrum half to cover on this occasion from first choice Ben Ayres who has a serious knee injury.

Again the kick was missed and from here it was all downhill for Maidenhead Maids as Weston ran in four more tries.

The first came through their prop Derrick in the 63rd minute and the next two minutes later through Lowis who added the extra points with the boot.

Suddenly Maidenhead Maids were 33-10 down and the match was already over when Derrick added his second try of the match in the 80th minute and Cook his second in time added on.

Maidenhead Maids travelled without coach Simon Edwards who was on duty with the South West Divisional squad.

The cause was further hampered with the additions to the injury list last week of scrum half Ayres - who made have ligament damage - and flanker Will Lowden.

They join a decimated back division with Danny Martin, Sam Hocking, Alex Greer and Danny Walton all long-term injury victims, though Walton at least, is on the way back.

However Maidenhead will look back on a game in which they had a plentiful supply of ball thanks to the good work of forwards Alex Gallina and Mark Mueller in particular, and see they were punished above all for missed touch-kicks, poor tackling and mispassing - all basic errors.

It was a shame that the talents that earned Stuart Douglas, who was posted out on the wing, an Oxford Blue were not given much of a chance to be demonstrated.

MatchFacts

SOUTH WEST ONE

WESTON-SUPER-MARE 43 MAIDENHEAD 10

Maidenhead Maids: Mackay, Douglas, Cripps, Hammond, Beaumont Ruddick, Edwards, Riley, Craig, Johnston, Gallina, Mueller,Vorster,Morgan, Jones: Reps: Gull, Blackwell, Jelski.

ic Berkshire ~ Maidenhead ~ Dec 22 2005