Maidenhead's away-day woes deepen after deserved defeat at Farnham

Photo credit: Paul Morgan

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Head coach David Mobbs-Smith accepted hosts Farnham played the more attractive and effective rugby in difficult conditions during Saturday’s 38-22 away defeat.

Maids are still searching for their first away points of the season after racking up a fifth straight loss away from Braywick Park in the Regional 1 South Central.

This was a more competitive performance than some of their other away trips this season - most notably their 67-0 loss to CS Stags and their 60-12 defeat at leaders Jersey - but they were still someway short of their hosts, who generally controlled the match after scoring two early tries to take a 14-3 lead.

Maids did their best to stay within touching distance and still fancied their chances with the windy conditions more in their favour after the interval. But again, they fell short of their first target of claiming a losing bonus point, running in just three tries through Sam Bowen, Josh Moscardini and Elio Mandozzi.

Finding a way to be more competitive away from Braywick Park - where all three of Maids’ wins this season have been earned - will be crucial to their hopes of finishing out of the automatic relegation places and perhaps evening outside of the bottom four.

“We performed well but they’re a good side at home,” he said. “They played attractive rugby in the first half considering the pressure they were under in the wet. They scored some great tries early on.

“We scored an early penalty to make it 0-3 but they then scored two quick tries to make it 14-3 to them. That set the tone for the rest of the game. It then went back to 14-8, but they managed to get another around the half an hour mark to make it 21-8. It was very competitive at that stage, and they’d been playing with the wind at that stage, so we felt we’d had a decent half to restrict them to that with the wind behind them.

“We thought we may be able to go out and push them quite close, but they were able to withstand our onslaught with the wind behind us and managed to build on their lead a little bit. We had to score two tries at the end to get a bonus point and we only managed to get one. We had our opportunities but they’re a big powerful side and the played some great stuff. They deserved the win and had a couple of key players who really influenced their performance.”

Maids were forced to play more conservative rugby because of the conditions and this played into the hands of Farnham. The clash of styles Mobbs-Smith had hoped for before kick-off never really materialised, and he was impressed with how they managed to cut through his side’s defences in both halves and often under great pressure.

“The conditions were horrific,” said Mobbs-Smith.

“Fortunately, they have a wonderful club house and most of the people watching us were able to stand up there under a roof. Everyone else was in the pouring rain.

“The weather kind of played to their strengths a bit. You usually must play a bit tighter in the wet and we might have been a bit more expansive if it had been a dryer day.

“They’re competitive in this league for sure. They’re a very competitive side and have been doing very well at home. I didn’t see anything this weekend that would indicate that won’t continue. They scored some great tries.”

Saturday’s sixth loss of the campaign leaves Maids 10th in the table ahead of Wimbledon and Hammersmith and Fulham. They’re now eight points adrift of Worthing in eighth place, which is the last spot that guarantees safety this season with the teams finishing in ninth and 10th set to take part in a relegation play-off. The losers of that will then take on a promotion hopeful from the level below to determine whether they stay at this level or are demoted ahead of next season.

Finishing out of the bottom two is the first aim for Maids this season but it’s still possible for them to catch the teams above them in mid-table if they’re able to marry up their home and away form in the second half of the season.