Rugby review: Late Camberley conversion breaks Maidenhead hearts in 36–35 thriller

Maidenhead’s Chris Gill in action against Bracknell before Christmas. Photo: Paul Morgan

--

Camberley 36, Maidenhead 35

Maidenhead saw victory slip through their fingers in the final moments of Saturday’s agonising 36-35 defeat to rivals Camberley.

David Mobbs-Smith’s side appeared to be on the verge of another hugely important away win at Watchetts Recreation Park but contrived to throw away their bonus point win in the final minutes.

Maids went into the final 10 minutes of the game with a crucial lead over their hosts.

However, tries from Vincent Parker and Ben Harrison in the 73rd and 79th minutes handed Camberley the chance to win the match with the final kick.

Unfortunately, for Maids, Finley Parker – who missed just one kick all match – held his nerve to sweep over the winning conversion.

It delivered a five-point win which restores Camberley’s hopes of surviving the drop, while knocking back Maids’ chances of staying up.

The one crumb of comfort for Maids is that they collected two losing bonus points from the match, and those points keep Mobbs-Smith’s side above Camberley and Wimbledon in the Regional 1 South Central Division table on points difference.

All three sides now have 23 points – 12 points behind Worthing in eighth place – and all three have an eight-point advantage over bottom club Hammersmith & Fulham.

Maids hopes of finishing outside of the bottom two now look distinctly more precarious, however, with unbeaten leaders Jersey the visitors to Braywick Park on Saturday. Should they go down to defeat – and all 14 sides who’ve played them this season (including Maids) have been beaten – they could see themselves overhauled by Camberley and Wimbledon and fall into one of the automatic relegation spots.

Saturday’s clash was a close one and the teams came in level at 14-14 at the break. George Coen and Vincent Parker had scored for the home side in the first half with both tries converted by Finley Parker. In the second half, Maids looked to be getting the upper hand and capitalised on Rory Cramp’s 10-minute sinbin for a yellow card. But they couldn’t quite put away their hosts, who fought back for a dramatic victory on the final play and final kick. Harrison touched down twice for Camberley in the second half with his second score handing Parker the chance to win it at the death.

For the second match running, Maids have also seen points snatched away from them at the bitter end, and this defeat will have hurt more than any other this season. They had the chance to knock back one of their main rivals for survival and failed to seize that chance. Camberley have also won 10 of their 23 points this season against Maids!

After Jersey’s visit on Saturday, Maids have another very similar clash away to Wimbledon on January 31.

--

Harpenden 45, Windsor 12

In the Regional 2 Thames Division, Windsor were well beaten by hosts Harpenden on Saturday.

Having wrapped up 2025 with a heavy 57-12 loss to second placed Beaconsfield, Andy Symons side were once again on the receiving end as they went down 45-12 away to a Harpenden side who had this game wrapped up before half-time. Alex Birch, Jack Hegarty and Matthew Shaw (twice) all ran in first half tries, converted by Archie Wilson to hand the hosts a commanding 28-5 advantage. Further tries followed from Zephania Nkomo, and James Cutler as Harpenden closed in on a comfortable win and moved up to sixth in the table.

Windsor stay 10th, a point behind Grasshoppers, ahead of their first home game in over a month, at home to second from bottom London Wild Geese. With only two points separating the sides at the bottom of the table, a win is crucial to Windsor’s hopes of survival.

Marlow’s home game with Grasshoppers on Saturday was postponed due to a frozen pitch at Riverwoods.

The club called the game off due to the ‘significant danger to play safety with the frozen ground’. Both the first XV and second XV games were called off, and rearranged dates will be confirmed in due course.

Marlow are eighth in the table, three points behind seventh placed Aylesbury, ahead of Saturday’s trip to fourth placed Old Priorians.