Maids ruthlessly dispatch Tring to set up Papa John's Plate final with Macclesfield

Maidenhead displayed a ruthless cutting edge as they tore into former league rivals Tring from the opening whistle to set up a final against Macclesfield in the Papa John's Cup Plate this Saturday.

David Mobbs-Smith's side flew out of the traps to effectively take control of the tie in the opening 18 minutes, putting an impressive 22 points on the board to silence Tring's passionate home support.

To their credit, Tring fought back well in an even contest after that, but their defence couldn’t contain the visitors, who racked up more than 50 points in a 51-34 victory.

The scoreline would have been even more emphatic had the hosts not touched down two tries in the closing minutes.

The semi-final win was Maids' third on the spin in the competition after pool stage victories over Bedford (37-36) and London Welsh (15-28).

They'll take on another free-scoring side Macclesfield in the final at Worcester's Sixways Stadium on Saturday (5pm kick-off), after 'Macc' saw off Stockport 48-17 at the weekend.

Saturday's finalists have also been in good form in the competition, beating Sandal 32-15 away before losing 27-33 to Manchester at home. They bounced back to beat Derby 36-22 in another enthralling clash to set up their semi-final and have now managed to score four or more tries in each of their last 13 competitive fixtures.

Harry Oliver was reportedly the star of their clash with Stockport on Saturday, and this weekend's final has all the ingredients for another high-scoring and explosive fixture.

For Mobbs-Smith the key will be which side settles best at Sixways Stadium, however, the artificial surface could give Maids a handy advantage.

Speaking to the Advertiser this week, Mobbs-Smith said: “Yes, we’ve done our homework on them, and we can see they’re a powerful team. They’re not to be underestimated, it’s going to be a tough game.

“Both teams will be at a neutral ground so I am not quite sure whose team will settle in the best, in that type of environment, with that type of pressure. It will be interesting to see.

“It is an artificial pitch at Sixways, and we should be comfortable given we play on that ourselves. I can’t speak for Macclesfield though. We don’t know as much about them as we do with teams that play down in the south.”

On Maids’ victory over Tring, Mobbs-Smith added: “We had quite a few young players playing for us, so we thought we’d be put under a lot of pressure, but we just seemed to have the edge throughout the whole game.

“They had a lot of possession, a lot of territory, but we were able to score when our opportunities came, and the defence seemed to hold out when their chances arose. We were up 22-0 at one stage and later in the game we were 51-22 up.

“They scored twice later in the game to make it 51-34. There were times in the game when you expected the score to be a lot closer, it’s just our players took their opportunities when they came. Their support was strong but going 22-0 up in 18 minutes or so helped quell them shall we say.”