Harry Wells proud of Maids' spirit but admits London Welsh defeat is 'on them'

Harry Wells touches down Maids’ third try. Photo credit: Paul Morgan. www.paulmorganphoto.co.uk

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Centre Harry Wells touched down as Maidenhead scored a flurry of first half tries to race into a 22-14 lead against London Welsh on Saturday. However, in a fast and frenetic game that felt like a Basketball match at times, Welsh claimed a measure of control that their hosts could never match.

Three times Maids crossed the Welsh whitewash in the opening 15 minutes, through Ed Atkins - in the opening seconds - Alex Turton and finally through Wells who dummied a pass out-wide before cutting in to score.

However, while the home side looked clinical in attack during that phase of the game, they lacked control up top and Welsh’s greater discipline for most of this match saw the visitors prevail 40-36 in the end. There was barely the width of a cigarette paper to choose between the sides in the end - as Maids bravely fought back from 40-22 down to take it to the wire - but it was a contest that gave Wells and his teammates plenty of food for thought as they look ahead to next weekend’s trip to CS Stags.

Maids look much better than their league position of 10th suggests, however, they don’t yet have the results to prove that concern will grow with each game that passes without the side claiming a win.

Speaking after the final whistle, Wells told the Advertiser: “We’re proud of how we came back at the end there. We could have let our heads go down and let them run away with it. But we dug in and we got to a point where we were thinking ‘this is our game here’. It wasn’t to be, and that’s our own fault, we didn’t manage the referee well today.

“If we’re honest with ourselves, our discipline hasn’t been good enough since the start of the season, but I’m proud of the lads, you can’t criticise our spirit. We fought very hard at the end, but ultimately, we should be winning that game and it’s on us. We can’t look at any external factors.

“Both teams like to throw it around a bit and have a go. That showed in the first 20 minutes or so, it was back and forth and very scrappy. They went in four points ahead, but we thought at the break that if we could score first, it would be our game. It didn’t happen, and we’ve got to reflect on why and the reasons for that.

“They’re a very decent side and have recruited well from last year, but we think highly of ourselves as well. As good as they were, that was our game for the taking. But it’s two points so that’s something we can take away. The spirit is right, but we’ve just got to get the discipline right.

“We’ve got a lot of heart, this squad, a good group environment. Coming back there shows a lot of heart. We were trying to look for that one opportunity but not wanting to throw the ball away. We looked after the ball well looking for that chance. A 50/50 decision maybe goes against us there, but we’ve just got to dust ourselves down now and take what we can from the game.”