Mandozzi and French likely to miss Braywick test as Mobbs-Smith eyes response

Maidenhead in action at Bracknell. Photo: Paul Morgan

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David Mobbs-Smith hopes this weekend’s break will enable some players to return to the side following injury, however the home game with Camberley on October 4 will probably come too soon for forwards Elio Mandozzi and Alex French.

Mandozzi was injured in the early minutes of Saturday’s 26-14 defeat to derby rivals Bracknell, and Mobbs-Smith said his absence was keenly felt as the visitors struggled to compete in the scrum and set pieces. Jake Leech was also forced off after half an hour, while French has been absent from the side so far this season with injury, meaning Maids have been without a significant chunk of their ball carrying, defence breaching runners.

Without some of their best ‘hole punchers’ Maids have lost two of their first three matches, going down to a heavy 67-0 defeat at CS Stags on the opening day and losing Saturday’s game at Bracknell in a much more competitive clash. In between, they rallied well to defeat Hammersmith & Fulham 47-15, but that win was soured by the long-term shoulder injury collected by new centre signing Alex Ropeti.

How Maids respond to these injury setbacks could well determine how they get on this season, with their results so far leaving them in 10th place - one of the two spots that will see teams tussle in a relegation play-off.

Looking ahead to their coming clash with Camberley at Braywick Park on Saturday, October 4, Mobbs-Smith said: “Hopefully it will allow us to get some players back but some of the injuries are longer term.

“We have some key people out. I don’t think Elio Mandozzi will be back for the Camberley game and I don’t think Alex French will either.

“You’re talking about huge, big ball carriers for us and others will have to step into their shoes and do that for the next month or so.

“Camberley got a win in their derby with Farnham, which was big for them. They didn’t win by much, but they managed to eke it out. They’ll be a bit more buoyant now they have a win and historically they’ll probably feel quite confident coming to Braywick.

“At home we can put on some performances though so hopefully that will be the case when they come to us.

“I don’t think their style will have changed. Some of the coaching staff is the same there so we expect the same issues and problems they pose for us. And they’ll probably expect us to pose the same problems for them.

“It should be a great game because of that conflict of styles and then who knows. The way the league is structured this season, and because a few of the bigger teams are not performing quite as expected so far, it’s really opened up the league.”

Jersey’s rise to the top of the table in the early weeks of the season is not unexpected, however, other sides have shown some surprising form in their first few matches. Tunbridge Wells, Old Alleynians, Farnham, London Scottish Lions and Worthing make up places third to seventh behind CS Stags in second - potentially Jersey’s closest title challengers this season. However, the season is still in its infancy and Mobbs-Smith believes more matches are needed to give a truer reflection of where teams are at.

He said: “Jersey excepted; they are where they are supposed to be. CS Stags as well. For everyone else there has been some surprise results. It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens in the league over the next five matches.

“That will take us through to the first week of November. You can get a truer reflection of where teams are then. We’ll start seeing some side’s depth, can they deal with the injuries they’re picking up or are they struggling. When we’ve played eight of the 22 fixtures, we’ll have an indication of where the league is.

“We’ll be training because it’s too early in the season to have a week off and we’ll be working on things to hopefully come back with a home win on October 4th.”