Photo credit: Ian Branch

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Marlow head coach George Jafari praised the pace of Belsize Park’s play in Saturday’s 42-26 defeat for Marlow at Wasps’ ground.

The visiting head coach felt the hosts were able to switch the momentum in their favour and just take the game away from his side, after Marlow had battled back to be within two points at 28-26.

There was plenty for Jafari and the coaching team to like about this display, with Marlow going toe-to-toe with one of the Regional 2 Thames promotion hopefuls for much of the game.

But Belsize just proved too slick and too powerful in the closing stages and managed to wrap up a relatively convincing win.

Despite this, it’s been a solid start to the season for Marlow who came into this clash in London off the back of a home win over Beaconsfield and a brilliant 52-47 away win at Old Priorians. They also scored their four tries through Luc Mouton, Aaron Chapman, Augustin Porro and a penalty try to pick up a bonus points for their efforts in this one.

Reflecting on the game, Jafari said: “Belsize Park are well drilled.

“The pace of play, especially in attack, is so fast. And they have talent across all 15 players.

“We’re really pleased with elements of our performance, and we managed to get to a point where it was 28-26. We got ourselves back close with not that long left to play. There are going to be technical improvements that we’ll always need to make after every game. They might have changed the result but we’re proud of our performance.

“We wanted to focus on our defensive elements a little bit and we did that. We addressed some areas we wanted to improve.

“But the way Belsize play which is super-fast, enabled them to score some points, especially in the wider channels. It’s a real strength of theirs and something we need to work on. It’s not a case of a poor performance from us but rather a very strong performance from Belsize was the reason for their win.”

Teams at this level often struggle for form away from home, but Jafari has told the players in no uncertain terms that this kind of thinking and mindset won’t be tolerated at the club this season. Belsize also had to adapt to playing away from their usual ground in Regents Park on Saturday, but they managed to deal with that unfamiliarity better than Marlow.

Jafari believes Marlow can challenge teams like Belsize Park for promotion this season, and the bonus point they earned means they’re currently level with them on 11 points - despite being in fifth place. Harpenden & Amersham & Chalfont lead the way with a perfect 15 points from their first three matches.

“We weren’t playing in Belsize’s usual ground in Regents Park,” said Jafari.

“We were playing at Wasps FC, so it was kind of like an away game for them as well. It wasn’t a familiar ground for them either and everyone had to adapt to those changes.

“We don’t want to focus on that being the reason for any difficulties we faced. We addressed that and told the players way earlier in pre-season that these factors that we’re not in control of won’t really have an impact. We’re playing for the badge and for Marlow whether we’re at home or 100 miles away.

“We want to come away with a minimum of a point every single game. It’s a small micro target and we managed that on Saturday. Whether it’s away or at home, we’re looking to perform to our strengths. Consistency is the key in our performance and mindset.

“In every facet of our game. That’s through our defensive discipline and in attack as well.

“Rugby is a game of momentum swings. They can turn quickly in your favour or against you. Belsize have got very strong momentum shifts in their game; they can swing a game in their favour very quickly.”

Marlow are back at Riverwoods against 10th placed Teddington this coming Saturday.

“After the game I made it crystal clear to the boys that this loss against Belsize does not define us as a squad or dictate what our intentions are,” he said.

“How we respond this week at training this week and before fixture on Saturday will”.