Sat 11 Mar 2023
Wallingford travelled up the A34 to Bicester for a key third versus fourth battle between two old Oxfordshire rivals. In selection, Wallingford were without Sam Botting, Max Suttner and Jack Thurston, but were able to welcome back Murray Bellis, Tom Bradfield, Felix Cotton and James Springer, as they put out a very strong XV.
The opening exchanges were a physical affair, with both sets of packs carrying hard into eachother, whilst Bicester quickly slotted into the kicking game, trying to pin the visitors back early on.
After Wallingford weathered some early pressure in the opening five minutes, they settled into their pattern, as patient structured attack enabled the visitors to work their way up field and earning several penalties, but attacking momentum was cut short on several occasions by handling errors.
The opening quarter saw two well organised defences come out on top as the game remained scoreless, before the visitors took the lead with a well-executed score.
From a line-out on the right just outside the Bicester twenty-two, a backs move allowed Jacob Knight to spread play brilliantly with a big cut out pass to JJ Brown, who beat his player before offloading to fellow winger Felix Cotton who raced in from twenty meters. Conversion missed.
As the half neared an end, some Bicester pressure resulted in a penalty in the Wallingford twenty-two, and somewhat surprisingly they opted to take the 3 points. Some further Bicester pressure was soaked up by the impressive Wallingford defence, before the half ended with Wallingford in the lead 5 points to 3.
The crucial next score came early in the second half and went to the visitors. After a prolonged spell of pressure in the Bicester twenty-two, the ball was moved right to Knight who spotted that the Bicester backline had drifted too early and he stepped inside for a well taken try that Corbett converted.
As the half went on, Bicester seemed to be running out of ideas against a Wallingford defence, led by the likes of Knight, Ed Searle and Nathan Chapman, shutting the door on the home sides attack and forcing several penalties in the process.
The next score was created by brilliant work from Chapman. From the base of the scrum on halfway, Chapman showed electric pace to get away from the Bicester back row, before feeding Murray Bellis, who, with plenty still to do, beat some weak tackling to go over to the right of the posts. Conversion missed.
Wallingford’s purple patch continued and they did not have to wait long for the bonus point try. After winning a penalty inside the Bicester twenty-two, an elaborate set-piece move created space for Chapman who barged his way over the line for a deserved score.
With ten minutes to go, Wallingford put the icing on the cake with their fifth try. From a scrum on the left, Knight put in a speculative grubber into the twenty-two, which the Bicester full-back failed to gather, allowing the chasing Bellis the simplest of finishes for his seventh try in six games.
The final ten minutes saw Wallingford continue to press, but some excellent Bicester defence denied them any further tries, as the game ended 27-3 to Wallingford.
This was arguably the most complete display of the season from Wallingford. Bicester have been in some excellent form recently and have bullied many a team into submission this season with their powerful pack and effective kicking game, but Wallingford never took a backwards step. The Wallingford pack largely neutralised their Bicester counterparts both in the loose and at set-piece, whilst in the backs Wallingford rarely looked troubled by any of the moves Bicester attempted.
There were some excellent displays across the park, with the second-row pairing of Ed Searle and Carl Tappin superb in both attack and defence, whilst Chapman showed his class again at number 8, but man of the match went again to Jacob Knight. For a smallish man, his defence was ferocious, dumping several of the big Bicester units, and in attack, his distribution, kicking and game management was near perfect.
