Sat 9 Sep 2023
Wallingford welcomed Bletchley to the Hithercroft on a swelteringly hot September afternoon as they looked to build on their opening day draw at Bicester.
In selection, Wallingford were without a raft of players, including the influential Nathan Chapman, Lawson Dallimore, James Wiltshire and captain James Norris, so in came the likes of Joe Mason, Ollie Corbett and Rico Cleophas, as Wallingford reshuffled their pack.
Bletchley kicked proceedings off and got off to the worst possible start. After knocking on in the chase, the ball fell to Jacob Knight who found Felix Cotton on the left, and after sprinting deep into the Bletchley half, he found fellow flyer Toby Bucknell who beat the last man to finish well under the posts. Corbett with the conversion.
The home side continued to dominate the opening exchanges, as Bletchley gave away some early penalties. After 10 minutes, Wallingford doubled their lead. This time, a well-executed line-out to the back of the line-out culminated in hooker Jayden Grimes dotting down after a dominant maul for his first try for the club. Corbett with the simple conversion.
Bletchley did not lie down after the early setbacks, and gradually got back into the game. And disaster soon struck for the hosts, when the impressive Ollie Corbett dislocated his shoulder again chasing down the Bletchley no.8 and had to go off.
This incident seemed to affect the hosts, as Bletchley entered a purple patch and the hosts fell off the pace. Utilising their hard running forwards, Wallingford began to fall off tackles and Bletchley scored two quick back-to-back tries, one converted.
But the hosts didn’t panic, and after Lewis Stacey extended their lead with a well struck penalty, they scored the crucial third try before the end of the half.
From a scrum on the left in the Bletchley half, Jacob Knight opted for the cross field kick, which fell perfectly into wing Rico Cleophas’ hands, before just about grounding the ball for his first senior try.
Half Time: Wallingford 22 – 12 Bletchley
With the heat starting to take its toll, the second half saw more errors and penalties creep into the game. And it was from a Bletchley mistake in their own half that allowed Wallingford to score the bonus point try.
A loose offload 40m out from their line fell into the hands of Bucknell, who again showed electric pace and good feet to score on the right.
As the half went on, the hosts started to dominate at scrum time, with Jack Thurston and Carl Tappin putting in a massive shift in the heat, picking up several scrum penalties.
After a disagreement between Knight and the Bletchley 9 over who had the better hair resulting in yellow cards for both, Wallingford wrapped things up with one final score, as Max Suttner picked from a 5m scrum to barge over on the right to finish the scoring.
Wallingford finished off winners 34-12.
This was a job well done by the hosts. A starting XV with an average age of 23 and a backline with an average age of 20, they showed no signs of inexperience as they negated their opponent’s threats with aplomb. In the pack, there were excellent displays from Tappin, Jack Payne and Ed Searle, whilst in the backs Felix Cotton, JJ Brown and Toby Bucknell all had excellent games, but Man of the Match went to birthday boy Jack Thurston, whose set-piece showing in the heat was a massive factor in the win.
