Sat 18 Sep 2010
Wallingford welcomed Bletchley to the Hithercroft on a fine Saturday afternoon, looking to get their season back on track. In selection, Tom Woodward stepped in at fly-half for the injured Henry Pooler, Dan Stalker started at 13 for the injured Johnny Collett, and Chris Jenkins came onto the wing for the injured Lee Lewis.
Wallingford started the game well, competing well at the breakdown and the set-piece looking solid. The main area of success was around the fringes of the breakdown, and the Wallingford forwards, notably Monk, made inroads on several occasions. Their early dominance was rewarded with a penalty thirty meters out, but unfortunately Smith dragged it wide. Despite further possession, some strong Bletchley defence kept Wallingford out, and they began to look increasingly dangerous, as their inside centre made numerous breaks through the porous Wallingford defence.
Wallingford then lost flanker Matt Chapman to a harsh sin-binning for his first offence of killing the ball at the breakdown, and from the penalty, they kicked to the corner, and Bletchley caught and drove at the lineout, and despite the maul not moving forward for what seemed an eternity, the referee let them carry on, and eventually they shoved their way over the line, with the fly-half the unlikely beneficiary. The try was well converted from out-wide.
The second try came shortly afterwards, after several phases of play in the Wallingford twenty-two, good hands and sloppy tackling saw Bletchley go over in the corner.
Following this, Wallingford began to get back in the game. With the forwards dominating their counterparts in both set-piece and open play, Wallingford found themselves on the Bletchley try line time and time again, but a mixture of bad decision making and poor execution saw them throw away their chance every time. Even when Bletchley lost a flanker to the bin for tripping Smith, Wallingford could not capitalise.
Going into half time 12-0 down, Wallingford were far from out of the game. The first ten minutes of the half saw both sides create half chances, but neither side could make the most of them. Wallingford slowly worked their way towards the Bletchley line via catch and drives, and the impressive Monk eventually powered his way over from close range to give the home side a lifeline. Smith converted.
Wallingford continued to press, and aided by the sin-binning of the Bletchley lock, they again worked their way towards the Bletchley line, and after several attempts, Luke Best finally bundled over in the left hand corner, conversion missed.
With the scores level with twenty minutes to play, the game seemed there for the taking for Wallingford, but they inexplicably appeared to take their foot off the pedal. Even then, they still had several good chances, but basic passing and handling errors wasted these chances.
After a brief period in their own half, Wallingford then lost a scrum against the head on their own twenty two, and Bletchley moved the ball to the left quickly, and good hands and good lines saw them touch down in the corner.
This hammer blow shook Wallingford, who looked to strike back, but after losing the ball in the Bletchley twenty-two, the visitors broke quickly up the left wing. Despite Smith causing an obvious knock on by the Bletchley centre, the referee waved play on, and after quick recycling and excellent hands, Bletchley touched down in the far right hand corner for a well taken break away try.
Wallingford continued to press, but more knock ons put paid to any slim hopes of a second comeback, as Bletchley ended up 24-12 winners.
Bletchley were a much better rugby side than previous seasons, and this was a relatively even match, but Bletchley did the basics of catching, passing and tackling much better than the home side. Set up by a strong performance by the forwards, Wallingford had the platform to put the game out of site by half time, but good Bletchley defence and wasteful finishing from the home side meant that Bletchley took the spoils.
It was definitely an improved performance from the previous week, but Wallingford need to rediscover their clinical edge if they are to start winning again.
