Sat 31 Mar 2012
Beaconsfield 41 Wallingford 15
Wallingford travelled to table-topping Beaconsfield on a cool and breezy day for their last match of the season. In selection, Kris Blaszko came in at hooker for the absent Tom Hill, Rich Bower replaced Norris on the flank, whilst in the backs, Ralph Smith moved from full-back to fly-half, and Miguel Ballon returned to the side on the wing.
The opening exchanges of the match were relatively equal, with the set-piece evenly contested, and both sets of backs testing each other with probing runs. With the mobile Beaconsfield no.8 breaking dangerously from the back of the scrum on several occasions, the home side began to make some inroads in the Wallingford defence, and they were rewarded with a penalty which their impressive kicker converted to give them an early lead.
Far from intimidated by their high-flying opponents, Wallingford came back strongly.
Firstly, Smith gathered his own chip to before releasing to Collett, who fed the ball wide to Holton, but as he burst
in to the Beaconsfield twenty-two, the ball was spilled. Then, after a quick tap penalty from Bower, Jeffreys drew the defence before popping to the supporting Smith on his shoulder who sliced through the home side’s defence to dot down under the posts from 30 yards. Smith duly converted.
With the hosts rattled, they came back at the visitors, and after sustained pressure, were able to spin the ball wide for their winger to dot down for an unconverted try. Wallingford looked to hit back again, but were undone by some bad luck. As a kick into the Wallingford twenty-two caused havoc, the fly-hacked clearance struck the retreating Marris in the back, technically in an off-side position, though completely unintentional. From the ensuing penalty, the ball eventually found its way to the looping winger who crashed over the line at pace after a well-executed move, despite the
best efforts of Best.
Regardless of the deficit, Wallingford again came back strongly, and after a half-break, the home side’s flanker was penalised for not rolling away in the tackle (and got a nasty cut to the head for his efforts), and Smith converted a simple penalty with the last act of the half.
With the score 10-15 at half time, Wallingford were very much in the game, but this could have been said about a dozen games this year, with the result not going to plan.
And true to form, Wallingford failed to turn up for the first fifteen minutes of the second half. Firstly, after breaking down the blindside of a scrum, their no.8 found far too much room and he found ample support as Beaconsfield scored soon after half time. Their next try followed shortly. After Bower missed a high box kick, the Beaconsfield Eight leapt highest to claim the bouncing ball, and his marauding run took him away from the scattered Wallingford defence, before he fed his scrum half for a score in the corner.
The third try in this disastrous spell for the visitors came after sustained pressure on the Wallingford line, before they eventually crashed over in the corner. All of the tries were brilliantly converted by the host’s kicker.
Well and truly shell-shocked by this somewhat self-inflicted onslaught, Wallingford finally got back into the game, with Holton, Jeffreys and Bower to the fore with powerful runs.
And Wallingford deservedly got the next score. After Holton had made the initial break with a well-executed backs move, he was on hand to be on the end of an ensuing passing move to dot down.
With the game’s structure disintegrating as both teams looked to throw the ball about, Beaconsfield scored again. With the ball going loose on the Wallingford twenty-two, the hosts reacted quickest, moving the ball to their winger, who dived over in the corner. The cover tackle actually held the winger up and took him off the pitch, but with the (excellent) ref slightly off the pace, he awarded the try.
This was a good performance from Wallingford against the now-promoted hosts, easily matching them for sixty minutes, but that is worth nothing if you throw away points for the other twenty. Beaconsfield were a well-drilled side playing with plenty of confidence, and also played the game in excellent spirits, which is always nice to see.
It’s been a tough season for Wallingford. Very much a team in transition this season, with players and coaches leaving last year, there are still plenty of positives to take. We have pushed all of the top teams this year, proving our undoubted ability, but all too often just couldn’t sustain the level of performance. And we have blooded several colts, namely Albie, Fraser, Ben and Dan, all of whom have easily stepped up to the level of rugby, and have big futures for them at the club.
A huge thank you has to go to coaches Mount and Pooler, who, not only must have clocked up a few thousand miles between them in their support of the side, but have brought back the enjoyment of playing for the Cullis that was absent last year. And also to Pete Holton, who has led from the front all season, and bar the odd interception pass*, has barely put a foot wrong on the pitch.
* though he asked me to mention his awesome kicking display on Saturday instead.
