Sat 7 Dec 2019, 14:15
Wallingford travelled to Aylesbury on a postively balmy December's afternoon compared to the corresponding fixture last season, which some players still haven't truly recovered from. In selection, Wallingford were without Dan Sadler and Pete McKinley in the backs, but were able to welcome back Dave Baxter, Graham Sage, Nathan Chapman and Henry Wiltshire, whilst club captain James Norris made his return from injruy on the bench.
Playing on a 4G pitch, Aylesbury started as they meant to go on, using their big front five to attack the fringes, and kicking in behind to gain territory. For Wallingford, although their line-out was slightly off-colour, they were dominant in the opening scrummages, marching the Aylesbury pack back several times.
After several scrum penatlies, the referee decided to reverse his interpretation of the scums and penalised Wallingford at the set-piece, after the Aylesbury captain spoke to the referee.
Aylesbury were the first side to score, as they burrowed over from short range after a sustained spell of pressure. The conversion was missed.
Wallingford quickly struck back, as Aylesbury began to fall foul of the referee. After a kick to touch ten meters out, a well drilled catch and drive saw Ian Jeffreys touch down for an unconverted try.
In a half of relatively little chances, Aylebsury then scored next. From a central scrum 25 meters out, their big fly-half switched to the left, sat down yours truly, before putting the winger in the corner for another unconverted try.
The visitors came back well, and after a snipe by the impressive Sage put Charles Campbell in space, his 30 meters angled sprint to the corner was brilliantly brought down a yard short by the cover defence, before Nathan Chapman shunted his way over from the remaining yard. Campbell's fine conversion gave the visitor's a two point lead going into half time.
The second half saw defences on top, as both teams had periods of pressure, but couldn't cross the whitewash. Wallingford were still dominant in the scrums, but inexplicably Sage was urged to 'use it' despite the scrum still marching forwards, whilst they struggled to execute in the other facets of their game.
The only scoring action were two Aylesbury penalties, as Aylesbury edged the second half to earn the win.
Wallingford were left frustrated by a narrow loss. If they were honest, they were probably guilty of getting into a forward based arm wrestle against a team who like an arm wrestle, as they largely cancelled eachother out. Wallingford had their chances, but were lacking in the execution at key moments. There were positives to take from the game, namely the scrum dominance, and the dogged defence in the second when Aylesbury were camped on their line. There were several fine performances from the likes of Jeffreys and Searle, but man of the match went to Graham Sage, who put in a big shift in defence and posed a threat in attack all day.
See the Galleries section for more match photos (thank you to Aylesbury RFC for the photos - though not sure what happened to the photo of my bg hit on the winger!?)
