Sat 18 Jan 2020
Wallingford travelled to Marlow on a surprisingly mild January afternoon, looking to bounce back from their narrow defeat to High Wycombe the previous week. In selection, they were able to field a strong side, with Lawson Dallimore, Sam Botting and Ralph Smith coming back into the side, with Swainston and Sayce moving to 9 and 10 respectively.
Wallingford started the game brightly, and were camped in the Marlow half for the opening ten minutes, as their forwards made gradual inroads. But despite their early dominance, a combination of excellent Marlow defence and basic errors meant that the visitors came away with nothing for their efforts.
That proved to be costly, as the hosts came back strongly and enjoyed a purple patch that ultimately won them the game. In a twenty minute spell, Wallingford's defence went to sleep and allowed Marlow, spearheaded by the impressive Jafari Jnr at fly half, to run in four tries. They were well taken, especially the try by Jafari Snr, who cut a scything line back against the grain in a well executed play, but Wallingford's defence was poor, by their own high standards.
With only one try converted, the half ended 22-0 to the hosts.
The second half was a much more even affair, as Wallingford found parity in the scrums, and Marlow lost their intensity somewhat, not helped by several nasty looking injuries to key players.
Wallingford enjoyed plenty of posession in the second half, and began to have more success in attack, as their offloading game became more prominent. They were eventually rewarded with a short range try for Craig Irwin, with Sayce converting well.
But the rest of the half passed without much incident, as Marlow's strong defence did enough to keep Wallingford out, and they ended the game with a penalty, to take the final score to 25-7.
Wallingford were left hugely frustrated after the game. Marlow were a good side, with their first up tackling in defence excellent, and their attack also dangerous, especially through the talented Jafai Jnr, but for Wallingford it was a case of groundhog day - plenty of posession, plenty of territory, but not much to show for it.
It's been a frustrating season so far for Wallingford. They have the players, but things just haven't clicked yet, but this can change quickly, and they'll look to bounce back against an in form Reading side in two weeks time.
Quick mention for the referee as well. Apparently he was only 17 years old, but he refereed the game in a way that allowed rugby to be played by both sides, with only ten penalties in the whole match, which made for an enjoyable game of rugby, albeit more for Marlow than Wallingford!
