Sat 12 Mar 2022
On a sunny but blustery day at the Hithercroft, Wallingford welcomed Marlow for a mid-table clash.
In selection, with Sam Botting out injured, Wallingford had their fifteenth different centre partnership in JJ Brown and his SDS coach Ralph Smith, whilst Chris Rowland, Matt Millard and Charles Campbell came into side.
Playing against the wind in the first half, Marlow made a strong start as they launched numerous catch and drives which Wallingford just about kept out. Mostly keeping it in the forwards, Marlow hammered away at the Wallingford line for the best part of 10 minutes, but the hosts’ defence stood up to the challenge as they resisted the early onslaught.
As the game progressed, Wallingford grew into the game, and they created several good chances that they couldn’t convert in the face of some solid Marlow tight defence.
After twenty minutes, Wallingford did finally break the stalemate. After taking play to within 10 meters of the Marlow line, Carl Tappin hit a fine line of Smith to bundle his way over for a good try. Campbell converted.
The remainder of the half saw Wallingford dominating possession and camped in the Marlow half, as the visitors struggled to exit against the wind. But despite this, and Marlow going down to 14 men when their nine went to the bin, Wallingford couldn’t convert their dominance into points, as heroic Marlow defence kept the hosts out for the rest of the half.
Only seven points up and now playing against a strong wind, Wallingford were fearful of what the second half held for them, and this proved justified as Marlow struck early on after an excellent offload and supporting line saw the Marlow 15 race in from 20 meters. Try converted.
With the game now all square, Wallingford were able to up their game, as they did well to work their way up field and play the next twenty minutes in the Marlow half, which culminated in a well-struck penalty by Campbell as the hosts took the lead with twenty minutes to play.
By this stage, Wallingford’s superior fitness started to show, as Marlow, who were clearly missing some regulars, began to fall off the pace somewhat.
At this stage, Wallingford’s backs started to come to the fore, as breaks by Smith, Sadler, Bilbo McMullet and in particular JJ Brown, now playing on the wing, started to hurt Marlow.
As the game entered its denouement, the hosts made the decisive strike. After a turnover on their twenty-two, Jeffreys carried the ball mostly sideways before finding Alex Brown on the right wing, who then linked brilliantly with Conner Murphy twice to send Brown in from 50 meters for his long awaited first try of the season. Campbell converted.
Then almost immediately afterwards, Wallingford scored another long range cracker. After fielding the kick off, the ball was moved left through the hands of the backs, giving JJ Brown space on the left, and he promptly beat his man before sprinting in from 70 meters. Campbell somehow converted from the left with a complete mishit – his fourteenth consecutive successful conversion!
With only a few minutes remaining, Wallingford saw out the rest of the game without incident, as the game ended 24-7 to Wallingford.
This was an enjoyable game of rugby, played in the right spirits and well officiated. Marlow were clearly missing their backline from the away fixture, but still put in a good performance all things considered.
But Wallingford, who were missing their fair share of regulars showed excellent determination and composure to win the second half against a strong wind.
Matt Millard did an excellent job at nine playing his first game in 18 months, Ian Jeffreys had an excellent game leading an impressive pack effort, and the backs, especially Sadler, JJ and Billy were excellent throughout. But MoM was kindly given to Smith for a solid all-round display, despite butchering an easy try in the first half.
It was also a fitting display to mark the passing of former Chairman and all round excellent man Des Le Roy. There have been several well-worded tributes paid to Des over the last week, but the below from Jon Ridley was one that stood out for me:
“Just feeling really very sad at the news of Des LeRoy passing. Such a thoroughly decent, likeable, engaging and good man who always, always had a smile for you when you met. He always greeted my with a loud “Mr Ridleeey” when he saw me and I always enjoyed the warmth of his greetings. We spent some good time together and he was just a very engaging and interesting bloke – regardless of the subject being discussed. Many at the club will have spent much more time with Des than I did and will know him much better – and I am sure they are feeling the loss today, I just wanted to share my own thoughts here.
I did a small amount to help Des at the time of the 2015 RWC. From memory, he had recently finished running M&Js and had moved to the seniors and was busy running bids to fund the refurbishment of the main club room, changing rooms, pitches, etc – he leaves a massive legacy and I will think of Des every time I have a pint in the clubhouse. Des loved his rugby, he loved the club, he loved his family and seemed to put 110% into his passions. It’s a huge shame that we didn’t see much of him at the club over the last couple of years and I’m jealous of everyone who was at the club on VPs day recently and was able to give him a hug.
Des is/was exactly the kind of person you can hope and expect to meet at a rugby club. A good person, honest, open, always willing to lend an ear and a hand to help others, such a good laugh socially, and he just loved the straightforward honesty and skill of the game of rugby. I feel extremely lucky to have got to know Des a little - I’m grateful that all of us who think of WRFC as a second home will be able to share our memories of Des over future years.
Big hugs to everyone feeling the loss of Des today and my sincere condolences to his family and friends.”
