Sun 24 Oct 2021, 12:00
Wallingford welcomed Bracknell to the Hithercroft for their first home game of the season on a mild and breezy Sunday afternoon, for what was a non-league fixture.
In selection, despite missing 7 players due to injury and unavailability, Wallingford were able to field a strong and settled squad, with Alfie Bumpass and Matt Jarvis returning to the squad, whilst Reuben Pickard and Jacob Knight added some extra quality on the bench.
Wallingford started the game brightly in a frantic start, as both sides looked to stretch the defences, but good defence limited any early scores. After a scoreless opening 15 minutes, Wallingford finally got a deserved score when the impressive Alister Marsden switched play to isolate the defender before putting Will Newing in space on the left wing and he promptly raced in from 20 meters for a well taken try. Conversion missed.
Bracknell came back well, spearheaded by their quality fly-half, began to stretch Wallingford, and were rewarded with a well struck penalty to get on the board.
Wallingford, who played at a fast pace throughout, came back strongly, and with the forwards providing the backs with a strong platform from set-piece and breakdown, the backs were able to really challenge their opponent’s defence.
The next score soon came, as the backs executed a well disguised moved to put captain Finlay Harrison through in midfield, and the centre should great footwork and pace to evade the cover defence before racing in from 40m. Jack Earl with the conversion.
Bracknell created the next notable scoring chance, as they moved the ball well down the left, before their player inexplicably dropped the ball in the act of diving over the line under little pressure.
But the visitors were to get a crucial score before half time, as Wallingford began to lose their discipline and defensive structure, and a Bracknell player scored from short range, taking the score to 12-10 at half time.
The second half saw a step up in intensity, as both sides ran hard at eachother, but this was where Wallingford showed their quality, as the likes of Matt Purnell and Bilbo McMullett punched hole after hole in attack, whilst Silas Allum, Alfie Bumpass and Hector Jameson were ferocious in defence.
Despite some changes of personnel, namely in the backs, with Jarvis, Pickard, Knight, Bucknell and Burrows all coming off the bench, Wallingford continued to impress, with Jarvis in particular looking good on his seasonal debut.
The next score, I think, went to Bilbo McMullett, before Pickard scored a lovely solo try, stepping off his right to slice through the Bracknell defence before dotting down to the right of the posts.
Wallingford’s strong finish continued, despite some minor injury breaks and a yellow card for JJ Brown for a no arms tackle, and it soon became the Toby Bucknell show again as he showed what a good finisher he is, with two very well taken tries on the left. The brace takes him to 5 tries in 3 games, all off the bench and barely 80 minutes on the pitch!
The game finished 36-10 to Wallingford, as the SDS continued their impressive run of form. It would have been easy for the side start believing their own hype and letting their standards drop, but this definitely wasn’t the case in this match.
The defining feature of this performance was the intensity and physicality of it. Against a decent Bracknell side with bulk and bluster, and a very good fly-half, Wallingford really upped their physicality in both attack and defence, with the forwards domination allowing the backs to show their quality in attack.
The half-back pairing on Jack Earl and Ali Marsden is starting to really gel, putting real pace on to the ball and creating plenty of opportunities for the dangerous outside backs.
But the game was ultimately won by the forwards, with every single member of the pack excelling. Silas and Matt were excellent as always, Harvey and Hector showed boundless energy, and Isaac was as solid and reliable as ever at hooker, but my man of the match went to Alfie Bumpass. He’s not the biggest front row around, but he contributed to a powerful scrum, carried well and put in a big shift in defence.
1.Purnell (Holland) 2.Hall 3.Bumpass 4.Allum 5.Miller 6.Moroney (Seabrook) 7.Jameson 8.McDermott 9.Earl 10.Marsden (Jarvis) 11.Newing (Burrows)12.Brown (Pickard) 13.Harrison (c) 14.Harris (Bucknell) 15.Cotton (Knight)
