Sat 8 Oct 2016
High Wycombe bounced back from their narrow loss against Marlow with a solid victory against Milton Keynes. Straight from the kick off Wycombe had total dominance in the forward pack particularly in the scrums where Milton Keynes were pushed off their own ball on numerous occasions. It was from a Milton Keynes scrum that High Wycombe scored their first points, after pushing Milton Keynes off the ball the Wycombe pack set up a number of pick and drives which led to prop Aryton Hooker touching down from short range. Scrum Half Joe Openshaw made the kick to put High Wycombe 7-0 up.
Although Wycombe were dominating territory they couldn’t add to their points tally until a not straight throw at the line out from Milton Keynes gave Wycombe a scrum eight metres from the line. After a couple of resets Wycombe eventually scored a push over try with Eddie Roach touching down, with Openshaw slotting the conversion Wycombe extended their lead to 14-0.
Towards the end of the half Milton Keynes tried to put some phases together but were at the wrong end of the referee’s whistle and were penalised for hands in the ruck. This allowed Wycombe to kick to touch and had a lineout 10 metres out. Another infringement at the lineout saw Milton Keynes reduced to 14 men and Wycombe opted for a scrum 5 metres out. After a number of penalties against Milton Keynes, Wycombe were awarded a penalty try with the conversion good Wycombe led 21-0 at half time.
Wycombe started the second half positively and from another 5 metres scrum the backs created enough space for full back Rob Morgan to dive in at the corner for Wycombe’s fourth try, the conversion was missed Wycombe led 26-0. Although they had been second best for most of the match credit must be given to Milton Keynes who never gave up and continued to try and play good rugby and from a quick tap penalty the Milton Keynes backs ran in a try to make the score 26-5. Wycombe replied by forcing Milton Keynes to touch the ball down over their own try line. From the resulting scrum Wycombe drove the Milton Keynes pack back for Eddie Roach to score his second try with the conversion good Wycombe took their lead to 33-5. At this point Wycombe’s concentration seemed to drop a little and a couple of missed tackles let Milton Keynes score their second try to make the score 33-10. Wycombe hit back again and from an attacking scrum Man of the Match Dave Thornton’s kick was touched down in the corner by Daniel Lofthouse-Smith, 38-10. Milton Keynes continued to work hard and from a number of penalties had worked their way close to the Wycombe line where one of their forwards crashed over to make the score 38-15. Although Milton Keynes pressed for the fourth try Wycombe held out for a well-deserved win.
Man of the Match – Dave Thornton
Report by Matt Lewis
