Sat 29 Oct 2016
High Wycombe entertained Thatcham at Kingsmead on Saturday hoping to bounce back from their defeat against Stow last time out. Wycombe again made several changes to their team welcoming back some familiar faces but due to a large injury list were still missing a number of key players. Thatcham started the game quickly and their strong direct running was causing Wycombe problems, but it was in the scrum that Thatcham were on top pushing Wycombe of their own ball. From a scrum Thatcham were awarded a penalty which they elected to kick at goal, fortunately for Wycombe the penalty hit the post and Wycombe managed to clear the ball to safety. Thatcham continued to dominate possession and from a ruck on the half way line the Thatcham fly half Joe Leadley saw an overlap and flung a long pass intended to miss out the Wycombe defence, fortunately winger Hugo Fraikin saw what was happening and intercepted the ball and ran in from the halfway line untouched to put Wycombe 5-0 up with Joe Openshaw making the conversation 7-0.
Although leading Wycombe were struggling to make inroads into the Thatcham defence and were penalised at a ruck for holding onto the ball giving Thatcham a penalty which they decided to kick at goal and this time were successful 7-3. Wycombe were again at the wrong end of the referee’s whistle being penalised at the ruck again, this time Thatcham decided to kick for touch but missed giving Wycombe the chance to clear. Wycombe also missed touch and the ball went straight to the Thatcham number eight 8 Mark Smith who burst through several tackles and put away the Thatcham Winger to score in the corner 7-8 and with the conversation good Thatcham stretched their lead 7-10. More inaccuracy at the breakdown gave Thatcham another penalty and fly half Joe Leadley punished Wycombe again with a penalty 7-13. Wycombe were still struggling to maintain possession and were still struggling at the scrum, this wasn’t helped by several injuries (Ricketts neck, Easton groin, Fraikin shoulder and Moore hamstring) and with all 3 substitutes used Wycombe were forced to play with 14 men. Just before the break Wycombe were gifted great field position when a sloppy pass from the Thatcham fly half didn’t go to hand and Wycombe were awarded a scrum 5 metres out. From a penalty at the scrum Wycombe decided to tap and go and although the first attempt was unsuccessful fly half Matt Wardle received the ball and dummied his opposing player to score under the post, Joe Openshaw made the conversation to give Wycombe a 14-13 lead at half time even though they were playing with 14 men.
The second half was tight and enthralling with very few clear-cut chances to either team, Wycombe had moved Pete Partis into the front row and this seemed to help the scrum who were winning their own ball and were able put some pressure on the Thatcham eight. After 15 minutes of the second half Wycombe were back to 15 men when Nathan Moore was able to hobble his way back onto the field. Again, penalties were hurting Wycombe and 3 consecutive penalties close to the Wycombe line resulted in Stuart Francis receiving a yellow card so Wycombe were once again down to 14 men defending our own line, but a mistake from Thatcham at the lineout enabled Wycombe to clear their line. As the second half went on there were no clear-cut chances for either team, although both sides enjoyed possession deep in the opposition’s half neither team came close to scoring and it became apparent that one moment of magic or one mistake would decide the outcome of the game. Unfortunately for Wycombe with 4 minutes to go they were penalised again on their own 10 metres line and were then matched back another 10 metres for talking back to referee, this made the kick much easier and the Thatcham fly half held his nerve to slot the kick 14-16. Wycombe had two minutes to try and reply and although captain Ian Burnham turned over possession Wycombe couldn’t find a way to score and the game finished 14-16.
Although a defeat this was a much-improved performance than last time out. Against a strong Thatcham side and with a host of injuries it would have been easy to slip to a heavy defeat, but the team worked extremely hard and with a strong second half performance were unlucky to not come away with the victory. Let’s hope the injuries on Saturday were not too serious as the already depleted squad can’t afford to lose any more players.
Wycombe MOM – Ian Burnham
