Sat 26 Nov 2016
Wycombe travelled to league leaders Bicester knowing there were in for a tough match and this wasn’t helped by having to make multi changes to the team which turned out against Beaconsfield. It was Bicester who started strongly and from a catch and drive at the lineout made easy metres into the Wycombe half and earned themselves a penalty on the 22-metre line which was kicked, to put Bicester 3-0 up. From the kick-off Wycombe regained possession from a Bicester knock on and put several phases together before Bicester were penalised at the ruck and Wycombe kicked for touch. Unfortunately, the lineout was over thrown and this handed the ball back to Bicester who kept the ball moving deep into the Wycombe half until their fly half went over under the posts, with the conversion good 10-0. Bicester were using their big ball carriers well and from another strong run Wycombe were again penalised at the ruck, allowing Bicester to kick the penalty 13-0. Wycombe continued to find themselves on the wrong end of the referee’s whistles and after keeping the ball well were adjudged to be holding onto the ball which gave Bicester another penalty just inside the Wycombe half, Bicester again decided to kick for goal and with the post and cross-bars help made the 3 points 16-0. From the kick- off Bicester were awarded a scrum for Wycombe “apparently” punting the ball not drop kicking it. From the scrum the theme continued and Bicester made big yards and Wycombe were once again penalised at the ruck, the points were taken 19-0. Then came Wycombe’s best opportunity to score, from a knock on from the Bicester winger Ben Lockhart picked up the ball and kicked through Daniel Lofthouse-Smith (DD) managed to get to the ball first but his kick agonisingly went over the dead ball line. Wycombe managed to build some pressure of their own and were awarded a penalty but the kick for goal was missed, although Bicester decided to keep the ball alive from the missed kick and Wycombe turned the ball over but were pushed into touch and Bicester cleared from the resulting lineout with the halftime whistle sounding 19-0.
Wycombe started the second half well and from a lineout a fantastic rolling maul made 25 metres was stopped just short of the Bicester line. The forwards did their best to puncture the line but just couldn’t get over and when the ball was spun out to the backs a knock on stopped the attack, from the scrum Bicester cleared their line. From a lineout Bicester pinched the ball from a Wycombe throw and put up an “up and under” which Bicester regained and only some scrambling defence stopped a try being scored. From the resulting lineout, the Bicester forwards rumbled the ball over the line, 24-0. Bicester then started to turn the screw and only a couple of forward passes stopped them scoring, eventually the pressure told and Bicester scored in the corner 29-0. With Wycombe having to make a lot of tackles and the big Bicester pack making strong runs Wycombe tired in the last quarter of the game and Bicester ran in a further three tries to take the score out to 48-0.
A young Wycombe side never gave up and there were some encouraging performances, but a lack of big ball carriers in both the forwards and the backs is making getting over the gain line very difficult. Also, the number of changes to the team each week means continuity is very challenging. A week off now and then a very important game against bottom of the table Bletchley, which coincides with the Presidents Lunch. If you have not booked your seat there are a handful of tickets left, it would be great to see a lot of support for our teams.
