Sat 28 Jan 2017
After last week’s game against Marlow was postponed Wycombe were looking to keep up their good form away at Milton Keynes. With both teams having to make changes from last time out it was important to start the game on the front foot, which Wycombe did. From a scrum inside their own half the Wycombe backs made inroads into the Milton Keynes half and were only stopped when an offload didn’t go to hand five metres out. From the resulting scrum, Wycombe put the Milton Keynes front five under huge pressure and the clearing kick only made it to the twenty-two metre line. An accurate throw from hooker Anton Silvey set up an impressive rolling maul which trundled all the way to the try line where Captain Ian Burnham touched down 0-5. For the next ten minutes a lot of the play centred around the half way line, but from a knock-on Milton Keynes were awarded a scrum. Another impressive drive from the Wycombe pack pushed Milton Keynes off the ball and it was spun out to fly half Matt Wardle who dummied two players and scored under the post, with James Lambert making the conversion 0-12. Wycombe were now dominating both territory and possession with both backs and forwards making good yards and after keeping the ball for 7 or 8 phases scrum half Dave Thornton scored, kick missed 0-17. From the kick-off, Wycombe were awarded a scrum for the ball not going ten-metres. Another good scrum put Wycombe on the front foot, once again Wycombe’s continuity was excellent taking them deep into the Milton Keynes half and a great offload from number eight Eddie Roche sent Greg Butters over for the try, kick missed 0-22 after twenty-three minutes. Milton Keynes were not helping themselves making errors in their own half, and from a knock which set up a scrum the Wycombe pack pushed them over the line from ten metres out with Eddie Roche scoring, kick good from James Lambert 0-29 at half time.
Early in the second half Wycombe seemed to lose concentration and some good phases of play from Milton Keynes resulted in them going over for a try, with the kick made 7-29. Wycombe were conscious that they had surrendered half time leads in their previous two matches and were determined not to let this happen again. From a loose pass, Wycombe kicked the ball into the Milton Keynes twenty-two and a good chase forced Milton Keynes to kick it dead, which gave Wycombe a five-metre scrum. Instead of going for a push over try, the backs were used and winger Harry Tanner scored, Kick missed 7-34 after 57 minutes. A penalty at the scrum gave Wycombe good field position and after kicking to touch again put some good phases together, with the ball just short of the line the ball was passed to the left-hand side where a fantastic offload from Matt Wardle sent James Lambert over to score, kick missed 7-39. From the restart a great break from Eddie Roche took Wycombe into the opposition half where Milton Keynes were then penalised for a deliberate knock on. A great kick into the corner from Matt Wardle gave Wycombe a lineout five metres out, but some strong defence kept them out. A few minutes later a Milton Keynes scrum just short of their own try line was put under enormous pressure and their fly half was forced to touch the ball down over their own try line. From the attacking scrum, another great drive enabled number eight Eddie Roche to score another try 7-44. With time running out more expansive rugby enabled Matt Wardle to score the final try, with the kick made, 7-51.
A fantastic performance from the whole team with nine try’s, let’s hope this can be carried forward to the next game at home against Stow on the Wold on the 11th February.
