On a wet and blustery afternoon High Wycombe entertained fellow Bucks side Aylesbury to Kingsmead. With narrow defeats in their last two games Wycombe were hoping to get back to winning ways.

The game didn’t start as planned for the home team when the kick off was knocked on. From the scrum Aylesbury made inroads into the twenty-two and kept the ball well. Eventually the pressure told and Aylesbury’s powerful number 10 brushed off a couple of tackles and scored in the corner, with the conversion made 0-7. Wycombe gathered their composure and some good work over the ball from Alex Chietan gained Wycombe a penalty. This was taken quickly and a strong carry from Joff Forber took play deep into the twenty-two, but the attack was halted when the ball was knocked on. The home team continued to press and were awarded a penalty for a high tackle for which the Aylesbury winger was yellow carded. The kick was turned down and the ball was kicked to touch for a lineout. The lineout was gathered, and the resulting rolling maul was inching its way to the line, captain Tom Boardman broke off but was well tackled and held up over the line. Unfortunately, we lost our own scrum and Aylesbury cleared their lines but didn’t make touch. Another excellent running line this time from Jake Banton took play back to the Aylesbury line but after several phases the ball was knocked on. After some Aylesbury pressure Wycombe were awarded a scrum close to their own line after a knock on. A good clearing kick and chase saw Aylesbury penalised at a ruck near the halfway line. Wycombe decided to go quickly, and some good hands put winger Ollie Fennell-Wells in space. He beat two defenders and then had the pace to go over in the corner, with the kick missed 5-7. With the rain still heavy both teams found it difficult to find any continuity, but it was Aylesbury who found themselves on the front foot. Wycombe were forced to defend but a great team effort manged to repel the away team. After a period of play where both teams were penalised Aylesbury decided to go quickly, but more strong defence forced a turnover. With the fullback out of position an accurate kick was put in behind the defence. In trying to fall on the ball the Aylesbury fullback could only knee it into the path of Matt Wardle who kicked it forward and gathered the ball to score, with the kick missed 10-7.

Half Time 10-7

With the ball extremely greasy chances in the second half were few and far between with both teams guilty of making errors and being on the wrong side of the referee’s whistle. It wasn’t until well into the second half that the first scoring chance came about. Some great work over the ball by Ayrton Hooker forced Aylesbury into conceding a penalty and an accurate kick took play inside the twenty-two. With the lineout secured Wycombe were awarded a penalty straight in front of the posts, but instead of taking the points decided to kick to touch. The lineout wasn’t taken cleanly and Wycombe knocked on enabling Aylesbury to clear. With only ten minutes remaining it was Aylesbury on the front foot and some patient play and strong carries enabled them to score and to make matters worse centre Tom Catchpole received a yellow card in the process, with the kick missed 10-12. Wycombe tried to hit back and took play inside the twenty-two but a knock on and then a penalty meant this came to nothing and Aylesbury were able to see out the rest of the game.

Overall another frustrating afternoon, Wycombe certainly could and probably should have won the game if they had taken their chances. We must start to learn for our mistakes if we are to move up the table. Next week a break from league action with a Bucks cup game away at Buckingham.