By Matt Lewis

After an excellent win against Buckingham, High Wycombe travelled to Home Park to take on League leaders Windsor. With Windsor scoring over 50 points in their last two outings Wycombe knew they would be in for a tough test. With the Colts due to be playing on Sunday back into the team came Toby Lane, Tom Catchpole and Greg Butters.

From the start Wycombe showed they were up for the challenge. Windsor gathered the kick, but some strong tackling forced the home team into a wayward pass and Wycombe fell on the ball. Some good hands put Osian Lewis away down the right wing and only a high tackle could stop him. Matt Wardle kicked the resulting penalty into touch five metres from the line. An accurate throw set up a rolling maul which rumbled its way over the line for Alex Chietan to score. Matt Wardle missed a difficult kick, 0-5. Wycombe secured the restart but two quick penalties against the away team gave Windsor excellent field position. More robust defending forced Windsor into another a mistake with Wycombe regathering the ball. Excellent continuity took play up to the halfway line where fly half Matt Wardle spotted a gap and made a break into the home teams twenty-two. With no one in the back field he put in an excellent kick which Wycombe managed to secure close to the line, unfortunately with an overlap on the outside a knock at the breakdown stopped the attack.  From the resulting scrum the clearing kick didn’t make touch and was carried back, this time it was Windsor’s turn to be penalised twice in quick succession and this set up a five-metre lineout. Windsor competed at the lineout but could only tap the ball over their own line and Wycombe were awarded a five-metre scrum. Another penalty to Wycombe at the scrum was taken quickly and fed out to Matt Wardle, he had the strength to hand off a couple of Windsor players to score in the corner, with the kick into a strong wind Matt couldn’t convert his try 0-10. Windsor hit back and were awarded a penalty at a scrum; the kick took play to eight metres from the Wycombe line. A precise throw set up a rolling maul which Wycombe had no answer to and Windsor scored, with the kick made 7-10. With Lawrence Webster going off with a shoulder injury and Aryton Hooker off the field Wycombe were struggling at the scrum which presented Windsor with front ball but once again some strong tackling was forcing Windsor into mistakes and there was no further score in the first half.

Half Time 7-10

It was Wycombe who struck first in the second half, after a kicking dual some nice interplay between Matt Wardle and Tom Catchpole put Matt through a hole in the defence and took play up to the twenty-two. With the forwards hitting the breakdown hard, quick ball was fed out to the backs and some nice hands in midfield put flanker Musa Umar away on the outside and he powered through the last defender to score in the corner, Matt made the kick from the touchline 7-17. Some solid work at the restart ensured Wycombe gained possession and a fantastic clearing kick took play into the Windsor twenty-two. With the ball bouncing around the Windsor player knocked on and Wycombe were awarded a scrum. With Ayrton back on the field the scrum went forward, and Windsor were forced into conceding a penalty. Wycombe decided to kick for goal and Matt Wardle took the three points 7-20. This seemed to rattle the home team and some more good defence from Wycombe bundled the Windsor player into touch which resulted in a scuffle between the two teams. Windsor were penalised for their part in it, but instead of going for touch Matt Wardle put up an up and under. Initially Windsor did well gathering the kick but he was immediately enveloped by Jake Banton who ripped the ball off him. With Wycombe in possession Windsor were once again penalised for a high tackle and received a yellow card. The penalty was driven into touch and the line out won, initially the forwards made some ground with the rolling maul. The ball was then moved out to the backs and an excellent running line from Greg Butters put him in behind the defence, with a defender still to beat he showed good strength to go over the line to score, Matt made the kick 7-27. Another good restart and clearance drove Windsor back into their half and Wycombe were awarded a penalty when the ball was knocked into the air and gathered by a Windsor player in an offside position. Unfortunately, this decision was reversed, and Musa Umar received a yellow card for an incident off the ball. This gave Windsor the momentum they were looking for and after some strong forward work the ball was fed out to the backs where an accurate cross field kick found their winger in space to score, with the kick good 14-27. With Windsor on the front foot and the referee seemingly penalising Wycombe at every breakdown the away team were forced to defend for the last ten minutes. Some heroic Wycombe defence kept repelling the Windsor attacks but eventually the pressure told, and Windsor were awarded a penalty try 21-27, in what everyone thought was the dying seconds. According to the referee there was still three minutes remaining and although Wycombe went long with the kick off, they were immediately penalised again.  With the lineout secured Windsor made good ground into the Wycombe twenty-two and then put in a speculative kick, fortunately the ball couldn’t be grounded by a Windsor player and the final whistle sounded.

Full Time 21-27

Overall a fantastic performance from the whole squad with all eighteen players playing their part in an excellent win.  With Windsor being top of the league it’s fair to say Wycombe out played them for most of the match and thoroughly deserved to win, backing up their victory over Buckingham last week.

Next week is a rest week with Wycombe next in action on 17^th November away at Littlemore.  

Man of the Match

Matt Wardle

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Controlled the game from fly half and was at the heart of every attack, getting on the score sheet himself. His accurate kicking made sure Wycombe played the game in the right area of the pitch.