by Matt Lewis

With victories in their last two games Wycombe were hoping to continue their good form against Littlemore and were able to field much of the team that beat Windsor last time out.

The game started well for the away team when a good hanging kick-off was allowed to bounce by the Littlemore forwards. The ball was snaffled by Henry Wyse and Wycombe made inroads into the twenty-two. Eventually Matt Wardle put Dan Keir through a hole in the defence to score in the corner, with the kick missed 0-5. Minutes later Wycombe found themselves on the front foot again after some strong defence managed to rip the ball away from the Littlemore player. With the ball just outside the twenty-two a low pass was fed out to Matt Wardle who picked up the ball off his toes and put in an exquisite chip behind the onrushing defence. Matt regathered his own kick and with only the fullback to beat passed the ball out to the supporting Joff Forber to score under the post, Matt made the kick 0-12. It had been an excellent start from the away team scoring two tries in the opening minutes, but any hope of a comfortable afternoon was quickly dispelled. Although Wycombe had more possession unforced errors were creeping into their game and this let Littlemore into the game. From a penalty for coming in at the side Littlemore opted to kick to touch and set up a lineout on the five-metre line. Having won the lineout one of the Littlemore players inadvertently ran into the referee resulting in a scrum. Wycombe defended their line well, but the home team kept hold of the ball and eventually scored in the corner, kick missed 5-12. Wycombe continued to create chances the best being a five-metre lineout, but in trying to set up a maul knocked on the ball and the home team cleared.

Half Time 5-12

Wycombe wanted to reassert their authority at the start of the second half, but it was the home team who struck first. After gathering the restart Wycombe cleared their lines, Littlemore ran the ball back and kept the ball well using their forwards to get over the gain line. Eventually Wycombe were penalised, and Littlemore took the three points on offer, 8-12. Wycombe responded and from a penalty went quickly, fortunately the referee missed a knock on in midfield and a good break from Matt Wardle took play deep into the twenty-two with an overlap the ball was fed out, but the last pass didn’t go to hand and the ball went into touch. Wycombe continued to press but more unforced errors allowed Littlemore to clear their lines. Eventually Wycombe did score when from a penalty for coming in at the side Wycombe kicked to touch. After winning the lineout the forwards made yards through the middle and when the ball went wide a nice pass back inside by Joff Forber put Greg Butters away to score, kick missed 8-17.  More Wycombe pressure led to a penalty five-metres out in front of the posts and the away team opted for a scrum. This came to nothing when the ball was intercepted and only a good tackle stopped a break away. Wycombe were then penalised, and Littlemore tapped the ball and carried hard. A good tackle enabled the Wycombe forwards to ruck over the ball and gain possession.  With the defence not set Ollie Fennell-Wells made a break and passed inside to the supporting Tom Catchpole who showed good pace to score under the posts, with the kick made 8-24. With no more meaningful action the final whistle sounded, and Wycombe came away with 5 points.

Full Time 8-24

After an excellent opening to the match is was disappointing that Wycombe let Littlemore back into the game. At times we played some excellent rugby but too many unforced errors resulted in a scrappy game. Credit to Littlemore who continued to fight for every ball and made life difficult for us. Wycombe will need to cut out the errors if they want to keep their winning run going in two weeks at home against Marlow.

Man of the Match

Dan Keir

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Next match Sat 1^st Dec – Marlow (Home)