Sat 29 Feb 2020
Chesham RFC 10 – 29 High Wycombe
With the pitches at Chesham’s ground waterlogged they very sportingly agreed to switch the match to High Wycombe where the pitch was in excellent condition. Although the game started in bright sunshine the players and supporters were forced to deal with wind, rain, sleet and hail during the afternoon. In selection, Wycombe had to make several changes to the starting fifteen, in came Joe Holloman, Sean Tilehurst, Stephen Philpot and Tom Bosley and onto the bench came Stuart Francis, Henry Wyse and Toby Payne.
With a large contingent of supporters cheering them on it was Chesham who came out of the blocks the quickest. From a stolen lineout a strong break from Elliot Reeks took him close to the line but in trying to offload the ball lost it and Wycombe scooped it up. In attempting to work their way out of the twenty-two the home team were turned over and Chesham used their forwards to bundle the ball over the line, but strong defence held them up over the line. A powerful eight-man scrum enabled the Chesham number eight to keep the ball in the scrum and fall on it over the line to score a pushover try 7-0. This seemed to shock Wycombe into life as they scored almost immediately. Although the restart was taken a sturdy tackle forced the ball loose and Jake Cockram fell on it. This ball was quickly recycled, and a neat Matt Wardle offload put Liam Dudley through a hole. He was hauled down ten metres from the line but with the defence scrambling back the ball went out to Matt Wardle who went through a gap to score, kicked missed 7-5. Unforced errors weren’t helping the men in green and a knock on followed by a lost lineout forced them to defend inside their twenty two and eventually a penalty was awarded when Wycombe were adjudged to have infringed at a ruck, Thomas Hirst took the points on offer 10-5. More unforced errors were handing possession to the opposition but this time they couldn’t take advantage when a kick went out on the full and then a penalty awarded for something that was said to the referee. An accurate Matt Wardle kick took play up to the twenty-two and a well worked lineout move put hooker Tom Boardman away to sprint home from the twenty-two to score in the corner, kick missed 10-10 after 30 minutes. The last ten minutes of the half were greeted by a hailstorm which made any rugby extremely difficult and there was no further score before half time
HALF TIME 10-10
If stern words were had at half time it certainly paid dividends as Wycombe scored early in the second half. Strong work over the ball by Sean Tolhurst earned a penalty and this was kicked to touch. After winning the lineout an excellent backs move put fullback Tom Bosley away to score 10-15. The kick-off wasn’t taken cleanly and then a penalty in front of the posts gave Chesham the chance to narrow the gap, but the kick was pushed wide. The twenty-two was well gathered but a powerful counter ruck from Wycombe’s forwards won the ball back. This was moved out to the backs and an excellent line from Toby Payne took him clear of the defence and into the twenty-two where he was well tackled. With quick ball Jake Banton drew the last defender to send Tom Bosley over for his second try, Toby Payne made the difficult kick 10-22. Minutes later the game was stopped when one of the Chesham forwards suffered what looked like a very serious knee injury (we all wish him a speedy recovery). From the scrum Chesham kept hold of the ball but couldn’t breach the Wycombe defence and eventually they were penalised. The penalty didn’t make touch, but the game was halted when a Chesham forward received a yellow card for leading with his forearm. The penalty was kicked cross field and was well taken by the Chesham winger, but the ball was ripped from his grasp and the ball was bundled into touch. The lineout was overthrown and fell to Tom Boardman who immediately fed the ball out to Mike Fradgley who made a great break up to the five metre line and passed the ball out to Billy Bickford to score under the posts, with Toby Payne making the kick 10-29.
Final Score 10-29
This was not a vintage Wycombe performance with lots of unforced errors and maybe some complacency but when it mattered, they had the quality to score four good tries. Chesham were unlucky not to get more from the game as they worked hard and matched Wycombe in most departments.
MoM – Mike Fradgley – He worked hard all game making carry after carry and set up the final try with his barnstorming run. In defence he hit hard often knocking opposition players backwards.
