High Wycombe RFC vs Redingensians

The weather on Sunday was wet and miserable and this seemed to reflect the mood of the team. With a large number of the squad unavailable due to half term holidays, County commitments and other reasons, we had 14 players with 15 minutes to go before kick off. High Wycombe sportingly agreed to lend us a player and he joined our ranks for the warm up. The boys knew they were going to be in for a tough game with no subs and this had a really negative effect on morale. However, thankfully, Martin and Jack appeared in the nick of time and we were up to 16 players. The Wycombe player was duly released with our thanks and the mood of the team lifted. However, it would be essential not to fall into our old habit of conceding the first try. Luckily, Matt "The Pink Panther" Stent was on hand to stage a smash and grab raid and score under the posts with a great interception try. Our new kicking superstar, Olly Jones took his usual no nonsense approach and the ball sailed over the posts to put us 7 points up. This gave the boys' fragile confidence a huge boost and we settled into the game.

Our scrum was not as solid as of late but we competed well and put the greens under a fair amount of pressure. Our support play was good and we were rewarded with another try when Tighthead Joe "El Capitano" Tichband crossed the line on the far right. Outrageous claims of running half the length of the pitch were quickly discounted but the additional points were gratefully received as the game was very finely balanced. With the position of the kick, additional points seemed impossible. However, the Jones boy produced a conversion right out of the top draw to give us a 14-0 that was carried through to half time.

After the break, the home side came out all guns blazing. Their efforts were rewarded with a try on the left but it seemed that all the kicking luck was going our way and they failed to convert. It was time for the blues to really dig deep as Wycombe were able to bring on fresh legs. The 'Ensians scrum began to gain effect but there was a scare when stand off HP was dumped onto his head. Big James was on hand with the medical bag but fortunately Harry was OK to carry on. The next score was vital and was provided by another interception, this time by winger Tom Russell. His surging ran carried him right under the posts and the additional points were a formality as Olly maintained his 100% record between the sticks. The second half featured some clever kicking from hand by David C with good chasing through by Tom R and David himself. Fittingly though, Olly had a great run from well inside his own half to score the last try. With a perfect record from the boot at stake, he made it easy for himself by scoring under the posts and duly picked up the additional two points with another confident kick. With full time on the ref's watch, Joe T picked up the ball and hoofed it out of play to end the game at a score of 28-5 to the boys from Berkshire.

All 16 boys had played their hearts out and there were numerous contenders for the awards. However, forward of the day went to No 8 Joe Norman for a great back rower's game with a steadfast tackling performance. Man of Steel went to David Canham playing at outside centre for his typically committed tackling. However, the real star of the show was Olly who produced some great tackles, surging runs, a try and four outstanding conversions. Nevertheless, the drink off was easily won by David "The Guzzler" Canham to maintain a 100% record of his own.

Finally, thanks to Claire Stent for taking notes after my pen had run out and for washing the shirts!

Final Score-
High Wycombe 5 - 28 Redingensians

Scorers -
Matt Stent (1 try), Joe Tichband (1 try), Tom Russell (1 try), Ollie Jones (1 try, 4 conversions)

Redingensians squad-
Alex Champion Ben Dolby, David Canham ,Greg Chalk, Harry Perry, Jack Marston, Jake Jefcut, Josh Palett, Joe Norman,Joe Tichband, Louis Kanaar Brown, Martin Shine, Matt Stent, Olly Jones, Stuart Simpson,Tom Russell,