Windsor U17's v High Wycombe District Shield Quarter Final
25th February 2007by Dr FT Bosh
The listing was posted by Windsor RFC - Juniors - u17s become colts - Season 07/08
Man of the match Ben Tindall scores Windsor's third try
When the Windsor U17’s beat local rivals Reading 77 – 0 a fortnight ago, it put them at the top of their OBB Division. The reward for this was a quarter-final place in the knock out stages of the District Shield competition against High Wycombe, played this Sunday at Home Park. Wycombe play their rugby in the Division above Windsor, but the Berkshire team have been hitting a rich seam of self-belief and form of late and looked in buoyant mood before kick off.
The game was a cliff-hanger through out, with the final result in doubt, right up until the fat lady sat down again. Wycombe were dominant in the forwards and battered the Windsor pack all afternoon, but Windsor defended resolutely and what possession they got was converted into points by the most electric and inspiring three-quarter play the Windsor faithful have seen all season. In the end a missed conversion at the end of the game was the difference between the teams and Windsor go through to the semi-finals.
Windsor centre Jonny Whitehead started the game off with a long drop kick that Wycombe returned with some enthusiasm. Windsor gave up early penalties as the referee got to grips with his whistle and the opening minutes were characterised by robust forward driving by Wycombe and strong tackling from Windsor interspersed with numerous penalties against Windsor for various infringements in the loose. As the Wycombe pack gathered momentum a fore square, solid tackle from prop Caspar Hughes left the Wycombe runner momentarily isolated and guilty of holding onto the ball, the pressure was eased. At the resulting line out, second row Jack Foran, jumping head and shoulders above his opposite number, secured the ball and scrum half Tom Bates fed the ball out to Ben Tindall at fly-half. Tindall seemed to hesitate with the ball and drew some attention from the marauding Wycombe back row. But his inside pass to speeding right wing Sam Turner was timed to perfection. Turner hit the gain line with power and pace and on a line angled towards the posts, smashing through the three-quarter line, he fixed the full back and the ball was shipped via Tindall and Eccles to left wing Bradley Lema who powered home to score the try of the season.
Windsor continued to give up penalties and this got Wycombe straight back into the game, into Windsor’s 22 and then into the goal area with a push over try. Although not converted, Windsor gave up another three points soon after when the referee objected to something else the pack had done.
The Windsor pack continued to scrap hard, to break up the relentless Wycombe “pick and go’s”. Skipper Ed Clemance stole a Wycombe ball in the loose and the ball was passed to a retreating Windsor three-quarter line. To put some forward momentum back into the play Whitehead shifted to the blind side and connected with Turner, breaking the first tackle the Windsor winger headed for the corner and was gang tackled into touch two metres out. But when Foran stole Wycombe’s ball, the three-quarters were caught offside and Whitehead levelled the scores with an easy penalty, just before half time.
In the second half it was more of the same. The Wycombe pack were fluent in possession and Windsor were forced to dig deep, tackle hard and stay ball hungry. Any possession that they were able to steal was shipped quickly to the three-quarters and Tindall and Whitehead kept the Wycombe backs guessing with straight running lines and quick hands. James Farrant, on at scrum half, should have been awarded a score when his quick thinking from the back of a maul saw him dive over, but the referee was unsighted and unable to award the try.
Windsor’s next score came when prop Marc Williams combined with Number 8 Peter Lewis in the tackle and Wycombe possession was spilled. Foran dived in front of the fly-hacking boots to secure the ball and Clemance picked up and drove on. Farrant demanded and got quick ball and the Windsor three-quarters span the ball down to Turner, breaking hard to the outside he drew the cover with him and popped the ball inside to a supporting Whitehead. Whitehead returned the compliment to evade the Wycombe centres and Turner, once again, targeted the Wycombe full back. Having already shown he was strong in the tackle, Turner drew him and popped the ball inside to Whitehead again and the Windsor centre went in to score a converted try under the posts.
The three-quarters extended Windsor’s lead soon after when new cap Charlie Irons, playing at centre, made a half break and connected with Turner on a switch pass. Turner made 40 yards deep into the Wycombe half before being well tackled by the full back. First to the break down was Hughes, who secured the ball and Farrant fed the ball out. A sharp sidestep from Tindall left his opposite number for dead and the Windsor fly half in space. With the full back at the bottom of the ruck, Tindall was able to evade the covering wing tackle and score under the posts. This put Windsor 14 points up and with only 12 minutes to go, in a seemingly secure position.
However the Wycombe pack didn’t agree. They continued with a forcefully, relentless pick and go strategy and aided by another succession of penalties managed to get two push over tries, for which the referee was, fortunately, correctly positioned this time. As the first of these was converted, this gave the Wycombe kicker the chance to put his side through to the semi final. By the rules of the tournament, in the event of a tied match, the victory is awarded to the away team. But sport can be cruel. It may have been the pressure, it may have been the impassioned, but silent, charge from the entire Windsor team, but the kick went wide of the posts, the referee blew for full time and Windsor were through.
This was a game that Windsor will feel that they deserved to win, they played with determination in defence, most notable when they were on their own try line and almost uncontrollable pace and flair when the three-quarters were attacking. 
However the coaching staff and players may wish to reflect on the penalty count of 22 penalties against and 2 for. Ben Tindall was made “Man of the Match” and Windsor will have to hope that Clemance’s knee, Hughes neck and Lewis’s concussion are not too serious. They will also celebrate the return of hooker Shiv Khara.
The semi-final will be in two weeks time, against Saltash, who beat Oxford Harlequins in one of the other quarter finals.
Result
Windsor 22 High Wycombe 20
Scorers:
Trys: Lema, Whitehead, Tindall
Conversion: Whitehead (2)
Penalty: Whitehead
See the photo gallery for more pictures.