Bucks Cup Final - Amersham & Chiltern 15 Buckingham 0
16th March 2008by Ian Hopkinson
The listing was posted by Amersham & Chiltern RFC - u16s: Match Reports
The weather was wet and windy which meant it must be Bucks Cup Final weekend against Buckingham. The pitch at Slough had stood up well to the overnight rain which continued to fall throughout the game and the lads looked resplendent in their skin tight kit borrowed from the Colts.
Chiltern gave away an early penalty from the kick off which saw Buckingham find touch inside the 22. The ball was cleared from the lineout and that proved to be the closest that Buckingham got to the Chiltern line for the rest of the half. The Chiltern front 5 were dominating the scrum and the back row were preventing Buckingham from making any headway in the loose. Conditions though were not conducive to running rugby so scoring chances were few and far between. Ross Wilson came closest in the early phases of play but he was adjudged to have been held up over the line.
Buckingham were under constant pressure and only their dogged defence and the occasional handling error were preventing Chiltern’s dominance from being reflected on the score sheet. A Chiltern score was almost inevitable and in the end it came from a flowing move that defied the conditions. The ball was moved across the pitch from right to left, recycled, and returned back across to the right wing where Ross Wilson was on hand to score in the corner.
The second try came from a kick by Alex Miller and an excellent chase which pressurized the full back into an error. Ben Symington was quickest to take advantage and when he was stopped he offloaded the ball to Jack Benson. Jack still had 15 yards to the try line but he disregarded the attentions of the covering defenders hanging off his waist and, with legs pumping, just managed to make the line before losing his shorts!
10-0 at half time and the game was still in the balance with the wind slightly favouring Buckingham in the second half. However the pattern of the game was unchanged with Chiltern’s defence never looking like being breached. True Buckingham did have a spell of pressure close to the Chiltern 22 but the lads defended like it was the try line and in the end Buckingham lost possession.
The only score of the second half came from another penetrating run by Jack Benson and when the ball was recycled it was Tom Jervis who was on hand to touch the ball down. 15-0 and that was the cue for the coaches to make a series of substitutions which made little difference to the flow of the game.
In the end the victory was more comprehensive than the 15-0 scoreline would suggest. The coaches were delighted with the performance and for his all round game and leadership on the pitch, Luke Martin was named man of the match. Congratulations to: Ben Symington, Chris Delaney, Harry Andrews, Callum Tilbury, Alex Michaels, Luke Martin, Jack Benson, James DC, Sam Privett, Alex Miller, Jo Stevens, Tom Jervis, Steve Wiggill, Ross Wilson, Marcus Evans, and subs Marcus Dayal, Sam Allen, Andy Slater, Tom Watts, James Wood, James Hackney and Lewis Evans. Thanks also to Chris Royals for running the line, to all the parents, brothers and sisters and other members of the squad who came along to support and to the Colts for the loan of their kit.