Match Report Bicester v H.Wycombe

Bicester U 13's v High Wycombe 26th October 2008
After a strong home win the previous week against Towcester, Bicester travelled down to a strong Hgh Wycombe team who were able to select from 50 plus boys opposed to the Bicesters 17!

Prior to the game the Bicester boys were informed of what was required of them, in short Do their Best. With the emphasises being on 100% commitment as a team, meaning: 1. Play as a Team, 2. Work as a Team, 3. Win as a Team, 4. If to lose, then lose as a Team, As they say 3 out of 4 is not bad 75% this is what we had in this match.

The Game that followed the team talk was immense, not for the Bicester Attacking skills it must be said, Not even for the Bicester Defensive skills as too often the boys attempted to tackle too high in an effort to remove the ball from the High Wycombe players grip. It was immense because of the exceptional character the boys ALL showed throughout the whole game against a very powerful High Wycombe side who sustained a great performance especially the forwards, who it must be said were big strong and very well drilled.

Bicester started well with a strong ruck forcing the High Wycombe forwards to kill the ball resulting in a penalty on the half way line, Ed Hines at 9 quickly fed Charlie Pullin his captain who drove into the Wycombe defence only to find that one of the opponents liked the look of Charlie's head and tried to remove it from his shoulders with a high dangerous tackle, resulting in another penalty to Bicester,

Bicester suprisingly tried the same move this time using Allan Hilman a big prop rather then perhaps a better option of kicking for touch for a Bicester line out closer to the High Wycombe try line. Allan was not only stopped by the Big Wycombe pack but was turned over and duly injured in the process, from the turnover Wycombe showed their power with a line breaking run by their big speedy No 8 who it was later seen to be at the heart of the majority of the High Wycombe very good play.

The Bicester line was broken and after some desperate Bicester scrambled defence, Wycombe gained there first Try. Allan had to be replaced with the improving Will Ball, who it must be said was almost half the size of most of the High Wycombe pack.

It was soon obvious to the Bicester Coaches that High Wycombe had pinched the Bicester game plan as they set about the game driving, rucking, picking with great all round support, quickly adding a further two more tries! Question: 0 - 17 after 5 minutes just how would the boys respond? Some teams would at this age capitulate, throw in the towel, blame others around and let the score mount! I am very proud to say that the boys did none of these things: They showed great maturity and in the Rugby spirit the gave everything in all positions, THEY MADE A GREAT GAME OF IT!" Forcing the home side to give everything in the process.

With Ed Hines tackling all that managed to break the shackles of his forwards, with Charlie and Max playing a great defensive game often smothering the No 8 and No 9 at source, Sam having a gritty game jumping on and at times simply hanging on the ball carriers long enough for rest of the pack in the the likes of Liam Duggan, Will, Ed Tolly, Chris Mansfield and Tom Bennett to assist in the sturdy defence.

The Backs were given little ball to run, but that said when they did have the opportunity they for the second week running showed that there hands were good as were there lines, with the ball reaching the wings, François was able to again show his ever increasing confidence with ball in hand,in addition to his ever improving tackling, he slipped past the Wycombe wing only to be stopped by a desperate tackle by the full back, François ensured the ball remained with Bicester by setting up a perfect ruck.

With Josh Denton at Full back holding good positions he was at hand on numerous occasions to cleanly catch EVERY high ball offered to him and was his usual sound strong running, tackling self. with five minutes of the first half Allan was able to re enter the fray replacing Will Ball who in his fifteen minutes on the pitch had assisted in taking the game to High Wycombe.

The game continued in the same vain with Bicester defending with all they had against a stronger side, until the last play of the half when Wycombe turned over Bicester ball only for the High Wycombe scrum half to run into a Brick wall called Allan Hilman, Allan not only stopped the player in his tracks but in putting him down he also managed to turn him in the process, Max with the support of Ed Tolly quickly secured the ball with Ed Hines quickly spinning a pass to the hard working Tim Grant at 10, the ball was then fed to Ryan at Centre, Ryan who was struggling with an injured thumb all though sore, it did not prevent him from tackling any thing that came in to his space, quickly passed to Giles, it looked from the side that a try was on, although there was a distance of 35m still to run, first Giles eyed up his options he straightened up well drew his man looked to cut in side realising the gap was shut he passed to Jack Davies on the wing, did he have the pace to go past his man? At this point we were able to see that not only were High Wycombe strong up front they also had some quick backs who did not want to be scored against, they just managed to squeeze Jack into touch.

The half time whistle came with Bicester strong and on the up with there travelling supporters showing there approval of there mammoth effort.

Second Half commenced in the same pattern, with Bicester making good progress with the forwards with Max and Charlie, in the thick of things supported by the rest of the hard working forwards with the backs all maintaining good defensive lines against the strong Wycombe side, with the game flowing well with the assistance of a very good referee who was up with the game and assisting the boys with good verbal instructions as he would had the match been played by a mens team.

Bicester not only held their own they started to turn ball over and in one such play the ball was again passed sweetly across the Bicester Back line to release the speedy Jack Davies, not only once but twice in quick succession the Bicester winger had a one on one with his opposite number, although on both occasions the result did not reward the approach play, the boys were not only holding thier own, they were starting to ask questions of the opposition.

Alas the pace of the game and the resulting number of tackles that the very proud Bicester boys had to make took its toll, after some good defensive clearance kicks from Tim, a few gaps started to appear and being a very good side Wycombe scored with three further Tries. During this period with a few changes were made to the forwards line up as some were showing that they were succumbing to the pace and force of some of the tackles, this included, Giles White was moved from Outside Centre to Prop the position he plays at school, such is his versatility with Chris moving to 2nd row, the patient Jack Taylor came into the match at Outside Centre and Will was again added to the pack.

One could see on the boys faces that they were giving everything their were bumps, bruises, sweat and a few watery eyes caused by the sheer effort that was being applied by them. The game was finally lost 0-32, yet to all the Coaches and parents it was a win a big Win, as the boys had given so much that respect from all was Won.

Well Done Boys for all the effort and Character, this won the day, if you apply yourself as you did today in your training you will be rewarded.

Please Note Boys! If we are to improve as a team and remain competitive we NEED more players, to ensure safety and to improve we require more players, we need competition for places so please talk to your friends ask them to come along, it does not matter if they have played before,if they want to get fit and enjoy sport and social life present and future get them to join.