With the match being postponed due to the Henley pitch being unfit to play due to all the rain the previous night, Paul set about the task of informing all of the postponement, only hours later to get the call from Henley that they had found a pitch that could be used.
One snag or may be two!
No Changing facilities and no FOOD!
Do we play or Do we Not ?
On the plus side, if we didn’t then Charlie, our talisman Captain would hopefully be fit and back to lead his team and the hard working Oscar would be back all sun tanned and raring to go through all in his way!
Then the other option we say yes we want to play the game, with the view that Henley would have to play a more of a mixed side with their normal influx of very disciplined private school boys normally all coming in after the new year.
Decisions’, Decisions!
Based on the writers previous experience in similar positions in the same cup with Henley with my previous team and on the back of some good training performances and the recent Reading Abbey result, all be it with the strong performances of Charlie and Oscar, it was hoped that the time was right to play if we could.
So I have to confess that the responsibility of playing the game opposed to waiting for another day! Was mine. In hind sight wrong choice.
The Game,
On the morning Bicester, due to injury, holidays and sickness only 16 players turned up to choose from, and unknown to the coach a number of the boys who did come to play had been suffering from colds and in some cases flu.
The team almost picked itself, with Chris stepping in to cover for Oscar at Prop from the 2nd row with Ed Tolly switching from Hooker to 2nd Row with the ever improving Liam coming in at Hooker.
Due to the absence of Charlie who had recently been switched to Inside Centre, Ryan was asked to revert back from Flanker to Inside Centre, he was duly replaced at Flanker by Luke Freeman who had continued to impress in the few weeks since joining.
The normal practice of a Society Referee for County Cup matches seemed to have slipped past Henley with the match being refereed by yes, you have guessed it a Henley Coach!
Bicester were warmed up with the backs being strongly reminded the importance of keeping discipline regarding defensive lines and marking man for man knowing where Henley’s strengths would lie.
The game started with a bang! With Ed Hines stopping a strong running Henley play with his Nose, the blow, rocked Ed causing him to renew his friendship with my handkerchief for the second game running in an attempt to stop the strong blood flow, the nose bleed and actual blow stunned Ed and caused him to have to leave the pitch for treatment.
During the treatment the game played on with Ed’s opposite number (Henley 10) taking advantage of the fact the remaining 14 Bicester players for once did what had been requested of them man for man marking.
Only problem was Bicester’s own No 10 was off the pitch! Before they realised Ed was not there, for his man he was through the gap that had been left to score the first try.
After a further 5 minutes Henley scored their second with the aid of a few unseen knock on’s and handling the ball on the floor by the Henley players.
That try was hard for the boys to take, with confidence slipping from the boys shape and discipline regarding defensive also fell away.
There were some other rather dubious decisions regarding the refereeing with Henley being allowed almost to live off side without being penalised, yet on the few times the Bicester did get their defensive lines and timing right they were unfairly penalised.
There were a few dubious tries awarded, failing to ground the ball did not prevent scores being given.
That said the boys simply did not perform as a unit they played with no confidence in either the forwards or backs with only a few of the boys reaching any of their true form.
Bicester succeeded by the lack of support and any real attempt to clear out any of the good ball that was made available on the rare occasions to make the Henley forwards to look far better then they were.
The backs did the same with only Tom on the wing and François playing at scrum half showed the desire for the required physical confrontation that was required, with Ed never really recovering from the smash in the face, although working and trying hard his natural quick thinking game was subdued.
With only a few of the forwards keeping up with the pace of the game possibly in some cases being hindered by the effects of the colds and sickness in the week plus the very heavy ground underfoot, the hard working performances of Allan, Giles, Tim, Luke (whilst in the forwards) and Liam (who had his best game for some time, his reward possibly for his new training regime) were not enough to contain the tighter fitter Henley forwards.
With Luke showing more experience and desire then most, being played in two position at first at Flanker and then on the wing, in both positions he showed good form and effort, showing he is learning fast and showing good potential and Allan giving all at prop joining the lines of the backs many times to try to burst through.
Bicester, Huffed and they Puffed, they did have a few ventures into the Henley 22m almost going over on a few occasions in each half only to be pushed back by strong hard defensive work by the hard working home team.
On one occasion in the second half Bicester had no fewer then 8 attempts at scoring camping themselves on in the Henley 5m line however their efforts were made individually opposed to being in an organised controlled set piece thus aiding the Henley defence.
Rather then going through the scoring or particular events or sequences of the match in the normal (often long winded manner) the Coaches, Parents and Boys know who tried their best, who tried to do what was asked of them, the boys admitted that they did not do their best, they have to understand that they simply have to put in the effort, EVERY single time if they want the reward of playing well and by their actions get the performances and results they want, it all down to effort that in the boys biggest match of the season was missing from to many.
Final Result was: Bicester 0 Henley …………………….44
Conclusion,
Henley were not as strong as High Wycombe, possibly a little better the Reading Abbey, and not in the same league as the Old Northamtonians, if we had tried as we had in those games even with those missing we could have won the game!
So let’s get fitter, Stronger, and more Switched on to what Rugby is about.
Desire, Passion, Effort and then skill.
Sorry Charlie, Oscar, we let you down this week hope to make it up next game!
For those who are not at training on Tuesday, I am not around from Friday and will be away until Boxing day so will miss the party, have a good one and please do 100 press ups every minimum even on Christmas Day!!
Best Wishes for Christmas and New Year
Mark
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