Oxon County 10s Cup Winners - 19 April

Bicester U14s Cup Winners at Oxfordshire County 10’s Tournament

Bicester were simply magnificent, playing outstanding rugby all day to complete the double of County 15 a side and 10 a side Cup wins. Stuart did a great job of utilising the full compliment of 15 players, the players showed our strength in depth as substitutes fitted seamlessly in without once weakening the quality or disrupting the shape of the 10 on the field. Well done to all.

Some of the tries in the pool matches were pretty much perfectly executed, with memorable scores against Wallingford and Henley involving very good handling and running lines from the backs. The forwards were equally impressive, very good in the scrum, tireless in the loose with a special mention for Cameron, and some terrific tries to boot.

The Final was a repeat of last season against defending champions, the talented Chinnor. The atmosphere was electric. The players from both sides fought through the tiredness that was apparent to put on a great match, played once again within a spirit of friendly rivalry and respect for one another. Chinnor led 7-0 at half time with Ollie Wingfield burning down the left wing to score under the posts to the delight of the home supporters. But Bicester showed great resolve and took the game to them in the second half. Bicester calmly ran a penalty in midfield and fed Antony Iveson who broke the line and popped to Dan Rowland, Dan in turn fed Cameron Fortin-Smith whose skillful reverse pass back to Dan gave him the line to power through to score. Dan thwarted a second attempt from Ollie W, this time slamming him into touch. With the scores tied and extra time looking likely, Chinnor infringed again and were punished. James Grosvenor tapped to himself and kicked over to the right hand side, having been tipped off that a prop and second row were defending that side, James sprinted through and collected a kindly bounce to score the winner under the posts, James was mobbed by his teammates as Dan slotted the conversion and the final whistle went.

Captain Henry Gayler lifted the trophy to a hearty three cheers from the Chinnor lads who were very sporting in defeat, once again underlining the friendship and respect between these two super teams.

The Stats:

Six wins from six games, 26 tries scored (far too many to describe), 164 points for and only 24 against, 11 of 15 players scoring tries reflecting the level of teamwork displayed and the variety of attack executed, and a notable individual tally of 60 points for Dan Rowland. Creditably, Bicester did not concede a single penalty in the last four matches.

The Results:

Pool Match 1 – Bicester 17 v Banbury 10

Try Scorers: Dan Rowland (2) and Conor White

Conversion: Dan Rowland

Pool Match 2 – Bicester 26 v Walingford 0

Try Scorers: Dan Rowland, James Grosvenor, Antony Iveson and Henry Gayler

Conversions: Henry Gayler (2) and Dan Rowland

Pool Match 3 – Bicester 55 v Chipping Norton 0

Try Scorers: Tom Burrell, Cameron Fortin-Smith, Antony Iveson (2), Mats Venning, Ed Mawdsley (2), Chris Nourse and Will Allen-Miles

Conversions: Mats Venning (5)

Pool Match 4 – Bicester 38 v Henley 0

Try Scorers: Henry Gayler (2), Dan Rowland (3) and James Grosvenor

Conversions: Dan Rowland (4)

Semi Final – Bicester 14 v Oxford Harlequins 7

Try Scorers: Dan Rowland and Chris Nourse

Conversions: Dan Rowland (2)

The Final – Bicester 14 v Chinnor 7

Try Scorers: Dan Rowland and James Grosvenor

Conversions: Dan Rowland (2)

Results from Aylesbury 10s Tournament - 19 April

Aylesbury 10s Tournament

Chris and Dave report that the boys did themselves proud, two wins and three close defeats against good quality A teams saw them finish up with 4th prize. Scott Povey collected the prize on behalf of the squad. Well done to all.

Round Robin League Results:-

Match 1 – Bicester 0 v Aylesbury 14

Match 2 – Bicester 0 v Dunstable 14

Match 3 – Bicester 12 v Leighton Buzzard 0

Try Scorers: Jordan Hirons and Robson Connor

Conversion: Ben Jenks

Match 4 – Bicester 0 v Milton Keynes 5

Match 5 – Bicester 7 v Sutton & Epsom 0

Try Scorer: Callum Robertson

Conversion: Ben Jenks

Match report Bicester v Abingdon - 05 April

Bicester 17 v Abingdon 12

A highly competent B team took to the field including the last minute arrival of Will A-M to fill in for the injured George - thanks.

A good warm up saw the backs moves being practised with great precision and forwards covering the park in support well - the signs were looking good for a big win. Then the game started!

Some strong individual drives from Jordan & Will saw them power through several levels of poor defence but Abingdon seemed too have enough players to eventually bring the runner down and then our failure to ruck hard and fast resulted in space out wide not being exploited. The game plan and warm-up seemed to have been forgotten, with forwards particularly not gelling as a unit and being far too upright in the contact. PJ, at scrum-half had far too much scrappy ball to distribute, managing this quite well, but taking the edge off of the backs ability to attack with the precision shown before the game.

Jordan powered over for the first try, well converted by Ben Jenks and then Bicester expected the floodgates to open. They didn't as Abingdon managed to rip ball away from individual attacks and frustrate individual runners. Earlier passing would have spread the defence or someone straightening the attack would have disrupted their defence, either causing the breech that Bicester wanted! Eventually, Ben Jenks created some space for himself and crossed the line but could not convert his own try.

Our own poor first up tackles allowed Abingdon to build confidence into the second half the resultant belief took a very fragmented game to 12-12 with a couple of minutes to play. A penalty awarded in front of the posts would have allowed Bicester to kick a win but instead decided to run the ball only to find the desperate Abingdon defence upto the individualism! A last scrum did see a well-constructed move that saw Will feed Harry who, in turn, put PJ in for a score in the corner, giving an idea what could have been!! The conversion missed being the last kick of the game and an ugly win, but a 'W' nonetheless.

Try Scorers: Jordan Hirons, Ben Jenks and PJ Gardiner

Conversion: Ben Jenks

Coaches Man of Match: Charlie Bethell

Bicester 40 – Buckingham 5

Following last week’s Cup Final Victory, the boys’ spirits were understandably high. The squad strength once again showed itself, with 9 changes from last weeks starting 15 having no effect on the high standard we have come expect.

Bicester were slightly sleepy from the kick off when the ball was allowed to bounce before being dealt with, an uncharacteristic start that peculiarly carried on for much of the game.

Bicester we dominant in all phases and the first try was scored by James Grosvenor after a kick ahead by fly half Charlie Bethel. Soon after, Will Brett-Harding charged down an attempted clearance, the ball was retrieved by Buckingham and another attempted clearance found Tom Burrell in the centre who charged for the line to score.

Last week’s kicking nightmare continued with all of the days conversions missed – by full backs, scrum halves, No 8’s, props and hookers!

The third try was scored by Robson Connor following what was to become a characteristic break by Callum Robertson who ran great lines all day.
Tom Burrell scored his second and the games fourth try following a scrum won against the head by Ollie Cavey. Great defensive work throughout the half, typified by the hard working George Myers meant that Bicester went into half time 20 – 0 to the good.


Numerous changes were made at half time, with Chris Nourse, who had played the first half for Buckingham slotting in at 10 and James (I love kicking) Grosvenor being replaced at full back by Charlie Bethel. James G then pulled on the green of Buckingham. (Thanks Chris & James – great sportsmanship!)

The second half opened with a beautifully crafted try early on. PJ Gardiner crossing in the corner following great work by both forwards and backs – the final pass by Harry Court putting PJ in for a well finished try. More tries soon followed. Ollie Cassidy, playing at No 8 picked up from the base of a scrum on the Buckingham 22 and seemingly strolled through to score.

The Bicester players were now a little complacent and they failed to deal with a clever kick off, which was collected by the Buckingham wing forward (who looked eerily like the Bicester full back from the first half) who ran in almost unopposed to bring the score to 30 – 5.

At this point a few more changes were made with PJ Gardiner moving to scrum half – Harry Court moving out to the centre where he continued his fine performance and Will Brett Harding returning from the bench to replace Tom ‘two tries’ Burrell. Claims of Jug avoidance against the stand in team manager were later dismissed as unfounded.

Callum Robertson capped a great game finishing off another great passage of play where both forwards and backs linked seamlessly, with Robson Connor and Harry Court linking to put Callum away – his pace seeing him under the posts.
Will Brett Harding finished things off, linking well with Callum to finish wide on the left.

Final Score Bicester 40 – Buckingham 5

Players Man of the Match – Callum Robertson
Coaches Man of the Match – Callum Robertson

Tries
Bicester - James Grosvenor; Tom Burrell (2); Robson Connor; PJ Gardiner; Oliver Cassidy; Callum Robertson; Will Brett-Harding

Buckingham – James (that’ll be minus 5 points then) Grosvenor

Conversions – not a one. Next week I’ll supply a banjo and a cow’s backside – see if anyone can hit that!

County Cup Winners - 4 in a row

Oxon U14s KO Cup Final – Bicester 20 v Banbury 15

Four in a Row for Bicester

Bicester U14 recorded their fourth consecutive Oxfordshire title, just edging Banbury U14 at Stratfield Brake on Sunday. Congratulations must go to both teams who put on a great display of rugby for a sizeable crowd.

Both teams started the game nervously, with a knock on by Banbury from the kick off, under pressure from Ollie Cassidy and Tom Burrell allowing Bicester to spend the first five minutes of the game in the Banbury half. Bicester, playing into the wind dominated territory in the opening exchanges, but it was the Banbury forwards who had the edge in both loose and tight phases and they held Bicester.

Bicester broke the deadlock when the ball was moved quickly away from a scrum on halfway, centre Henry Gayler broke the line and outpaced the Banbury defence to score.
Banbury looked sharp from the resulting kick off and a period of continued pressure saw Bicester infringe, going off their feet in the ruck, the Banbury Kicker, with the wind at his back calmly slotted to make it 5 – 3.

Bicester finally began to exert some control in the forwards and following a strange kick, luckily fielded by Dan Rowland Bicester once more saw themselves in the Banbury Half. A subsequent scrum to Banbury was pinched against the head by James Nellis, quick reactions from the half backs saw the ball spread wide, a half break by Henry was taken on by James Grosvenor and fed to Dan who showed his speed down the left wing, rounded the defence and finished under the posts. Again the simple conversion was missed 10 – 3.

The second half started much as the first half, this time Bicester making errors at the restart, allowing Banbury to put on the pressure. An exciting period of play saw both sides playing great rugby, nullified by great defence by their opponents. Eventually the Banbury pressure told, and from a series of rolling mauls, they were eventually awarded a try in the left hand corner 10 – 8.

Once again Bicester took control from the restart forcing Banbury to concede a lineout in their 22. The ball from the line out was spread wide and great handling from the Bicester centres saw the ball quickly to the right wing where Anthony Iveson was well tackled by the Banbury wing. Banbury came in from the side at the ruck and the resulting penalty allowed Bicester to draw in the Banbury forwards following a typical bullocking run from Jordan Hirons, Banbury had not retreated 10m and the subsequent penalty was taken quickly, allowing Tim Price to put Tom Burrell in for the third Bicester Try. 15 – 8.

Bicester continued to press and in a moment of individual skill, James Grosvenor beat several would be tacklers and calmly chipped the ball over the full back. James was first to the ball, hacked on and won the foot race to score, seemingly inches before the dead ball line. 20 – 8.

The remaining 8 or so minutes were a tense affair and a spirited Banbury were clearly not beaten. numerous breaks were made by their ever present back row and pacey backs. One such break looked odds on to produce a score when their right winger appeared in the centre of the pitch, one on one with the Bicester Fullback. Tim Price, as solid as ever made the tackle and thwarted the attack. Banbury however were not going to be repelled easily, with five minutes remaining they crossed under the posts for a converted try 20 – 15.

The remaining minutes seemed to be all Banbury. The only foray into the Banbury half being cut short following poor discipline leading to the referee reversing a penalty for back chat. The resulting penalty was run quickly by Banbury and several phases of play saw them into the Bicester 22, looking very likely to score. Quick hands found the ball moved again to their left wing, unfortunately the pass was a difficult one to take and was knocked on. Game over – Bicester 20 – Banbury 15.

Congratulations must go, not only to the 22 Bicester players who made the squad, but also those

other members of the 36 strong age group who did not. Without such a strong squad the fourth win in four years would not have been possible.

Match report Bicester v Wallingford - 15 March

Bicester 32 v Wallingford 0

Wallingford proved to be strong opposition, their defence was very good and they threatened to score on a number of occasions. Bicester put in a good whole team performance with committed tackling and well executed tries to secure victory.

Bicester started brightly again taking the game to Wallingford and building patiently. Having worked calmly through several phases of forwards play, they spun the ball out wide through good hands for Tim Price to open the scoring. Unfortunately Tim hurt his leg in the act of scoring and took no further part in the game.

Wallingford reacted well, the next 10 minutes being end to end play, and had chances to pull back putting their hosts under pressure with their kicking game.

Oliver Cassidy had a couple of good carries into their 22, unfortunately the final pass to Tom Burrell on the overlap going astray on both occasions. Tom made a break himself down the left flank but checked his run when perhaps he should have gone for the corner. Bicester again attacked down the left, were stopped short but Wallingford were penalised for a high tackle. Mats Venning picked out Jordan Hirons as the runner who buried in low for a well executed try.

Wallingford continued to test Bicesters backs with kick and chase, but when Callum McCulloch returned one breaking the line, he found Antony Iveson at pace who took the ball on across the halfway line, Ollie Cass took it on and found Henry in support who burst for the left hand corner, great cover defence forced him to pass inside just before being forced into touch, Wallingford knocked on and James Grosvenor reacted quickly to pick up the loose ball and find the gap for a try. HT: 15-0

The second half saw Wallingford understandably tire due to the amount of defensive work they had put in, Bicester improved their rucking and raised the pace of attack as the gaps opened up putting on some entertaining running rugby.

Quick ball was fed out to Harry Court who raced to the corner and looked certain to score but for a creditable cover tackle with the Wallingford player doing well to get under him and the ball. Bicester scored from the 5m scrum that followed with Henry on the crashball taking them within a couple of metres short and offloading to James Grosvenor who crossed for his second try converted by Callum McC.

A decisive break for the corner was again well defended as Henry was slammed into touch. Soon after James Nellis took a 5m scrum against the head, James G picked up at the back to feed Henry out wide who stepped through the gap to score.

Bicester’s last try was a cracker, another good break from Henry who fixed the last defender with a nicely delayed pass to Harry Court on the perfect support line to form the overlap and score.

Late and spirited efforts by Wallingford were thwarted first by a good tackle on the wing by Mats, followed by a try saving tackle by Chris Nourse in the dying seconds to put the Wallingford player into touch and keep the clean sheet.


Try Scorers: Tim Price, Jordan Hirons, James Grosvenor (2), Henry Gayler and Harry Court

Conversion: Callum McCulloch

Players Man of Match: Henry Gayler

Coaches Man of Match: Henry Gayler

U14s in County Cup Final for 4th year in a row

Bicester 30 v Chinnor 12

What should have been the highlight of the season so far, for two talented sides playing under floodlights for the first time for a place in the Cup Final, resulted in a match which was to large degree spoiled by the referee. Both teams were prevented from creating more than a couple of phases at a time due to the constant stream of penalties and stoppages, resulting in a fairly anti-climatic game which was a big disappointment to all involved and the large number of enthusiastic supporters. The players from both teams were exceptional in maintaining such good discipline throughout under difficult circumstances, attempting to get on with the game. The best thing to come out of the evening is the improved strength of the already good relationship between these two clubs and we thank Chinnor for their part in that.

Bicester started brightly forcing play into Chinnors half. Good pressure in defence from the centres forced loose ball which Chris Nourse was first to, his kick through was picked up by Dan Rowland who finished in the right hand corner for the first score. Bicesters second came shortly after when a quickly taken penalty was moved across the centres out left, Chinnor were able to stop the attack but were short of numbers as Bicester recycled quick ball for Ed Mawdsley to finish from close range.

Chinnor responded well to going 10-0 down so early to build pressure of their own, enjoying a sustained period of attack. A kick and chase was well dealt with by fullback Tim Price but the 22 drop out that followed was sliced, Chinnor collected on the left wing and scored a well finished try by stepping inside the last tackler to put themselves right back into the game. However Bicester were quickly able to extend their lead, the move started when a big hit by Henry Gayler led to turnover ball, William Allen-Miles took the ball on and set well, the ball moved out wide where Tom Burrell collected on the 22 and showed great pace down the left wing to score, Dan added the conversion. Henry made a decisive break cutting inside twice before feeding winger Antony Iveson who sprinted for the corner, a good cover tackle forced Antony into touch 5m short. As Bicester stole at the lineout, Chinnor were penalised, Mats Venning took the quick option and fed James Grosvenor who crashed straight through the defence for a try. HT 22-5.

Chinnor rallied after the break taking the game to Bicester with a lengthy period of play in our 22. Bicester were repeatedly penalised during this period, and suffered with 2 players being sin binned. Chinnor scored immediately after the second yellow card and converted to pull back to 22-12. Bicester showed great character coupled with good decision making whilst down to 13 men. Ed Mawdsley led the defence tackling anything that moved, Henry covered the centres and when a penalty was awarded elected to kick making sure Antony used the full minute to add the 3 points. With the sin bins over, Bicester controlled the closing period and were able to add another score through James G off the back of a scrum from 22m out. They now wait to find out whether they will meet Oxford or Banbury in their fourth consecutive County Cup Final.

One more individual mention, Ollie Cassidy put in seasons best performance which was not lost on the watching County Coach who has since approached Ollie. On the subject of County, for anyone interested the first full blown County match is to be played on Wed 04 March v Warwickshire at Chinnor again under floodlights with a 6.30 kick-off, Henry has been selected to start at openside flanker and we wish him a good game.

Try Scorers: Dan Rowland, Ed Mawdsley, Tom Burrell, and James Grosvenor (2)

Conversion: Dan Rowland

Penalty: Antony Iveson

Coaches Man of Match: Ed Mawdsley

Match report Bicester v Banbury - 01 March

Bicester 33 v Banbury 14

(Report by Henry Gayler)

Bicester looked strong off the start with good phases pushing deep into Banbury territory, then the ball was spread well to Callum Robertson who broke a tackle and sped through to score under the posts. Bicester carried on good pressure with a few scrums and holding the ball well and securely through the phases. Jordan then went into the pocket of the ruck and took a pop from Isaac Bensley on a great line to cut through the opposition to score the second try. Callum McCulloch converted once again loosing the ball!
From here Bicester let it slip, missed tackles let Banbury form quick ball, then a bad kick straight to Banbury hands resulted in quick passing along the backs forming an overlap and their fast winger broke through the last man to score. The bad tackling still didn’t improve and after a few cover tackles and breakdowns Banbury’s prop picked up the ball and about 4 missed tackles allowed him to stroll in for an easy score.
Bicester then switched on after a few pointless scrums we ended up with a penalty on the half way line. Isaac decided to run it popping it to Jordan as he charged through swerving between the defenders and sidestepping the fullback to go all the way himself with no help needed.
Will A-M jumped elegantly to pick the ball off the top of the lineout and majestically pranced through the forwards and smoothly passed the ball to Scott who buried it for a score. Half time 26 – 14.
The second half was mainly defence from both sides, the rugby played in the centre with no real danger. Once again we got a penalty on the half way line and once again we ran it. This time through Antony with great effect, he crashed through a group of defenders and ran off almost hitting the posts as he scored. There was almost one more score in the game as a Banbury centre broke the line and was clean through, Ed Mawdsley put his head down and raced back with an excellent cover tackle metres from the line saving the score, this resulted in a Bicester penalty as he did not release the ball when Bicester support swiftly arrived.

Try Scorers: Callum Robertson, Jordan Hirons (2), Scott Povey and Antony Iveson

Conversions: Callum McCulloch (4)

Coaches Man of the Match: Callum Robertson

Match report Bicester v Brackley - 22 Feb

Bicester 119 v Brackley 0

Stuart was impressed with the way that the lads kept focussed on their execution to amass such a high score, achieved with a real cutting edge.

Statto’s observations: Congratulations to Scott on his first try for Bicester, and Ben Jenks set a new squad record for individual points in one match with his total of 29.

Try Scorers: Ed Mawdsley (3), Dan Rowland (3), William Brett-Harding (2), James Grosvenor (2), Tom Burrell, Cameron Fortin-Smith, Ben Jenks, Antony Iveson, Chris Nourse, Callum McCulloch, Scott Povey, Jack Stone and Conor White

Conversions: Ben Jenks (12)

Match Report Chinnor – V – Bicester 15 February 2009

Chinnor 17 V Bicester 22

Despite both sides having several players absent due to the half term break, squads of around 25 players were used to the full by both teams, demonstrating the strength in depth of both clubs. This match was expected to be the footnote to the County Cup semi final, but the postponement of that game, now to be played under flood lights on Wednesday 25th February, lead to this becoming a glimpse of what is surely to be a great game next week.

The early exchanges were characteristically robust from both teams, if a little scrappy, with both packs testing the opposition. This Bicester Pack, with perhaps the smallest front row of the season of Ollie Cavey, Harry Bishop and James Nellis became dominant, and with Ollie Cassidy showing his versatility at No8 they took the upper hand with Jack Stone a constant thorn in the side of the opposition.

With around 15 minutes of the first half gone, quick ball from the forwards saw the backs given time and space, Conor White, who had started the game on the wing, found himself in a little too much space, and with the try line beckoning, chose to cut inside. Thankfully Tim Price, leading the side for the day was in support and quick ball created by Tim for the supporting forwards was recycled a number of times. Ollie Cassidy picked up and drove for the line, Isaac Bensley again secured quick clean ball and Chris Nourse was put in for the first try of the game.

With all recognised kickers absent, Anthony Iveson took the responsibility for the conversion and only narrowly missed with a fine first attempt.

Chinnor responded well and pressured the Bicester 22 where they were awarded a scrum. Harry Bishop took the ball against the head and quick thinking by Isaac and Chris saw Anthony put into space, his electric pace saw him quickly to the opposition 22 where he was stopped, not for the last time, by an excellent tackle from the Chinnor Fullback.

This break lead to further Bicester pressure, rewarded following several passages of patient play by a second try when Ed Mawdsley touched down. Again the conversion was missed.
Bicester were now dominant and a typical break by Dan Rowland only minutes after coming on as a sub saw him tackled yards short of the line. Dan’s quick thinking and strength enabled him to regain his feet and feed Cameron Fortin Smith in support, who crashed over for the third try of the half. Again Anthony stepped forward for the conversion, this time an excellent kick saw the half time lead increased to Chinnor 0 – Bicester 17.

Chinnor were visibly determined to reduce the deficit in the second half, their backs were only just stopped from breaking away a number of times, often by the excellent tackling of Tim Price. Eventually the Chinnor backs and forwards combined and a half break was capitalised upon when the Bicester pack were rucked clear allowing the Chinnor centre to sprint clear unchallenged from the 22.
The subsequent conversion narrowed the gap to 10 points and the game came alive. Virtually from the kick off the Chinnor backs needed little invitation to exploit the gaps left by Bicester’s dog legged rush defence to run in another try unopposed. With around 10 minutes to go, all was to play for. Unfortunately due to injuries, the cutting edge of the Chinnor backs was blunted and when the Chinnor front row were depleted and uncontested scrums resulted, Bicester again gained the upper hand. Ed Mawdsley now at No 8 , picked from the base of the scum and showed pace to outflank the defenders on the blindside as he powered over for a score in the corner.

The final phases of the game were dominated by a series of sweeping moves by Bicester, seeing quick ball produced by the forwards for the backs to move deftly through numerous fine passes. Eventually Dan Rowland, only inches from the line, put a rampaging Anthony Iveson in for a clear score, an almost perfect try was marred only by one slight detail. Anthony, in his eagerness to make the conversion easier for himself, forgot to put the ball down and was forced over the dead ball line!

With only two minutes remaining, Chinnor again attacked and when Bicester infringed were awarded a penalty only 5m from the line, several charges were withheld, but when the ball was eventually moved wide the deficit was reduced to only 5 points. The final minute was a nervous one for Bicester’s faithful supporters, but thankfully the final whistle sounded!

Final Score Chinnor 17 – Bicester 22.
Tries: Chris Nourse; Ed Mawdsley (2); Cameron Fortin Smith
Conversion: Anthony Iveson

Players Man of the Match – The Team
Coaches Man of the Match – Tim Price

Match report Bicester 'A' v Marlow 'A' - 25 Jan

Bicester ‘A’ 20 v Marlow ‘A’ 0

The first meeting for this age group between Bicester and Marlow saw the ‘A’s make it 10 wins a row for the U14s squad, running out convincing winners but making heavy work of it at times. The Marlow pack were a strong unit which the Bicester pack could not resist fronting up to. Unfortunately this resulted in too many carries by the forwards into contact, and the backs not seeing enough ball. The Bicester backs looked superior, but with infrequent and sometimes badly presented ball, were rushed in their execution. On the good side James Grosvenor led the pack aggressively throughout from No8, the pack did get the better of Marlow, scrum half Mats Venning played well with good kicks, distribution and taking blind side options, and the backs did score two very good tries.

The tries:

Henry Gayler put up a high kick deep into the Marlow 22 towards the right hand corner, a great take by Antony Iveson was off loaded to Henry out wide to score in the corner.

Hooker Ollie Cavey took a scrum against the head which James G picked up, he came close to scoring from a great effort having broken the line and kicked ahead twice but just could not make the touch down. However he did get on the score sheet soon afterwards, Ollie Cassidy counter attacked from a clearance kick and having done the hard work fed James for a simple finish. HT:10-0

The backs best move was called and executed by the centres from set piece, a scrum on the Marlow 10m line. Perfect quick ball from Mats through Charllie Bethell to Henry who put the switch pass inside to Dan Rowland at pace, Dan broke the line and there was no stopping him on his way to scoring Bicesters third.

Forwards Jordan Hirons and Conor White drove through the Marlow pack to set up Ed Mawdsley for a close range try in the closing minute.

Try Scorers: Henry Gayler, James Grosvenor, Dan Rowland and Ed Mawdsley

Players Man of Match: James Grosvenor

Coaches Man of Match: Mats Venning

Match report Bicester 'B' v Marlow 'B' - 25 Jan

Bicester ‘B’ 57 v Marlow ‘B’ 0

Bicester ‘B’s were simply excellent. This performance, coupled with last weeks effort against A&C, have proven to be their finest back to back games in recent seasons. Against the unknown quantity of a first meeting with Marlow, they came out full of confidence and delivered high quality rugby based around good structure, teamwork and continuity. Individual mentions for Harry Court who put in a solid display at 10 setting his backs well and varying his options, Will Allen-Miles took the ball on well through instinctive support play, PJ Gardiner adjusted well to being selected at fullback and would have learnt from the experience, and Jack Stone put in his seasons best performance, his rucking was second to none and with him stepping up to run penalties he has been rewarded with the Coaches MOM. Ben Jenks continued his good place kicking form and currently tops the squads averages.

The early exchanges between the forwards saw Bicester take the edge through good rucking and force a penalty. Jack took the running option and fed Tim Price out wide, Tim cut back inside and set the ruck, quick ball from PJ out to Callum Robertson who broke the line and popped to Ben Jenks who shrugged off the tackle to score under the posts for Bicesters first try. Callum collected from the restart and made a second decisive line break which was supported and taken on by Will, Harry C collected the pass to round the Marlow winger and finish under the posts.

Marlow rallied and put together a series of phases holding possession and forcing Bicester into their own half. The pressure was felt for 5 minutes until Bicester put up a huge kick and chase up to the Marlow 22, Marcus Linfoot was first to follow up and turned over the ball which Harry Bishop took on and found Tim Price on the wing who scored in the corner. Bicester were dominant, another penalty was awarded which Ben took quickly to make a 10m punch up to halfway, Callum took the ball at pace, found a gap and sprinted in to score his first try for Bicester. PJ Gardiner added a fifth try before the break, a fine individual effort as he showed great commitment and skill to dive and collect a clearance kick got straight up and ran through the surprised defence to score. HT: 31-0.

Credit should be given to Marlow for not dropping their heads and fighting to the end, but the second half saw 4 more tries for the home side together with a second successive clean sheet. From a scrum, Isaac Bensley gave quick ball to Harry C who stepped first inside and then outside his tacklers before bursting under the posts for his second try of the match. Fine support play ended with Joel Miller putting in James Nellis for his try from close range. A strong break by Conor White was supported and finished by Henry. Marcus created turnover again on his own 22 and set off to run all the way to the line and score the last try of the match.

Try Scorers: Ben Jenks, Harry Court (2), Tim Price, Callum Robertson, PJ Gardiner, James Nellis, Henry Gayler and Marcus Linfoot

Conversions: Ben Jenks (6)

Players Man of Match: The team

Coaches Man of Match: Jack Stone

Match report Bicester 'A' v Amersham & Chiltern 'A' - 18 Jan

Bicester ‘A’ 50 v Amersham & Chiltern ‘A’ 7

Bicester proved too strong for the Bucks County Champions and ran away with a score that bellied the quality of the opposition and the closely fought forwards battle. Whilst taking nothing away from a fine Bicester performance with intelligent build up and good support play, the number of missed tackles from A&C contributed to the 50 points total.

A&C got off to a great start with quick hands stretching Bicester out wide right and then left, they found a gap at the breakdown and rounded the fullback to score under the posts. The try converted and things looked ominous.

Unruffled by the early score, Bicester calmly built pressure to take the game to A&C forcing a high penalty count. A penalty on halfway was run by Jordan Hirons, the ball recycled at the breakdown and Henry Gayler fed off the ground to Tim Price who moved it out wide to Dan Rowland, Dan had men to beat but showed his power and pace to ride tackles and finish under the posts, Dan converted his try to tie the scores. Bicester spent the next 5 minutes camped out in A&Cs half, were awarded a penalty 5m out which Mats Venning fed to Henry on a punch move but he knocked on. Pressure on the kicker from the resultant scrum forced another penalty in front of the posts which Mats took quickly out to Harry Court who beat his man to score in the corner.

A&C could not break the defence but did force themselves into Bicesters half with kicks to touch, they put fly half Chris Nourse under a lot of pressure and threatened within our 22. Having soaked up all they had to offer with strong defence, Bicester cleared with a fine box kick from Mats reaching the 22. Cameron Fortin-Smith stole A&Cs lineout and quick ball was fed via a miss pass to Dan on halfway. Half a chance was all Dan needed as he set off for a superb score shrugging off tacklers on his way and a dive under the posts to finish. Dans conversion made it 19-7 at HT.

Bicester went on full out attack after the break, and coupled with a drop of heads from A&C, enjoyed a period of 20 minutes in the oppositions territory during which they added 5 tries to underline their authority. First a break from Henry and an offload to No 8 James Grosvenor, ever present at the breakdown, who took it at pace and powered over. Another break from Henry was again taken on by James to within sight of the line, the forwards were there in numbers forcing a penalty for offside at the ruck. Playing under advantage Jordan picked up and tried to burrow through for the line, although stopped short he had sucked in the A&C pack giving Cameron the gap to pile over for try number 5.

When A&C did get across halfway, Conor White turned them over and broke the gain line before feeding Henry in midfield whose sprint to the line was chased all the way but to no avail as he scored with a splash. Ed Mawdsley had put in a high tackle count and came close with a break but was stopped short. Pressure on the clearance attempt kept Bicester in A&Cs 22, good phases of rucking set up Conor for a clean break through the defence for another try. The final score came from a break down the right wing which saw Charlie Bethell held up short. A knock on gave A&C the put in for a 5m scrum, James Nellis hooked against the head and James G picked up off the back to score his second.

A&C put in a great effort to go for a consolation try, having worked their way up field their No8 was held up over the line. Two further attempts from 5m scrums by the No8 were held up by the excellent Bicester defence before the referee blew the final whistle.

Try Scorers: Dan Rowland (2), Harry Court, James Grosvenor (2), Cameron Fortin-Smith, Henry Gayler and Conor White

Conversions: Dan Rowland (5)

Players Man of Match: James Grosvenor

Coaches Man of Match: Jordan Hirons

Match report Bicester 'B' v Amersham & Chiiltern 'B' - 18 Jan

Bicester ‘B’ 15 v Amersham & Chiltern ‘B’ 0

Bicester ’B’s matched the ‘A’s with a fine win over A&C ‘B’s. With the pitch in a state after the first game and so precluding any sort of a kicking game, Bicester produced some very good rugby based upon continuity and support and punctuated by high quality tries. A fine second row performance by George Myers and Scott Povey led the pack up-field at every opportunity, this momentum from the forwards coupled with an attacking mentality through the backs saw A&C on the back foot for most of the game. Callum Robertson had an impressive debut supported closely by the centre pairing of Callum McCulloch and Will Brett-Harding.

The opening try was the finest ‘team’ try of the day from either of the games. Bicester ran a penalty from their own 10m line through Scott who made a good 20 metre carry, from the breakdown quick ball gave Callum R space to run into, Jack Stone took it on from the next breakdown, another couple of phases punched forward and on the 5th phase the ball was moved wide for Callum McC to finish in the corner.

Both sides were fully committed and were equal to each other as they battled for the remainder of the half, providing good entertainment for those that had remained on the touchline to watch and to those from the comfort of the clubhouse! HT 5-0.

The second half saw Bicester enjoy the lions share of possession and build pressure well. The second score also started from a penalty this time 5m in on the oppositions 22. It was great to see Sam Clarke back from a lengthy injury take the tap from PJ Gardiner and power Bicester to within sight of the try line, Sam had the presence to offload to Scott who was stopped short, the ruck was solid, James Nellis saw the gap and caught the defence out with speedy pick up to drive over and score.

A&C enjoyed a period in our half threatening to pull one back. The Bicester defence was committed to keeping a clean sheet and managed to hold out and work their way back onto the attack. Repeated phases of pressure resulted in a Bicester scrum in front of posts from which Callum McC found the gap for Bicesters third.

Well done to the lads.

Try Scorers: Callum McCulloch (2) and James Nellis

Players Man of Match: Callum Robertson

Coaches Man of Match: Scott Povey