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