Sat 26 Oct 2019, 15:00
After an early kicking exchange, young Jack Gibson who impressed the week earlier on his debut picked the ball up in his own 22 beating 2 or 3 defenders on his way to the opposition 10 meter line. This set the attacking platform with forwards making yards over the gain line and Belgrave were caught offside bang in front of the posts and without a kicking tee and already opting for the posts Jake O’Kiefe had to drop kick the ball which struck the post. Belgrave cleared well and a couple of Buckby handling errors gave Belgrave field position but the defence stood firm. Under pressure Buckby were pinned in the corner and phase after phase Belgrave got closer before crashing over with their big forwards which was converted 0-7.
The ball was barely getting out of the forwards for both teams due to conditions but Buckby were able to unleash their backs on a couple of occasions making half breaks through Harvey Draper and Jake O’Kiefe carrying hard with support. Jack Gibson looked sharp and beat the first man every time he had ball in hand. There was some excellent work on the ground from the backrow and Jake Toseland was outstanding and must have turned over the ball on about 5 occasions during the first half, given Buckby the chance to clear their lines. Probing runs from Harvey Draper and carries from Fred Saunders, Dan Taylor and Andy Wilcox would help Buckby make their way to the Belgrave 22 on the half hour. Almost every player got hands on the ball moving from right to left, both forwards and backs playing up the jumper rugby. A penalty advantage gave Buckby free ball and Ben Walton would crash over in the corner to get Buckby on the score sheet 5-7.
Sam Dorans would come on for the injured Andy Oliver whose knees were creaking with old age. Not long after the restart and with about 5 minutes left in the first half a cleaver grubber from the Belgrave back line would have Buckby scrambling, the Belgrave winger won the foot race 5-14. The final play of the first half would see a penalty given away by Buckby and the Belgrave 15 would step up and slot the extra 3 to make it 5-17. The game was mainly played in the midfield and Buckby seemed to play with more of the ball but good exit play from Belgrave and Buckby mistakes seem to flatter the score line at half time as Buckby were well in this game.
Half Time
The second half started in a similar fashion as the first with Jake Toseland turning over the ball given Ryan Clarke chance to kick to the corner. Some probing attacks down the right saw the ball knocked on and gave Belgrave chance to exit. Josh Brown chased back to clean up after a through kick had turned the Buckby back three. He carried out from his own try line damaging his hand in the contact but played on. From the knock on Belgrave looked to dominate the scrum and their 9 was penalised for appealing once too many and was given 10 minutes. From the resulting exit, Belgrave won a penalty on the 10 meter and their 15 stepped up to extend the lead 5-20.
Timmy Dixon, Chris Page and Ben Walton made good carries and were making gain line success and Buckby kept grinding metre by metre the weather inhibiting their usual type of play. Joe Ashwell came on and impacted the tackle and carry count while Andy Oliver returned to the field with Josh Brown unable to continue. Linking up with Sam Dudgeon after a quick tap half broke the line before gaining a second penalty and kicking into the Belgrave half. Buckby won the lineout attacking in field before an overhead pass from Ben Walton released Sam Dorans who beat his first man and headed towards the corner, without the support he was bundles into touch but showed the potential with ball in hand. Further chances were butchered when in good positions with the ball slipping out of Buckby’s grasps when in good positions. The Belgrave scrum dominated with Buckby fielding an inexperienced front row this helped give Belgrave the platform and pin Buckby Back with good box kicks and punts into the Buckby 22. After a chain of scrums the Belgrave 12 ran a hard line and crashed over from close range with 5 minutes to go 5-27. The final 5 minutes played out in similar fashion with Belgrave looking for a try bonus. They knocked at the door through multiple phases with the ball rarely going to their backs, Buckby fought to keep them out until the end, however a dubious try was awarded with the try scorer lying on the floor with the ball before diving over without releasing or getting back to his feet, the kick was missed, final score 5-32.
With a week to recover and watch the World Cup Final next week. Buckby will look to bounce back, recover from injuries and look to move forwards once again. The young players in the squad have really stepped up to the plate and the more they play the more confidence they will have to perform at this level.
