Sat 23 Nov 2019
Leighton Buzzard v Long Buckby
Battle of the LB’s
This game showed some serious grit and determination from the Bucbky boys against the high flying Buzzards. Buckby would ride the their luck on occasions but fronted up against a well drill Buzzard side. The game would start with Buckby playing up the hill on about a 15 degrees gradient. Buzzard were on the front foot and would have their big number 8 running into the midfield who was well tackled on about 3 occasions in the first 5 minutes by Ed Sitch. Buckby were driven back in the scrum but the referee adjudged the Buzzard front row to be scrummaging at an angle. After a barrage from Buzzard, Buckby would find some territory after a high up and under was well claimed by Ed Sitch who seemed to be everywhere. Buckby were also winning the battle at the line out stopping Buzzard to get clean ball and possession. Buckby would work the phases in the tight making yards before Ed Sitch broke the Buzzard line stepping another player before getting dragged down in the 22. If he stepped left he would have found support players running under the posts. On 20 minutes while in the 22, Sam Evans took a knock and had to leave the field, while he was down Buzzard cleared after a knock on from a Buckby attack deep into the 22. Sam Evans had been carrying well into contact and was a real presence on the pitch, when he left the field Buzzard found themselves in Buckby territory. A cross field kick from the Buzzard 12 would see it just bounce over the dead ball line with the Buzzard winger just needing to touch down. Buckby were riding their luck but defending as a unit. Minutes later after a Buckby error Buzzard looked like they might make a break through and with 40 metres to go and no one in front the fullback kicked forwards towards the try line only to be beating in the foot race by Andy Oliver and Buckby tracked back to secure the ball and clear. From the resulting line out Buzzard made ground through a rolling maul and a set move in the centres saw their 13 hit a good line to break Buckby’s defence and score under the posts 7-0 (38 minutes).
Half Time
During the break even though Fred had played with an injury for 20 minute he decided to come off and was replaced by James Ashwell. The second half started similar to the first with Buckby defending well but not been able to breakdown the well drilled Buzzard defence. The big left winger found space and made yards and with the back tracking Buckby defence Buzzard pick their lines from to score their second 14-0 (52 mins). From this point the Buzzard team scored a further 2 tries quickly drawing defenders in with big runners from the kick off before unleashing their backs working the 2 on 1’s to score 28-0 (62 mins). While trying to keep up with the game the referee pulled a muscle and there was a little delay but after a rub down was ready to continue. With Buzzard getting their bonus try Buckby seemed to gain more of the ball but couldn’t break them down and the winger would finish the game and score to bring the final result to 35-0 (75mins).
Although not a great result for Buckby, it should determination and resilience in defence against a good team. When Buzzard arrives at Station Road and with a full squad I would hope Buckby can spring a surprise to the league leaders.
