Sat 7 Dec 2019
Long Buckby V Vipers
Buckby would play down the slope to begin with and would find themselves in a battle straight from the off. Buckby following there last league fixture with Buzzard were organised and structure in defence and looking to use the ball more in attack. The break though came after good forward play from Fergus Murray found the past to Harvey Draper who opened up the pitch finding Andy Oliver hitting the line through the Vipers defence getting chopped down on the 5 metre line. The scrambling Vipers defence gave Chris Page the opportunity to pick and power his way over from short distance, this was converted 7-0. Both teams would miss penalty opportunities and the majority of the game play would be in the midfield and territory only gained through kicks which were fielded well by Buckby’s back 3. Good probing runs from Josh Brown, Fergus Murray and Harvey Draper would show promise but no end result.
Half Time
Vipers would be thinking with the hill and wind advantage they were well in the game although 7-0 down. Vipers just couldn’t break down the Buckby defence upfront. The only way through was over and a Vipers cross field kick was gathered by their 15 creating a 2 on 1 and Vipers number 12 won the race to touch down out wide, the conversion was missed which was vital.
Minute later Buckby would be on the offensive making good yards through JP Watters and critically Dan Taylor who picked up from the ruck going straight through one on one with the Vipers full back. One phase later Timmy Dixon dummy move with Tim Lewis hitting a good line, passed instead to Andy Oliver who created a 2 on 1 and with Josh Brown who then beat a final man close to the try line to score 12-5.
Instead of going for easy 3 points the vipers went to the corner which was defended well and Buckby would clear their lines. Vipers kept pushing for the try and made their way into the Buckby 22 in the final play of the game. Buckby turned the ball over and Sam Dudgeon went to kick the ball to touch, this was charged down giving vipers hope to regain the ball but Jake Toseland dived on the ball the quickest and Buckby piled in to secure the ball, finally getting the ball off the pitch to win.
Lessons from previous results especially defensive determination gave Buckby the platform to win this game and now they need to look to improve on this further with the attacking possibilities this team has delivered previously.
