Sat 22 Feb 2020, 14:15
Long Buckby v Leicester Forest
Buckby would start brightly against a team flying high in the league, looking to use the elements and slope to their advantage in the first half. A cleaver grubber by Callum Higham would see Forest looking to play out of the 22 and this would continue throughout the game. Buckby seemed to have all the territory in the first half and Andrew Frankland would pick from the back of a ruck and play Andy Oliver through a gap to make yards further into the Forest half. Sam Dudgeon was sniping around the fringes and Sam Evans making his presence felt in attack. There were huge gaps in the Forest midfield but Buckby went with the forwards a phase too many on a couple of occasions given Forest the opportunity to set their defence and making it hard to break them down. Forest we’re unable to clear very far due to the wind so they looked to run and pass from side to side looking for a weak link. Then a moment which will be re-lived in the club house in years to come and the story of how far out will be exaggerated but an excellent read of the situation saw Tim Lewis intercept the ball one handed and run in untouched to score the opening point. Nothing short of what Buckby’s dominance in the early stages deserved 5-0 (9mins).
Forest would continue to play in the same fashion but would start to make some progress drawing defenders in and then passing out the back to the fast back three. Once beyond the gain line the Buckby defence would scramble and last ditch tackles would keep Forest at bay but they would break the resilience and get on the scoresheet near the corner. Tough kicking conditions would see Forest hit the post 5-5 (16 mins). This was the start of a 5 minute flurry which Buckby never recovered from. Forest second try was similar to the first while the third came from Buckby unable to clear their lines off their own scrum and the Forest 8 picking from the base of the scrum 5-15 (21 mins). None of the tries were converted with at least 2 hitting the post.
From the re-start Dan Taylor rose the highest claiming the ball, Jack Gibbons would take on his opposite man on down the wing before passing inside to Andy Oliver making a further 30 metres. From here Buckby would sustain pressure in the Forest 22 and would rue the missed opportunities that seemed to be left on the pitch in the first half, Chris Page and Sam Evans getting close. Another backs move would see dummy lines in the midfield give Andy Oliver another chance to break through the Forest defence before getting cut down about 5 metres short of the line. Forest’s well organised defence would hold firm with Buckby having 5 metre scrums and attacking lineouts getting close but to no avail.
HT
The first 15 minutes of the second half couldn’t have gone worst for Buckby as Forest found their range due to soft penalties giving Forest good field position. They would go on to score 3 converted tries and take the game away from Buckby 5-36 (55 mins). From this point Buckby tried to get back into the game knowing they could score against this team by keeping a hold of the ball and work the phases. Charlie McDermott fresh out of quarantine would come on as a replacement along with Andrew Wilcock and Andrew Tarplee to give fresh legs to Buckby’s push to get back into the game. Jack Gibbons would make a good run down the wing and penalty advantage would give Buckby chance to play deeper into Forest territory. Buckby opted for a scrum 10 metres out with Andrew Frankland picking from the base of a forward moving scrum stepping inside his opposite number and powering over the try line 10-36 (63 mins). Buckby were now on the front foot making breaks and yards in the collision. Buckby looked to have created an overlap and Jack Gibbons would be certain to score without a hand from the opposition knocking the ball down. A penalty was awarded and a yellow card for the culprit however in the moments following the knockdown Buckby lost Andrew Tarplee for a tackle off the ball so both teams were down to 14 men. Buckby would kick to the corner and look to drive the ball over the line and with a penalty advantage, quick thinking from Sam Dudgeon he would ask for the penalty and took a quick tap to score in the corner. This was converted from a tight angle into the wind by Callum Higham to make the score 17-36 (69 mins). Buckby were now looking for a try bonus and would look to throw everything at Forest, Jake O’Keife started by hitting a hard line into the forest midfield, it would take two defenders to get him to ground by not before slipping an offload to Andy Oliver through the gap he created, taking the ball further up the hill looking for support which came in the form of Sam Dudgeon who would get clattered from the scrambling Forest players. Buckby looked a different team and would keep marching forwards. Unfortunately Buckby couldn’t take advantage of this pressure and Forest would get the final say scoring in the last play of the game, final score 17-43.
FT
MOTM - Tim Lewis
