Sat 16 Dec 2023
High Wycombe II 48 Shire Hall 29
With a raft of unavailabilities, Shire Hall were always going to find this fixture difficult with only 14 men. The game saw the return of Alex Webb and Will Jellicoe after absence and certainly the opening plays of the game were very much in Shire’s favour. It took only 4 minutes for Shire to open the scoring when a nicely delayed pass from Arun Luis gave Ollie Homan-Green the chance to crash over. Shire nearly doubled their score when Jonny Parry went agonisingly close but Wycombe managed to clear the danger. This good start from Shire seemed to galvanise Wycombe and it wasn’t long before they opened their scoring and then quickly added a second try with both tries converted. Having only 7 players in the pack was proving to be a problem as Shire were unable to dominate in the set pieces. Matt Margot, Matt Corcoran, Ollie Homan-Green and Gwyn Robins all had good carries but their efforts failed to produce any score. A third try from Wycombe saw Shire fall further behind before Rhys Stewart successfully landed a penalty to reduce the arrears. But it was Wycombe who finished the half stronger when they converted a penalty and secured their bonus point try on the stroke of half time.
Half Time Score: High Wycombe II 29 Shire Hall 8
At half time, Wycombe very kindly lent us a forward which meant that now it was 15-a-side. Two minutes into the half, a good passing movement saw Rhys Stewart cross for his first try of the season which he also converted. However another Wycombe try saw Shire pegged back. Then came the try of the match when, on the half way line (or it may have been further back!) Arun Luis pounced on the ball and set off for the try line. He had just enough speed to see off the covering defence and score under the posts. The try was converted by Rhys Stewart to reduce the deficit to just 12 points. With a full pack, Shire started to dominate the set pieces but a moment of indecision at the lineout saw Wycombe’s second row snatch the ball and sprint 25 metres to the line to extend their lead. A further Wycombe try sealed the result but Shire were not done yet. A rampaging Matt Margot grabbed the ball and stormed over. Rhys Stewart added a quick drop kick conversion but time was not on Shire’s side to reduce the deficit further.
A good second half by Shire but the damage was done in the first half when the well drilled Wycombe backs took advantage of their numerical advantage. Full credit for the effort displayed by the Shire 14 but we must improve our availability in order to get out of this league.
Final Score: High Wycombe II 48 Shire Hall 29
Tries: Ollie Homan-Green, Rhys Stewart, Arun Luis, Matt Margot
Conversions: Rhys Stewart (3)
Penalty Goal: Rhys Stewart
MOTM: Matt Margot – constant attacking threat
DOTD: Matt Corcoran – 30 minutes late for meeting time.
