Sat 21 Mar 2026
Phoenix 56 Shire Hall 24
The previous encounter between the two sides was a close affair with Shire shading it. A number of regulars had picked up injuries and captain Ollie Homan-Green was unavailable due to him running in the Reading Half Marathon the next day. This meant that Shire fielded a very youthful squad but were looking to extend their unbeaten run to 5 games. The early play was very much Phoenix as their bigger and stronger forwards dominated. After only 5 minutes, Shire found themselves behind when they were caught napping at a penalty and so Phoenix went into a 7 point lead. 2 minutes later a flowing move through the hands stretched Shire’s defence and now it was a 14 point deficit. But 5 minutes later Shire had a stroke of good fortune after a clever kick by Kris Sharma into the Phoenix backfield confused the only defender and resulted in Matt Brazier going over for perhaps his easiest try of the season. Ryan Darby could not add the extras but at least Shire were on the scoreboard. Phoenix’s response was immediate with two tries in the next five minutes to give them their try bonus point. Ryan Darby was forced off the field with a possible dislocated shoulder to be replaced by Louis Bullen. (Our thanks to the Phoenix physio for her help with Ryan). Shire just could not into their stride and were pushed back by a resolute Phoenix defence. Alex Webb came close but was held up on the line but there was to be no more scoring in the half.
Half Time Score: Phoenix 28 Shire Hall 5
There were some stern words from captain Matt Margot at half time. So far Shire had shown only flashes of the recent good displays but clearly, they needed to be much better. Neil Evans and Oli Kidson were replaced by Rory Mears and Brandon Bullen. The opening minutes of the half were far more positive for Shire as they took play deep into the Phoenix half. A trademark break from Ed Gallen with good support saw Rory Mears go over after just 5 minutes. Matt Margot added the extra points and 5 minutes later Rory added another try with another strong run. No extra points from Matt Margot but Shire had reduced the deficit to just 11 points. Phoenix, however, had other ideas and were using their big forwards to great affect and put Shire under severe pressure close to their line. It was only a matter of time before Phoenix would capitalise and, on the hour, they increased their lead to 18 points. Shire’s response was immediate and after some powerful running, Matt Brazier found a gap to score his second try and secure a try bonus point at the very least. Matt Margot added the conversion, but the last 10 minutes of the game would seal the match. Shire had no answer to some lively play and conceded 3 more tries to bring to an end their unbeaten run.
This win for Phoenix was well deserved, and their performance belies their lowly league position. This was an under-par performance by Shire as really the whole team did not do themselves justice. We are a better team than this display and we will bounce back. Next up is our final home game against High Wycombe in a few weeks. As it stands, it looks like we will finish in the top half the league, but we will need to up our game in order to achieve this.
Final Score: Phoenix 56 Shire Hall 24
Tries: Matt Brazier (2), Rory Mears (2)
Conversions: Matt Margot (2)
MOTM: Matt Brazier – two tries and some superb tackling.
DOTD: Dave Tridgell – it would have gone to the whole team until his awful restart!
