Saturday 18th November 2023: Marlow RFC 1XV vs Amersham and Chiltern RFC 1XV

Marlow RFC 1XV:- 3
Penalties: 1

Amersham and Chiltern RFC 1XV:- 40
Tries: 6
Conversions: 5
Penalties: 0

Half Time: 3–19

With a wee bit of pressure mounting after our hard-fought draw with 2nd place HAC last week, we had a short hop down the road to Riverwoods, the home of Marlow RFC for another of our Bucks derby games.

7th place versus top spot, and us there to be shot at, it was important that we return to winning ways and maintain our push for promotion to level 5.

Both sides were packed with home grown youths and with mobile phones and ear pods locked away for 80 minutes rugby for them all. It was a joyful distraction as they all stepped up and gave everything in an entertaining match.

Congratulations also to Jack GURNEY, 1st Team debut at Number 6 (back row).

Quite a match belying his tender age.
With the sky having shed tears all morning there was casual water throughout Bucks. At the side of the river Thames, owing to a gravel base, the pitch was in great condition although muddy to the touch.

A&C had brought Dave Crimp to run the line and intimidate. With no jip from the players or crowd he ran the line impeccably and had quite a busy afternoon.

Soon after kick off Noah Jarvis livened things up gifting an intercept purely to test our defence early on. They passed the test. Lock Kieran Booth though made the early yards scoring the opening try after some resilient rucking and a strong finish under the posts. Tom Fawsett converting easily (0-7).

Within 3 minutes Marlow built well into the A&C half and with a high tackle deserved the penalty chance which they took well (3-7).

The next 10mins was competitive until A&C again applied pressure with the greater amount of possession and rucking before prop Cameron Wilson thudded over for the 2nd try duly converted by Tom (3–14).

On 31 minutes and after sustained possession from A&C winger Bojan Cecaric ran beautifully securing the 3rd try in the corner which Tom failed to convert (it was a tough one but good effort)

Half time: 3-19

Marlow stuck with it against a dominant A&C defensive line. Jordan Scott continued to turn the screw after another Bojan surge with another try under the posts. Step up Tom (3-26) and then on 62 minutes Kieran again with a great steal and rampage widened the well-deserved lead. Noah Jarvis converting (3-33) to conclude and well-deserved after some missed chances.

It was Lloyd Anderson exposing a tired Marlow defence to secure our last try followed by a quite brilliant Noah Jarvis conversion from the touchline.

Final Score (3-40).

With the Knights of Camelot losing their lead against HAC and drawing 17-17 it was indeed a ‘lovely day’ allowing Chiltern to open a 6-point lead at the top of the league.

Next Match: Saturday 2nd December. With a week off Amersham and Chiltern then welcome Belsize Park to Weedon Lane for another test and top versus 3rd place. Should be a cracker!

See you there.

Team
1. Cameron WILSON
2. Chris JOYCE
3. Charlie SWERLING
4. Kieran BOOTH
5. Harry BRADSHAW
6. Jack GURNEY
7. Josh FINCH (Captain)
8. Jordan SCOTT
9. Alex BOWER
10. Dan KINGSLEY
11. Bojan CECARIC
12. Noah JARVIS
13. Lloyd ANDERSON
14. Tom FAWSSETT
15. James MORRISON
16. Joe BATT
17. Aaron LEWIS
18. Jack KENYON