High Wycombe II vs The Crows

After a weekend off, the Crows returned to league action on another sunny Autumnal day. This time, crossing the County border into Buckinghamshire, with High Wycombe the opposition.

The Crows were able to name an unchanged front 5, whilst Chay Smith made his first ever start in the pack, moving from outside centre to openside flanker, in a new look back row, comprising of Tom Dyson at 6 and Greg Redpath at 8. In the backs, Matt Jee was back at his accustomed position of scrum half and there were first run outs of the season, for Luke Smith and Jack Booth.

Straight from the kick off, Crowthorne stormed forward, with Redpath inches from an instant try. Unfortunately, he was bamboozled by the final summit of the small hill bizarrely situated  between the High Wycombe 5 metre and try line. However, with a penalty awarded, skipper Tom Stock opted for a scrum, from which the ball was worked left and fly half Dan Coombes crossed the whitewash, to open the Crows account for the day.

Straight from the restart, 2^nd row, Shaun Netherway, playing his final match for the Crows ahead of an unfortunate deportation to Northern Scotland, charged back up the field, dancing round defenders, before releasing the ball to the backs, who put Shepherd through in the corner. Another Shepherd try soon followed, after an outstanding kick and chase from deep inside the Crowthorne half.

Meanwhile, Chay Smith was proving a natural in the forwards, taking lineout ball comfortably, tackling everything that moved, being a menace at the breakdown and still making the breaks expected of an outside centre. One such break from near the half way line, resulted in a well-deserved try. A well-executed lineout maul resulted in a first try of the season for Dyson and there was still time for one further score before half time. That score going to the flying prop, Kankudai Osborne! After working through a couple of phases and finding space, the ball travelled through several sets of hands, before finding Osborne, who galloped in from at least 20 metres out! Coombes converted 5 of the 6 first half tries and added a penalty as part of a fine effort from the 10.

43 nil up at the break, complacency unfortunately  crept in a little and a combination of overplaying in their own 22, not giving the scoring pass when it was on and some ill-discipline, led to a sustained period of the Crows being camped near their own line. This ultimately yielded a well-deserved try for High Wycombe, who never gave up. Reasserting control and having emptied the bench, Crowthorne worked their way back down the field and some good interplay between backs and forwards, saw Tommy 2 Tries Dyson again cross the line. The try was duly converted by Coombes. Shortly after this, another promising foray into the HW half was halted after a serious injury to an HW back, who unfortunately suffered a dislocated elbow. With no spare pitch available and 61 minutes on the clock, the referee called time. Best wishes go to the injured HW player for a speedy recovery.

Many thanks to High Wycombe for being fantastic hosts, with the provision of a cheese board to accompany a delicious post-match meal, putting them firmly at the top of the list for hospitality we’ve received over the past 2 seasons. All in all a good day’s work for the Crows, sadly marred by a metatarsal injury to Chay Smith, who was having such a great debut in the pack. Man of the match went to Tom Dyson for tenacious defending throughout and a great contribution with ball in hand. He celebrated his award with a rapidly downed pint, before heading out into the Wokingham nightlife to cap off a great Saturday. The Crows go again next week at home versus Marlow, with a 3pm Kick off. All support at the Nest very much appreciated and for anyone wishing to join the Crows, please don’t hesitate to come to training on Tuesday nights at 7pm! #COYC