LEIGHTON BUZZARD 17 – 19 FULLERIANS
After a closely-fought match, Leighton Buzzard had to settle for a losing bonus point as they slipped to a narrow defeat in their latest league fixture at home to Fullerians.
After an initial period in midfield, the visitors took the lead after five minutes with a well-worked move. Having stretched the Buzzard defence to the left, the Fullerians fly-half skillfully kicked crossfield to the unmarked right winger to score unopposed. The difficult conversion was missed leaving the score 0-5.
Buzzards responded well and, in the following twenty minutes, dominated territory helped by a succession of penalties conceded by Fullerians. Tom Maynard and Jack Whitehouse were prominent in attack and Liam Beer went close before Joe Healy finally drove over to equal the score at 5-5.
This remained the score until the final play of the half. After a succession of scrums, five metres from the Buzzard line, the ball was finally moved wide for the visitors backs to score. The successful conversion left the half-time score 5-12.
Despite being disrupted by injuries to Joe Healy, Jacob Dove and Matt Bloxham, Buzzards started the second half well, immediately pressurising the visitors’ line, giving the opportunity for captain Owen Forsythe to score after three minutes. Again, the difficult conversion was missed, leaving Buzzards trailing 10-12.
Injuries in the Buzzard pack led to Fullerians dominating the set piece – to the extent that they chose a scrum rather than a penalty and then drove over for a push-over try. The conversion meant Buzzards trailed 10-19. The nine-point lead lasted only four minutes as Tom Maynard, who had a fine game, scored in the corner. Jack Cullen converted from the touchline so Leighton were trailing by only two points at 17-19 with twenty minutes left.
With both teams having scored three tries, bonus points as well as victory were agonisingly close. However both defences held firm and, whilst it was frustrating to be so close, Leighton rarely looked like adding to their score, leaving them just a losing bonus point for their efforts.
After a week’s break, Buzzards travel to Old Haberdashers on December 2nd.