Buzzards win again
Leighton Buzzard 18 Peterborough 10
Leighton Buzzard picked up their third win of the season against visitors Peterborough RFC on Saturday. Ona cold and windy the Buzzards started well and were moving the ball with confidence stretching the visiting side’s defence. After fifteen minutes and a break by Felix Fiske buzzards were deep into the Peterborough twenty-two. A number of quick phases later and scrum-half Brett put the kicked over the defence and put Tom winch in at the corner for the first score of the game. The missed conversion in windy conditions meant the score stayed at 5-0.
This was followed two minutes later when, from the kickoff, prop Batchelor made a break into the Peterborough half, despite lacking the pace to make it all the way he managed to break the defending line and put the visitors on the back foot. An offload to Wills Bennett pushed buzzards even deeper into the Peterborough half when he managed to offload in a tackle to winger Kempster who scored to make it 10-0. Again the conversion was missed.
From the kick-off Kemspter again got the ball and made a great break down the wing but was caught just short of the line and the ball was forced out of play for a Peterborough lineout. Buzzards managed to win the ball at the throw-in and Wills Bennett crossed the line but the try was disallowed for crossing. A reprieve for the visitors which was short-lived as they were penalised in the middle of the park for holding onto the ball in the tackle. Brett stepped up to take the penalty and pushed the ball between the sticks to make it 13- 0 .
Buzzards were playing well in all areas of the field but were starting to struggle in the scrum and prop Turney was given a yellow card for not pushing straight. Despite being down to fourteen men buzzards’ defence held and they soon made their way back into the Peterborough half. After the visitors were penalised for not throwing the ball in straight at the line Buzzards broke away from the resulting scrum and a good backline move sent Tome winch clear and he ran half the length of the park to score again. The missed conversion meant the half time score was 18-0 to Buzzards which was the half-time score.
The second half was more even with Peterborough fighting back and Buzzards suffering from a wave of penalties against them which allowed the visitors to drive deep into the home side half where they eventually managed to score making it 18-5 after 15 minutes of the second half. This pattern was repeated and despite some great defence from the Buzzards Peterborough eventually managed another try with five minutes left on the clock. The final score was 18-10 to Buzzards and a second win in difficult conditions.
Next week Leighton travel to Kettering in the first game of the second half of the season.