Wow!
One word match report anybody? This was a game to savour, sit back and enjoy as much the sunshine. From the thumping opening tackle by Niall London to the sheer pace of James Simonds beating half the Wallingford back line, a great one handed offload put Maffu Glendinning under the the posts. Minutes later, Wiggy Gurney intercepted on the Bucks 22 and Olly Horton raced away to score the second. With Tom Gurney converting both, Bucks were suddenly 14 points to the good.
Wallingford’s game plan seemed to be to get into the Bucks 22 and then rumble away through their heavy forwards and following a penalty kick to the corner, they inched there way over the line despite some despite some pretty hard defence from Bucks. Conversion missed ; 14-5.
Bucks looked dangerous every time the back three were anywhere near the ball. The two wings combined to gain some serious yards and then the forwards matched by winning a scrum penalty that saw Jamie Temple spinning his way through to score under the posts with Tom Gurney again converting; 21-5
Despite a messy restart, a couple of solid drives by the forwards set up the chance to go wide and the quick hands and even quicker feet of Wiggy Gurney (with some outrageous steps) and Bucks were again under the posts. Tom Gurney converted to take the game to 28-5.
Wallingford then rumbled again into Bucks half and a penalty for a high tackle allowed them close enough to bash their way to a second try which they converted for 28-12. After the restart Bucks repaid the favour by setting up a rolling mall that took Harry Fellingham over the line. Coversion missed but 35-12 turning towards half time. Bucks weren’t finished yet as a classy backs move and Jack Wildman on the hoof created another chance for Wiggy Gurney to go over.
Seond half opened as Bucks finished – 3 phases from the KO before Wiggy set up another score; 42-12. Quickly followed by a lovely inside pass to James Simonds who then had a clear run in to make it 49-12. Max Cubitt replaced by Liam Kovel.
Some poor discipline and extras from the referee put Wallingford into the Bucks corner and the Wallingford fullback showed some great balanced running to cut back on the blind side and create a score. Missed conversion; 47 -17. The game then started to “open up” with Jack Wildman and Max Boothby both scoring before a couple of Bucks tries took the final score to 71-17.
Any number of highlights in the game – scum penalties and rolling mauls to keep the forwards happy, the sheer speed of the back three and the quick hands and hard yards of the centres. Good clearances and game management kept Wallingford out of our 22 and in the end they never really threatened.
It was a pleasure to watch.

Man of the match : Wiggy Gurney
Match Report: Guy James