After two consecutive losses, Bletchley were determined to pull a win out of the bag last Saturday when they played host to fellow Buckinghamshire side Marlow who were also above them in the league.
Bletchley were without captain Carl Miller due to a rib injury which may sideline him for the remaining games but flyhalf Phil Harman stepped up to be captain for the day and did an excellent job. Cuan Mackenzie was standing in at scrumhalf and No 8 Dougie Webster was also out due to a neck injury which may also rule him out for the remainder of the season. Bletchley started well but then conceded a penalty, the first of many, to Marlow who from the lineout drove down the pitch. Bletchley defended well but it is difficult against a driving maul and conceded the inevitable penalty to the visitors. Marlow went for the kick at goal but narrowly missed and Bletchley were off the hook.
Bletchley went back hard at Marlow with some good running, particularly Tim Stobbs on the wing and caused some problems for the visitors but they could not convert this to points. Stobbs’ offload to No 8 Dagan Probert was a peach but unfortunately the No 8 could not hold onto the ball, which allowed a scrum to Marlow. The two sides kept hammering away at each other and Bletchley managed to keep the pressure on Marlow for a period within the visitors’ 22 metres area. Shortly before half time, scrum half Cuan Mackenzie suffered a clash of heads with a Marlow player which seemed to affect his jaw but he stayed on the park. Centre Adam Griffiths did a crunching tackle on a Marlow centre with the ball when the visitors had a three man overlap and this seemed to stun the Bletchley man. Bletchley kept the pressure on and finally won clean ball to allow Phil Harman to drop a goal which put Bletchley 3 pts in the lead. Bletchley kept pressing but Marlow defended well and finally Bletchley got their reward when they were awarded a penalty in front of the Marlow posts. Phil Harman stepped up and converted for 3 points and Bletchley were 6pts to nil in the lead.
In the second half Marlow came back into the game as Bletchley had to rearrange their back line with Mackenzie (who was having a great game at scrumhalf) and centre Griffiths coming off with injuries. Phil Harman moved to scrumhalf with George Harman taking over at flyhalf and Tim Stobbs moving into the centre. The new scrumhalf did a great job with some high chip kicks which were chased by the Bletchley wingers and put pressure on the Marlow back line. But Marlow were not prepared to let Bletchley have their own way and moved into the Bletchley 22 metres area to force a penalty for their first points.
Shortly afterwards a Bletchley player was penalised for a technical offence and also yellow carded, 10 minutes off the park, and Bletchley were down to 14 men. However, Marlow could not take advantage of this and Bletchley kept pressuring and keeping possession by some good forward play involving hooker Brett Staniford and prop Tom Hannell. The scrummaging was tight for Bletchley with prop Andy Priddle in his first start for the 1st XV making a solid base for the pack. Lineouts were working well with flanker Ty Stockill taking the ball cleanly on a number of occasions.
With only a short while to go, the Bletchley pressure proved too much and forced another penalty which Phil Harman converted for the homeside to give a 9pts to 3pts lead. No further score occurred, although a Marlow player was also yellow carded, and Bletchley finally ran out winners for their sixth win out of eight for the second half of the season.
This Saturday, Bletchley are away to Old Oakmedians in Bournemouth and looking for another win with only three games left of the season.
Report by Don Griffiths
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