Sat 1^st December 01
Ampthill Extras 47 – Buckingham Vets 7  

 Mud, mud, glorious mud…. 

After a morning of constant and sometimes torrential rain the Extras took to the field against Buckingham’s ‘Formerly Men in Beards’. 

The Extras won the toss and decided to play uphill in the first half. The sodden and muddy pitch  meant conditions were not well suited for a fast, free flowing passing game. Much of the eighty minutes found the forwards trudging from one scrum to the next. This suited the visiting team more but the Extras playing percentage rugby came up trumps. 

The first try came for Paul Ratcliffe when he dribbled the ball down the wing, beat the last defender and then touched the ball down as he ran past it in the dead ball area.

Kevin Smith was next to score on the left wing after a strong attack from the Ampthill backs. Jason Massingham was next to cross the line for his second try of the season. From here on in it looked as if the only outcome of this match could be an Extras victory. 

Prop Brian Geary was back in action for the Extras after several weeks absent with injury. He was straight back in action against one of the biggest props the Extras had encountered this season.

Kevin Smith scored a second first half try before making way at half time for Tim Ames.

Second half tries came from Rob "Jug-Ears" Campbell (a ‘jugless’ hat trick), Fly half Gareth Williams, and Matt Taylor. 

Ampthill would have topped fifty points had centre Steve Marsden managed to score a couple more than the one conversion he succeeded in kicking. He later claimed his feet were getting stuck in the mud with the approach to his kicks- "Lying B@stard - Ed.".   

Although the Extras enjoyed their spell of ‘challenging’ games in recent weeks they were extremely happy to be on the right end of back-to-back thrashings.  

Tries:          Paul Ratcliffe, Kevin Smith (2), Jason Massingham, Gareth Williams, Matt Taylor, Rob Campbell (3)

Cons:         Steve Marsden