Sat 25th Mar 00
Bletchley 2/3rd 14 – Ampthill Extras 31
In a game where the Bletchley pack spent much of the time going backwards, it was thoroughly enjoyable to see the Extras’ forwards surging forward and taking control of the rucks and mauls.
It was a while before the Extras were to get on the score sheet. Leigh Clark found himself over the line and after a little wriggling dropped the ball without exerting downward pressure. No Try. He made amends shortly afterwards and there were first half tries for Leigh Clark, Kevin Smith, Phil Stanton and Paul Saunders. The latter, Paul, was back on a short break having spent two months playing in the sand in the Sudan.
Once again it was a large Extras turnout and even Liam Duffin (Note another mention! Ed.) had to put in a good performance to justify keeping himself on the pitch at half time.
The second half lacked the display of entertaining rugby seen in the first half but was certainly not short of incident. Gavin Griffith barged his way over the line from the back of the scrum for Ampthill’s 5th and final try of the match.
When necessary the Ampthill defence was strong. Matt Taylor put in a tackle after giving away a penalty for a high tackle which sent the much bigger Bletchley player dumped to the ground yards backwards. The Bletchley player clearly in pain got up and expressed to Matt that he thought he preffered the initial high tackle.
An off the ball incident towards the end of the game saw the game finished with each team down to 14 men, Both sides having their number 8s sent off.
Allistair Renwick managed to kick 3 conversions to take the Extras final Tally to 31 points. Bletchley managed to get two tries in the second half to make the final score 31-14 to the Extras.
15 Gareth Williams ‡ 1 Brian Geary
14 Kevin Smith 2 Brian Todd
11 Gary Bass 3 Wayne Peck
13 Paul Saunders ‡‡ 4 Tony Wilison
12 Leigh Clark 5 Lee Bradley
10 Allistair Renwick 6 Liam Duffin (c)
9 Phil Stanton 7 Ian Woulfe **
8 John Roberts *
16 Gavin Griffith * h-t
17 Ray Nix ** h-t
18 Jamie Dix ‡ h-t
19 Matt Taylor ‡‡ 65 mins
Tries: Phil Stanton, Leigh Clark, Paul Saunders, Gavin Griffith, Kevin Smith
Cons: Allistair Renwick (3)