Leighton Buzzard continued their winning ways scoring five unanswered tries away at Bugbrooke in the latest round of their Midlands 2 east South campaign. Earlier in the season Leighton were held to a draw by the Bugbrooke badgers but this game was very different.
The opening shots were well matched with both sides settling down playing in bright sunlight but with a strong wind blowing at the Buzzards backs. While this helped with kicks in the first half it didn’t help the handling as both teams made quite a few errors. Despite some good attacks Leighton were unable to get across the line and had a number of efforts repelled by the home side before Irwin broke down the right wing, as he was tackled just short he managed to get a pass away which was retrieved by James Pratt to score in the corner. The difficult conversion was made by Ewan Starling who is starting to make his mark on the team at standoff. 0-7 to Buzzards.
This was followed a few minutes later when a break in midfield allowed Captain Whitehouse to pop up a pass to Fullback Harry Sayer who went in under the posts. Conversion again by Starling 0-14 and 25 minutes played. By now the set piece was starting to perform nicely with lineouts going well and the scrum more than holding their own.
Bugbrooke managed a break into Buzzard territory when an interception from a loose pass in the tackle allowed the home side to put pressure on the Leighton line but good defensive work from across the team kept them out to give the visitors a 14 points to nil lead at half time.
In the second half Leighton were playing into the wind and the slowly setting sun was shining up the pitch to make it even more difficult for the boys in blue. Captain Jack Whitehouse was having no excuses though and broke through the home defence before a beautifully weighted pass put Irwin in under the posts after just four minutes of the second half. Starling added the extras and Leighton were 0-21.
Leighton now had control of the midfield and all Bugbrooke could do to hold on, sometimes illegally when first the Bugbrooke second row had a yellow card followed, on his return to the pitch, by the home side scrum half. A scrum 10 meters out allowed Jack Whitehouse in midfield to pop the ball to fullback Harry Sayer coming into the line at pace to score under the posts. Conversion Staring to make it 0-29. However not everything went Leightons way with first replacement winger Jack Kempster going over to score but he was adjudged to have stepped into touch first, no try. Then a break at a maul from new prop Russ Orr Burns who then headed forward at a fast rate of knots to dive over the line, unfortunately this was the five-meter line again no try.
Leighton backs had the final say with a break from outside the 22m area allowing centre Euan Irwin to gallop in for his second try of the day and Leightons fifth. The conversion by Starling making the final score Bugbrooke 0 Leighton Buzzard 35.
Next week Leighton are back in action playing a rescheduled game away against Northampton Casuals in a fixture postponed from December.
Some of Leighton’s Gallant supporters
