LEIGHTON BUZZARD 48 – 24 PETERBOROUGH LIONS
Leighton Buzzard won their final home league game of the season with an ultimately
convincing victory over Peterborough Lions. Whilst the visitors are the league bottom
side, they put up a spirited performance – midway through the second half there was
only a 5 point gap, before Buzzards pulled away in the final quarter.
Leighton kicked off downhill and with the slight benefit of a crosswind. It took eight
minutes for the Buzzard backs to show their style that would be sporadically evident
throughout the game – running the ball from deep in their half to close to the try line.
Shortly afterwards Jack Whitehouse broke through and seemed certain to score but
was held up over the line.
Ten minutes later, Buzzards once again thought they were about to score as captain,
Owen Forsythe, charged towards the line. However the referee had unintentionally
obstructed a Lions defender so stopped play and came back to a Leighton penalty
which Tom Winch converted for a 3-0 lead. Peterborough responded almost
immediately. A couple of penalties had given the visitors a good attacking position.
Whilst the initial Leighton defence held firm, the ball was spread wide for a try in the
corner to leave Buzzards trailing 3-5.
In a half of missed opportunities, Leighton almost scored a third time as Will Bennett
charged towards the line, only for the referee’s whistle to bring an end to a promising
situation. After all the near misses, Buzzards scored twice in two minutes. Jack
Whitehouse scored both, the second after excellent handling by Wills Messum and
Jack Kempster. With Tom Winch converting the first try, Leighton led 15-5.
Once again the visitors rallied and scored a fine converted try from their own half.
However, shortly afterwards, the 10-point advantage was restored as centres Jack
Whitehouse and Eddie Wiggins combined well for Wiggins to score. With Tom Winch
converting, Buzzards took a 22-12 lead into half-time.
The second half started well for Buzzards. Following a break by Jacob Dove the ball
was passed wide to Jack Kempster but the try-scoring pass was adjudged forward.
However a couple of minutes later Tom Winch carved through to score under the
posts and converted his own try to put Buzzards 29-12 ahead.
If the home crowd felt comfortable with a 17 point lead, they were soon concerned as
the visitors scored two tries in quick succession. With one of these converted,
Buzzards’ lead at 29-24 seemed precarious.
If Leighton had been inconsistent for the first hour, they finally managed to convert
their undoubted attacking threat into points, Firstly Jacob Dove, was prevented from
scoring by a high tackle – just a penalty rather than a penalty try was awarded but
this hardly mattered as Euan Irwin crashed over following a quick tap. Tom Winch
converted to extend the lead to 36-24.
Two further tries were added, both by Ryan Eaton, showing excellent support to
breaks by Eddie Wiggins and Euan Irwin. Tom Winch converted one of these to take
his personal tally to 18 and the final score 48-24.
Next week Leighton travel to Northampton Old Scouts for their final league game of
the season.