Firsts have another friendly to keep sharp for Slough fixture

Phoenix 17 pts Littlemore 34 pts
Without a league fixture, Phoenix conjured up a Club fixture against Berks Buck and Oxon South team Littlemore.
Phoenix immediately knocked on from the kick-off to put pressure on themselves with almost no Littlemore involvement. But Phoenix were able to relieve the pressure when they were awarded a penalty but failed to follow up the up and under and were immediately back under even more pressure. Clearly Littlemore were in gear for this encounter and drove hard into the Phoenix defence. There were no easy routes through for Littlemore at this stage as Phoenix defended strongly. An error in mid-field gave Littlemore the first scoring chance with a penalty easily in kicking distance and they duly accepted the gift of a 3 point lead. Huge mistakes by the Phoenix pack put the team under enormous pressure and Littlemore were more than able to stretch the Phoenix defence. But Phoenix showed their strength when James Dean crossed for the opening try of the match when he harassed the Littlemore scrum half and was fast enough to race through, gather the ball and exchange passes with captain Ian Watkinson before crashing over for the first try of the match after 15 minutes. A superb Coltman conversion gave the home side a 7 points to 3 advantage but shortly afterwards Littlemore forced a lineout just 10 meters out and drove over for a try to take the lead. Luke Maundrell came on for an injury to James Dean which forced a Phoenix re-organisation which put Ian Watkinson at scrum-half. Maundrell was immediately in action clearing the ball to half way after a threatening Littlemore attack was thwarted. Phoenix were severely pressed and the half finished with Littlemore camped on the Phoenix line.
With just a single point between the teams at the interval, Phoenix upped their game as the second half got under way. A penalty in front of the posts was rejected by Phoenix as they decided to run at the Littlemore defence which up until now had looked pretty secure. Alas for the home side the venture collapsed with a knock-on. But Phoenix remained within striking distance of the Littlemore line for some time, coming close on several occasions. Littlemore defended strongly however and Phoenix were thrust back in the tackle. This was a crucial phase of the match, which was won by Littlemore by virtue of not surrendering just a penalty goal. But this was not enough to trouble Littlemore as they began to run Phoenix ragged moving the ball left and right and crossing beneath the posts to take the lead. Phoenix struggled to hold onto Littlemore as they ran the ball freely around the park. In attack Littlemore were irresistible and Phoenix provided little for their supporters as Littlemore ran in a couple more tries before Adam MacMillan for Phoenix finished things off with a fine try crashing through some weak Littlemore tackles to score just to the left of the posts. Coltman duly converted and brought proceedings to a close.
Phoenix train every Tuesday evening at 7.00 p.m. at their grounds in Institute road Taplow see www.phoenixrfc.com for further information. Next weekend Phoenix entertain Slough in the Bucks Berks and Oxon Premier League at Institute Road kick-off 3.00 p.m. Everyone is welcome for this last league match of the season at Phoenix.
Phoenix: Edd Dibb, Tom Porter, Jamie Willis, Alistaire Bilson, Duncan Wardle, Nigel Coltman, Mark Jones, Ian Watkinson, James Dean, Matt Hood, Dave McMillan, Adam McMillan, Ken Roke, Paul Hilling, Jason Townsend.
Subs: Luke Maundrell.
Other Results:
Henley 4th XV 56pts Phoenix 2nd XV 20 pts