Phoenix entertained Stow on the Wold at Institute Road last weekend in the Bucks Berks and Oxon Premier League. Having completed the double on Stowe last season, Phoenix were intent on repeating things for this year. Indeed, Phoenix got straight into action, making several attacks on the Stow line but the visitor’s strong defence proved difficult to break. Some lively breaks from Alex Walsh and drives from Phoenix centre Dave McMillan and the Phoenix pack in general all came to nought. The Phoenix pack was suffering a little in the tight scrums and was less than convincing at the lineout. It was in the loose play that Phoenix excelled where the back row trio of Watkinson, Mitchell and Richardson shone. Watkinson in particular gave the Stowe half backs a torrid time. Inspite of Phoenix having the upper hand during the first half hour of play, it was Stow who woke the scorers up with a penalty goal on 32 minutes, awarded when Phoenix went over the top in the loose. The kick was virtually in front of the posts and almost un-missable. From the restart, Phoenix took play straight back upto the Stowe line with a fine run from wing three-quarter Adam McMillan. James Richards in support took the ball over the line but was held up. Phoenix gained a couple of penalties close to the Stowe line but were unable to gain anything from them. A third penalty in as many minutes however on the Stowe 22 was converted by Phoenix fullback Chris Laidlaw to level the scores at 3 points a-piece within just a few minutes of half-time. But Phoenix failed to adequately control the ball from the restart and put themselves under pressure defending a scrummage in front of their own posts. An infringement at the scrummage gave Stow a simple penalty to take a 6 points to 3 lead just before the break. A 3 point deficit at the break for Phoenix did not reflect their territorial advantage and the amount of pressure that they had brought to bear on the Stow line but clearly, the Stow defence had made their tackles count during the half and they had taken their chances to conjure up a slim lead at the break.
Stow started the second half and were immediately put back inside their own 22 with some good driving firstly by Phoenix second row Duncan Wardle and then by flanker James Richardson. Phoenix kept play in the Stowe half and Watkinson turned the ball over for them in mid-field which enabled the Phoenix three-quarter line to provide just a small space for wing three-quarter Jason Townsend to squeeze in at the corner for the first try of the match. A couple of minutes later, Townsend scored his second try in the corner after gathering a poor Stow clearance to take Phoenix to a 15 points to 6 lead with about half an hour of the match remaining. This early dominance by Phoenix in the second half was quickly forgotten as they spilled the ball in front of their own posts and infringed again to give Stow the simplest of penalty attempts. Clearly it was not going to be Stow’s day as the kick bounced back of the upright but Phoenix failed to clear the danger immediately, knocking the ball on but eventually they managed to clear to touch after a short period of scrappy play. Phoenix were looking the more threatening although they only had a 9 point lead. As the Stowe defence began to flagg from the pounding that the Phoenix attack had given it, gaps began to appear. Phoenix moved the ball left and with Laidlaw providing the link, Adam McMillan managed to spill the ball for what looked like a certain try for the Taplow side. Within secods however, Phoenix had moved the ball right and Dave McMillan made up for his brother’s error by taking the return pass from Phoenix centre Simon Rodwell to increase the Phoenix lead to 16 points as Laidlaw slotted the conversion. Phoenix kept up the pressure as the match entered its final quarter and began to expose the gaps in the tiring Stow defence. Phoenix fly-half Dan Simmonds kept Stow inside their own 22 with some good tactical kicking. The Phoenix lineout began to gain useful ball and James Richardson broke clean throught o take play to within a meter of the Stow line where he popped a pass the Duncan Wardle who crashed over for the try that ensured a Phoenix victory. Richardson was immediately replaced by Mark Jones and McMillan scored his second try when Laidlaw came into the line and created space. But Stowe came back strongly and launched a three-quarter move only for Townsend to intercept and run threequarters the length of the field to take Phoenix to 41 points for the match. 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 travel to Oxford in the Bucks Berks and Oxon Premier League, kick-off 3.00 p.m. Everyone is welcome.

Phoenix: L Coomber, J Dixon, E Dibb (Captain), B Duncan, D Wardle, R Mitchell, I Watkinson, J Richardson, A Walsh, D. Simonds, D McMillan, S Rodwell, A McMillan, J Townsend, C Laidlaw.

Subs: M Simpson, A Herd, M Jones.

Other Results:
Grove 3rd XV 5 pts Phoenix 2nd XV 79 pts