Ghosts of games past are finally laid to rest
Buzzards swoop to victory
Leighton Buzzard 1st XV 31
Dunstable 5
What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago over at Dunstable Leighton were unmercifully put to the sword by the home side in front of a large crowd of crowing D's supporters. By full time Leighton had finally laid that ghost to rest, both the away supporters and the Dunstable team were silent, well beaten by a better side.
Leighton kicked off up the hill with a strong wind at their backs, Tom Gibbs the fly half made good use of the elements with a series of long raking kicks that pinned the visitors deep in their half.
The first try came from a break deep inside the Leighton half.
Dunstable transgressed at a scrum, Leighton were awarded a free kick which Sam Janes the young scrum half quickly took. A smart pass launched Frank Hawkins up the blindside on a 50 metre run before he linked with the ever present James Burrough who cantered in the last 30 metres for a well worked try.
A second score followed quickly, again young Janes spotting the space on the blindside. From a ruck Janes went blind, drew the opposition full back before putting Burrough away for his second try. It seemed at this stage with a strong wind at their backs Leighton were going to post an unassailable first half lead, Dunstable to their credit had other ideas and took control of the ball for long periods, using their strong inside centre to crash the ball over the gain line up the 10 & 12 channels.
The Dunstable back row were there very quickly to secure the ball which was then used to launch their big front five forwards in repeated drives up close to the break down area. Dunstable were aided by a very secure lineout which was in stark contrast to the Leighton set piece where they continually failed to secure their own ball.
From a ruck close to the line the mobile Dunstable hooker rounded the Leighton defence to go over in the corner for a good try.
Leighton suffered a further blow when their fly half had to leave the field with injury. Half time came with Leighton yet again having to shuffle their back line while Dunstable went into the break with their tails up and thinking that with the wind in their favour the game was for the taking.
In the second half though the Leighton back row began to dominate proceedings in open play. All three worked well together, the Dunstable back row fell off the pace leaving Hawkins and in particular the superb Messum free license to roam the field at will, causing havoc within the opposition defence with their strong runs.
>>See page 51 of this week's LBO for more rugby reports.
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
