Leighton Buzzard victory marred by serious injury

And, once again, their defence was miserly. However, there was no mood of celebration as the victory was marred by the injury to Archie Dandy, who fractured his ankle and tibia.

Peterborough Lions kicked off in dry and still conditions with the benefit of the slope. It took Leighton just three minutes to open the scoring, with James Brett touching down in the corner after a quickly taken penalty. He scored his second try eight minutes later, following an excellent run by Archie Dandy. Whilst neither of these tries were converted, the visitors had kicked a penalty making the score 10-3, which quickly became 10-6 as the visitors added another penalty.

Midway through the half Jacob Dove added a third Buzzard try and shortly afterwards Jamie West scored in the corner after an excellent finish. James Brett, who had rediscovered his kicking form, converted both to put Leighton 24-6 ahead. With five minutes of the half left, Tom Maynard added a fifth try which, with the conversion, extended the lead to 31-6.

Perhaps Buzzards’ concentration wavered as the referee announced last play of the half, but Peterborough Lions ended the half with an excellent try of their own from inside their half to leave the score 31-13 at the break. Incredibly this was only the second try Leighton had conceded in four league matches.

Buzzards started the second half well, with Ash Walsh touching down following a line-out drive three minutes after the re-start. Two minutes later, an excellent kick from James Brett was chased down by the marauding back row combination of Jacob Dove and Jacob Murtagh providing the opportunity for Tom Maynard to add to his growing number of tries. James Brett converted both making the score 45-13.

Catching the ball straight from the kick off, Sam Dove ran forty metres- but play suddenly stopped as Archie Dandy suffered his horrendous injury. Fortunately, there was immediate medical attention as the game stopped for many minutes before continuing on the adjacent pitch.

Shortly after play resumed, a run by Matt Bloxham made the opening for James Brett to score his third try, which he converted. Much of the remainder of the half was played in midfield with the frequent sound of the referee’s whistle restricting open rugby. There was time for Carl Griffiths, to make his Buzzard league debut and for Ash Walsh, later nominated as man-of-the- match by the visitors, to add a further converted try.

Shortly afterwards a Peterborough Lions forward was injured. With extensive treatment required on the pitch, the referee decided to end proceedings early leaving the final score 59-13.

Next week Leighton travel to Brackley.