Wessex v Withycombe (Dec 2012)

Wessex 3
Withycombe 28

(Match abandoned after 57 minutes)

Withycombe's rollercoaster season took another bizarre turn on Saturday as their league fixture against basement boys Wessex was abandoned after 57 minutes after several periods of fighting.

A game played at Flowerpot Fields is rarely a straightforward affair, and Withycombe's desire to grab the points and dash in a game described as a "potential banana skin" by assistant coach Richard Greenaway proved to be difficult to fulfil.

Withycombe dominated the early exchanges, Jack Pugsley passing up the opportunity of a tricky early penalty only to slot a much simpler one minutes later. Wessex hit back with their only points of the game shortly afterwards, before Pugsley struck again to restore the advantage. Wihtycombe were comfortably on top in the scrums, though the referee's interpretation of Wessex's jiggery-pokery at the set pieces led to an absurd amount of resets and only one penalty; bizarrely given against Withy. It was from a scrum though that Withycombe made their first big breakthrough, Mike Richards picking blind and putting John Parkin in space with only 50 metres of grass in front of him, and Withycombe's scrum-halves notching another long range try. Pugsley converted the extras from in front of the posts.

Wessex may have sensed the game was already getting away from them; niggles increased and although Withycombe profited greatly from returning the poor Wessex kick chases, midfield breakthroughs were hard to come by as the breakdown became a slow mess. One such kick return was fielded by Ben Mardle, almost finishing from forty metres after beating most of the Wessex defence. Mike Richards was to turn provider again as the "old Richards one-two" put brother Dave in acres of space to dash under the posts from 15 metres out, Pugsley again adding the extras. There was just time before the half for Wessex to knock on deliberately preventing a certain Withy try, the referee opting to whistle for half time rather than giving the more traditional penalty try, the score remaining 20-3.

After the half the game's less salubrious elements took over, with niggles and fighting a constant threat. Jack Pugsley converted an early penalty before all hell broke loose. First Mike Richards was taken out in the air from the re-start, though the winger who made the rather poor decision to run into "Big Mikey" had to be pracitcally carried to the sin bin, before skipper Dave Richards was sin binned along with one of Wessex's second rows for a disagreement that got out of hand. Wessex were not finished though, as another player was red carded for punching Ben Tuckett, with one of their bench players very lucky that his involvement was not spotted by the referee; officials take an extremely dim view of intereference by players not on the pitch.

With Wessex down to 12 men, another kick return put wide by Withycombe's backs gave Ben Mardle a relatively straightforward run-in to score, only to be kneed and punched after touching down. With players rushing to the scene, the referee abandoned the game with less than the 60 minutes normally required for the result of an abandoned match to stand. Both teams will now have to wait upon the results of a disicplinary hearing to learn their fate, though Withycombe will surely feel that they will have been robbed of a bonus point victory and a healthy points difference. Skipper Dave Richards said "We asked the boys for an 80 minute performance today after an inconsistent couple of weeks, and we got one, for 57 minutes at least. It's a shame." Withycombe host Pirates Amateurs next week at Raleigh Park and will be hoping for a similar score but very different circumstances.