With a 25-0 walkover in the merit table already in the bag as a result of Harpenden crying off, Tring travelled to Wycombe hoping for a good afternoon out in the sunshine. Unfortunately we came up against a well-organised Vets side who had clearly played a high standard of rugby together for many seasons. Tring started strongly, with Steve Rogers putting in a deft kick to the corner while other members of the front row union looked on in embarrassment. Chris Rose showed Steve what propping should really be about, giving his opposite number a flying lesson. Sadly the ref was familiar with the law change that outlawed lifting in the scrum a good decade ago and he awarded a penalty to Wycombe.
Rosie channeled his efforts into the loose and scored Tring's only try on 39 minutes, converted by Ben Hogan. At half time Tring were 20-7 adrift and we still felt we had a chance. In the second half Tring had long periods of sustained pressure but we couldn't get over the line. Frequently the attack broke down and Wycombe countered from deep, their fast back line notching up several long range tries. It didn't help that we only had five genuine backs in the squad, with Andrew Sherring-Lucas and Callum Fenner doing their best in the three-quarters. We also lost Steve Rogers, Paul Lamberth and Martin Beddall to injury. MOM was Alex Rowbottom at full back, who put in several try-saving tackles that prevented the scoreline from being much worse. Alex also showed flair in attack. Despite the heavy defeat, the boys can take heart from several concerted periods of pressure in the Wycombe 22, and surely any game is better than no game?