Buxton 0 Derbyshire Fire Services 15

Buxton, comprising mainly of the thirds took on the might of Derbyshire Fire Service on Tuesday evening in the rain and under floodlights at Sunnyfields. Despite the scoreline it was a close and hard fought affair. The match got off to an inauspicious start with referee Alan Wells having to retire with a pulled hamstring after two minutes. Luckily the firsts were training nearby and Andy Simms stepped into the breach. The Fire Service started the stronger. They kept the thirds pinned in their twenty two and with the Buxton scrum rocking they opened their scoring after five minutes with a well taken try from a set piece. Within minutes they were back in the Buxton twenty-two and carving through some weak tackling, found themselves 12 – 0 ahead. It looked like along night for the thirds. But as so often this season having made an ineffective and lacklustre start they began to play some rugby. Allen,Tideswell and Charles put in some big hits with Beeley banging into the defence forcing some big tackles from the Firemen. The front row of Sneddon, Fussell, and Bearman, reorganised after a nasty injury to Tideswell, began to assert themselves.

As half time beckoned so the weather set in and this along with some ferocious rucking by Buxton doused the Firemen’s flames. The thirds had much the better of the second half. They were unlucky not to score and had a try disallowed after a sweet move involving the forwards rumbling a few hard yards before Preece swept the ball to Poole who beat his marker and found Dan Gyte. He straightened the line burst through a couple of tackles and released Dawson. With twenty yards to go he broke down the wing his strength taking him through the desperate defence to touch down in the corner. He was deemed to have put a foot in touch and the score did not stand. Minutes later as the rain teemed down, Bennison slid through from Fullback onto a delicate pass from W Preece. He floated past three defenders but was caught thirty metres out. Allen and Fussell arrived and kept the move going, Austin picking up to drive within ten metres. Buxton then had a series of scrums. Three times they drove from the base of the scrum, through Charles and then Hodgkinson but the defence held firm and the ball was turned over by the firemen who relieved the pressure. The arrival of Steve Gyte with thirty minutes to go set the thirds alight. As well as inspiring those around him he was on a solo seek and destroy mission as he hunted down any green shirt with the ball, and caused considerable problems to the Fire Service front row. In addition to the scrum Buxton’s lineout functioned well. Taylor and Charles climbing high into the night sky took plenty of balls and disrupted much of the oppositions possession.

With time running out Preece took a quick penalty, Bearman carved a path through the traffic but was held up and the threat doused with a long clearance kick. A shambolic line out saw Buxton penalised and Fletcher slotted three points courtesy of an upright. As the clock ran down Richie almost got clear after he had picked up a loose ball out on the wing. But in the end the Fire Service defence held firm and they ran out winners 15 – 0.

It was a good hard game, played in difficult conditions but the Thirds need to start as they finish. If they could kick off with the same passion and commitment that they showed in the second half, the score line could have been different. On saturday its back to league action with an away trip to Aldwinians. With the same attitude shown in the second half the thirds can come back with three points.



Buxton were: Bearman (A Sneddon), Fussell, Tideswell (S Gyte), Austin, Taylor, Allen, Beeley (Hodgkinson), Charles, Preece, Richie, Hodgkinson (W Preece), D Gyte, Dawson, Bennison.