MK 1st XV had their first coach trip of the season, away to Tadley on Saturday, and quite an adventure it was too, but what happens on the bus, stays on the bus, doesn’t it Brownie!

Tadley’s pitch is a well protected pitch so no wind, but quite wet underfoot, and this played quite a part in the game, even if it was only muddy.

The game started with both teams very evenly matched and after 20 minutes in, MK never really got out of their half, and after quite a few penalties against MK and with Tadley kicking for territory, it was inevitable that they would eventually get within kicking distance and so it was at the 21 minute mark that Tadley got their first points on the board with a penalty conversion.

Not to be out done it was at the 22 minute mark that Phil Powell replied like for like and took MKs first points with a converted penalty only for Phil Powell to cross Tadley’s line 4 minutes later for a try which he also went on to convert, taking the score to MK 10 – Tadley 3, this is the way it stayed right up until the 39th minute when Mark Austin was yellow carded for an alleged high tackle but it was obvious to everyone including the home supporters that the Tadley player slipped and went down, with Mark Austin committed to the tackle. But Tadley converted the penalty which led to the score being 10 – 6 at half time.

The half time talk from Sam Viggers was to take control of the discipline and to stick to the game plan, and so it was that Richard Hill (c) took the team back on with a mental 0 – 0 score, although Mark Austin retiring with injury not taking to the field after the break so it was that Iain Talbot went on 8 minutes into Mark Austin’s yellow card.

Although the half time talk was effective, unfortunately it didn’t change the nature of the game, and so it was that the second half emulated the first in that it was very scrappy, with no real game plan and roughly 40 minutes of defending although with some awesome forwards play and the odd bit of individual brilliance with some good backs runs by Dan Rolfe, Scott Aspinall, Gavin Whitehead and Phil Powell, it was only the boot of Phil Powell converting another two penalties for MK taking the full time score to 16 – 6 with ALL the points being scored by Phil Powell.

A very scrappy game, with no real game plan, some great individual efforts but no real team cohesion, and nearly 80 minutes of defence, a game that one hopes is never repeated for Milton Keynes.