Wallingford 37, Buckingham 20

Two tries from Henry Venners helped Wallingford to an impressive home victory in South West 1 East.

The full back was in outstanding form as the hosts made it six league wins in a row with a confident display.

Wallingford’s tight five gave them great solidity on a pitch that survived the freezing conditions elsewhere, while their simple, clinical attacking proved too much for Buckingham.

The visitors were no mugs, but were slightly flattered by the 20 points they scored against dominant opponents.

Wallingford had the better of the early territory, although wing Jackson Sayce saw his fourth-minute penalty drop just short.

Sayce and Venners looked the hosts’ most dangerous runners from the start.

And it was Sayce who gave them the lead with a simple finish on 13 minutes after prop Darren Small’s initial charge, the former converting.

It took Buckingham 20 minutes to enter Wallingford’s 22 and they soon fell further behind.

Venners started and finished a scintillating move on the right, which saw him link superbly with Sayce.

The hosts looked in control, but conceded two sloppy penalties for getting in front of the kicker and Buckingham centre Henry Colver punished them with a brace of three-pointers.

Wallingord continued to make all the running and it was no surprise when they scored a third try on 36 minutes.

Flanker Will Woodward, centre Johnny Collett and lock Tom Rowberry were all involved in a dynamic attack, which ended with No 8 and captain Ian Jeffreys breaking two tackles to power over, Sayce converting.

Sayce slotted a penalty just after the break, but Buckingham were now offering a little more in attack.

They pulled back a try through wing Jamie Lee on 52 minutes after the home defence stood still, expecting referee Geoff Howells to blow up for what they claimed was a forward pass.

Colver converted this, but his side spilt the restart and a second Sayce penalty gave Wallingford more breathing space.

Victory was sealed on the hour mark when centre Pete Holton’s strong run ended with a powerful right-wing finish.

It was fitting that Venners scored try No 5 to cap a fine game, capitalising on Ralph Smith’s charge down to run in unchallenged for the latter to convert.

Buckingham finished strongly and grabbed a second try soon after Smith had been sin-binned for taking out a man off the ball.

Some quick hands gave Colver a simple finish underneath the posts on 75 minutes and he added the conversion, but the result was never in doubt.

Wallingford: Venners, Smith, Collett (Viljoen 46), Holton, Sayce, Brettell (White 58), Dawes, Blaszko (Payne 76), Hill, Small, McKenna, Rowberry, W Woodward, Chapman, Jeffreys (capt).

Referee: G Howells (Gosport)

Man-of-the-match: Venners.