HIGH Wycombe RUFC’s long unbeaten run hit a brick wall on Saturday when third-placed Thatcham overpowered them in a 46-27 victory at Kingsmead.

Wycombe had been on a six-game unbeaten run going into the match and their bid to make it seven got off to a flyer with a try inside five minutes.

However, a contentious Thatcham score soon afterwards rocked the hosts back on their heels and they weren’t able to recover again despite another couple of tries from fly half Matt Wardle.

But despite the scoreline, player/coach Luke Harding insists it was a missed opportunity for his team.

He said: “We started off playing the best rugby we’ve played in the last two years, but they scored from a line-out even though there was a blatant knock-on and that didn’t do us any favours.

“But it was a game of what ifs. They had to work very hard for that win and the score reflected very well on them.

“They were a little bit more physical than us, but skill wise I think we were the better team.

“We’re not a million miles away from them, if not just about on a par. It’s frustrating because if we’d won that game we’d have been right in the race for second.

“But we’ll keep going, you never know what can happen.”

Harding does admit however, that some familiar failings reared their head again in the match, with missed tackles contributing to three Thatcham tries.

He said: “I’m not going to name names, but some people got into bad habits again. We let three tries in through midfield when we just didn’t make our tackles.”