Stoke Old Boys ??? – ??? Old Wheatleyans
Come Back Kings Strike Again!
A good game ended in a farce when the referee recorded to two different scores on the results cards.
Full credit to Stoke players, committee, and supporters who told the referee he had got it wrong & the Old Wheatleyans had won 26-29. Watch this space to find out the high court ruling on this matter ……………
A rally within club meant the squad could be selected from 28 available players – a big thank-you to all those that made themselves available. For those that didn’t actually play Saturday your continued support is very much needed and a 2nd XV should be fielded this week if there are no cry-offs from anyone.
The actual game started with Stoke the far stronger side upfront, the Wheats were struggling to get out of there 22 but were defending courageously. After a clearance up towards the 10m line the Wheats felt they could have some breathing space – big mistake, a superb Stoke maul sent the watching Wheats pack under the posts. 7-0.
Stoke remained on top for majority of the 1st half, although the Wheats were starting to cause them some problems in the scrum. The Wheats managed to register 1 try in 1st half, great lineout ball was expertly guided along the floor from the scrum half to JK who picked up, simple hands gave winger Alex the opportunity to dot down. Half time 21-5.
The Wheats kept there heads and started the stronger side in the 2nd half. The backs simplified some of there moves which meant i. less dropped passes & ii. they looked less like mongers. Flying winger alex registered 5 more to make it 21-10.
The Wheats had combatted the rolling maul, they were having the better of the srummage area, the lineout was also holding it’s own. A very peculiar afternoon for the Wheats.
Next up Judas Chatwin made a superb break from his own half following a quick tap penalty from the K-Man. Aitkins got his end up and with nothing to hold it back kept up with the speedster, Chatwin slipped an absolute beauty inside for Aitkins to pop one over the line under the posts. 21-17. Now the Wheats would not be the Wheats if they didn’t make things a little interesting, in a rare visit to Wheats 22 during the 2nd half Stoke scored a well manoeuvred try to make it 26-17.
With the crowd going wild, Big JL burst through several tackles, Eatsy took a wonder line off his right shoulder, the initial burst of pace took him past the 1st couple of defenders, the next two were beautifully stepped but they Beast then slowed a little to let them catch up, luckily there was just enough in the tank to fall over the line & await the oxygen tank. 26-24. Game in sight.
With Charlie wondering round looking for somewhere to sleep, the backs missed him out in another fairly straightforward move, Alex received the ball on his own half way line & burnt the opposition to dive in the corner, it’s a while since a Wheats player scored with such an acrobatic dive & there was a moment of worry that that sort of stunt may have caused serious injury – but it turns out if you’re fit you can get away with that sort of thing. Unbelievable!
At 29-26 and only a few mins left on the clock things looked good. There were a few nailbiting moments but the side held on for the final whistle. After some deserved back slapping somebody made this mistake of asking what the score was, 31-29 to Stoke came the reply!!!!!
After much debate & discussion, varying scores were recorded & Rob Andrew has a tough decision to make.
The game was played in good spirit & good skills were showed by both sides. It was a shame the game ended in this way. But the Wheats could not have asked for anymore from Stoke rugby club on all fronts. A special mention also to the ladies who cooked the post game food – 1st class!
One last beg for players to continue to make themselves available week in week out from here on in. Rugby should be what players do on a Saturday as a rule, not just play when they have nothing better to do – we cannot operate a club in this way. There will always be some weeks that players do have important commitments to honour & cannot be available, but please please support the club & commit to playing more regularly so we can continue and even move forward.
MOTM: some outstanding performances this week. But for his hatrick award goes to Alex.
DOTD: for once very few contenders! But for his impersonation of a space cadet award goes to Charlie “Healey” Hands.
Player Ratings:
1. Andy H: 8/10. Scrumaged superbly, we won’t mention the couple of dropped re-starts!
2. Macca: 8/10: again, superb in the scrum. Talks have commenced to keep him in England for the remainder of the season.
3. Joe Loach: 8/10: one of the contenders for MOTM. All round great performance.
4. Bettsy: 8/10 – very much missed when he doesn’t play. Superb in the lineout.
5. Ross: 8/10 – a little quiet but all faultless display.
6. Si H: 8/10 – usual passion shown in the 1st half
7. Weaver: 8/10 – could have caused Stoke’s 10 more problems but always up for the tackle.
8. Neil H: 8/10 – big butch performance from the pig.
9. Dean B: safe.
10. Easty: 8/10 – took his try with class.
11. Browny: 8/10 – not given much opportunity but fully committed
12. JK: 8.5/10 – defense in the 1st half was awesome. But his age got the better of him & yet again didn’t last the 80mins
13. Brett: 8/10 – great break for Brad’s try & great to have playing where he belongs.
14. Alex: 8.5/10 – real speedster & took all 3 tries with some class
15. Brad: 8.5/10 – caused Stoke defense problems everytime he got the ball.
16. Beno: 8/10 – usual determined & vocal performance
17. Charlie: usual star of the show hopefully learnt he is too old to go to raves now.
18. Poppa K: 8.5/10 – the legend returned. Got the pack on the front foot in the 2nd half.
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