Below Average!!
The Wheats travelled over towards the airport in more holiday mood than ready to play a tough old game of rugger. In usual fashion, Dean was left pulling out his few remaining hairs come meet time as AB could not leave his vino & park bench in Leamington so cried off, super hands had gone underground and Browny was once again causing frustration by running 1hr late & not answering his phone. All in all not a great start. It was also disappointing to hear big bad Rubes was back in the City but was not picking up his phone – we assume this was either because his digits have got too fat to use a mobile or he was at the shop buying some rusks for the girl he had met the night before.
So despite the 12:30 meet, it was 13:50 before what was to be the starting lineup were out on the field ready to warm up – not ideal!
The front row remained unchanged from the last league outing with Andy H, Greg “the Hitman” Weaver and Joe Loach wearing 1, 2 & 3 respectively, packing down behind them was Ross and Big Scanny, the back row combination this week was Gillam, Casper and Si H. With JK suffering from rheumatism in his leg, the back line started with Dean & Easty at half backs, Brad was joined in the centre by Birchy whilst the back 3 consisted of Browny, Long Man & Benno.
With the Guild holding their VP’s day they had some good old handy players turn out upfront and the Wheats knew what to expect and had their game plan all sorted.
Things started as planned, the Wheats looking to move the ball as often as possible & play some entertaining rugby. It wasn’t long before the first try came with some good work in the backs putting Long Man over in the corner.
With the Guild not having threatened and the scrum holding it’s own the Wheats perhaps started to feel a cricked score would be inevitable. A couple of slight forward (?) passes denied certain tries and the odd knock on at the last gasp stopped the Wheats scoring maybe 3 or 4 more tries. From a penalty the Wheats went quick and Joe showed good ball skills to interlink with his nr 8 who left the crowd stroking one by selling what can only be described as an absolutely deliciously outrageous dummy to score under the pasts. 12-0 up, 20mins gone, comfortable – then the Wheats struck as only the Wheats know how to do!!!
The Guild pack started to pick and go round the fringes, the Wheats have defended this kind of tactic with massive aggression and organisation over recent weeks and opposition is usually sent backwards rather than breaking the gain line – this week whilst the defence was well organised generally the first up hit was not hard enough and the Guild were making a yard or two. Something to remember for next week – hit hard & counter ruck! There were one or 2 great turnovers with Scan and Ross taking it in turn to roll their man and snaffle ball.
The Wheats were struggling to get out of their half and the usually watertight back line somehow managed to let the Guild centre over for a score. 12-5. The large experienced opposition pack were starting to smell openings, the Wheats had pushed Guild back a few times in the scrum early on but the Guild were now more solid. Neither side could claim superiority in the lineout with both hookers throwing some grenades into the battle.
The Half-Time re-group eventually came around and the 2nd half got underway but the Wheats had introduced the Hands Brothers into the equation with Charlie manning up at 12 and Ben at 6.
The started the 2nd half strongly and Guild snuck in for a try to make it 12-10.
One area the Wheats get frustrated with is the breakdown, all the back row and centres have huge ability in making their hit, quickly getting to their feet before a ruck has formed and trying to snaffle ball from the tackled player who is lying there holding onto it – time & time again the Wheats get pinged for this - but it is not something we should stop doing – soon we’ll get a referee who knows the laws of the game! (maybe?)
20mins or so in and the Guild could now claim domination of the scrum area – what had happened to the usually solid Wheats pack? Who knows, but it won’t happen again!! With the Wheats unable to gain any real possession without getting pinged for something or other the Guild pressured again and whilst both Ben’s in the back row were making hit after hit a try came – 17-12.
You can guess what happed next – with a side daring to actually take the lead the Wheats manned up for a few mins and Charlie picked up loose ball on his own 22, skipped and boshed his way through the defence to score under the posts. 17-19. With the score still a little close for comfort, Ross took great ball off the opposition at the lineout, the forwards marched the defending pack backwards (now that it was necessary), the ball was released to the backs, a slight cock up somewhere was made good by Brad flying in from full back to claim the ball and scorch into the corner, beat a couple more players and go under the posts. 26-17, more relaxed.
Inevitably Guild scored next with the Wheats chilling and watching the planes fly overhead and waving at the passengers. Having already played 50mins or so though all were expecting to hear the final whistle – wrong! From the long restart Guild were awarded a mysterious penalty on their 22 which they took quick, the player was tackled by the 10m line but the referee then marched to the half way line and gave another penalty for the Wheats not retreating 10 from the initial penalty! – absolute genius! This was the 3rd time in the game the Wheats had been punished in this way! The opposition ended up camped on the Wheats try line and some brave defence followed, then there were 40 or 50 scrums on the line before the Wheats eventually managed to clear their lines and with 60mins on the clock there was little choice but to call and end to the proceedings. A little sigh of relief came from the Wheats!
The side played reasonably well in the first 20mins, not great and nothing like the level we have performed at, in terms of the remainder of the game - it is probably a case of best forgotten, but simple lessons can be learnt – lets not be content to adequately defend an oppositions will to play 8 man rugby – in future we’ll look to counter ruck, not get dragged down to their level and play our own game – fast elusive 15 man rugby. We also need to look put opposition away when given the chance! But all 18 did well to stick at it and record the “W”.
We now look forward to entertaining Rugby Welsh at home this week, another tough game so everyone to be available please!! And the usual plea to reply to messages on availability as soon as you get them!! Lets enter the game with everyone turning up on time & some more enthusiasm!!!
Whilst the league is not the be all and end all, for those that care we still lie 2nd, despite dubious 2 point deduction. League games remaining are:
- This Week (16 Feb ’07) Rugby Welsh @ home; with Charlie and Brad equal on nr of tries scored in league games, no doubt Hands will be looking to add big numbers to his tally before he disappears. Make no mistake, a big performance will be required if we are to win this game.
- March 8th Cov Tech @ home.
- March 29th Coventrians away.
- April 12th Atherstone @ home.
It’s a simple case of winning all these games??!!
There will obviously be the usual friendlies on non-league weeks.
MOTM: SI H try was class, Charlie & Brad’s tries were class, Weaver is class, but top 2 contenders Ross and Ben Hands – Ross battled all day, tackling, looking to turn over ball & doing what he could in the lineout – Ben was an outright machine in the 2nd half – hitting anything that moved anywhere near him. But as Ross was on the field longer and battled for longer he just about gets the nod.
DOTD: All 18 for not winning by more? Browny for being such a &^*$ and turning up late again? Gillam as its been a while? Neil H? Hands for failing to put digits to phone to let us know he was running seriously late? Vote by dialling 0898 900 9000 (note: calls are seriously expensive).
- Andy H: has been in outstanding form this season – slightly quieter today but used up energy reserves and played the full 80mins with big heart. 6.5/10.
- Greg: once again stood up to the man in the 2 shirt and great to have on the field in any position. 6.5/10
- JL: usual rampaging self early on with ball in hand, but starved of any ball in 2nd half, manned up and played through 2nd half with injury. 6.5/10
- Ross: 7/10 – raised the cross bar again.
- Scan: great around the fringes in defence, we’re using some old photos to ensure he doesn’t get his relocation deal. 6.5/10
- Gillam: handled opposition back row breaks with ease. 6.5/10
- Weaver: went quiet for the odd period but high tackle count once again. 6.75/10
- Si H: once again never missed a tackle and the try will live in the memory of those lucky enough to witness it. 6.75/10
- Dean: too modest to say much.
- Easty: controlled proceedings during initial stages, but had little opportunity to influence the game from 13 during the 2nd half when the Wheats got bogged down in a forward battle. 6.5/10
- Browny: ran with pace and confidence in 1st 20mins – then didn’t see the ball! 6.5/10.
- Birchy: as with all backs, looked dangerous early on but then given little ball to play with. 6.5/10
- Brad: scored great try again from 15 in 2nd half. 6.5/10 but serious mentaal lapses / inaccuracies in his report (the other report on the website) so reduced to 3.5/10.
- Long Man: best performance for the Wheats, hard running & great D during early stages of the game. 6.5/10
- Benno: dependant as ever, tough at 9 in the 2nd half when forwards generally on back foot.
- Charlie Hands: tackled well when needed and the try was a Super Classic; wore the legendary Wheats 9 shirt - not quite man enough for it though. 6.5/10
- Ben Hands: way better than his brother, a tackled like a demon. 7/10
- Carl: came into the 2nd row and battled hard. 6.5/10
Well done all for sticking at it and showing just enough interest to Win!!!!!!! Onwards and upwards …………
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