Old Wheatleyans 57 - 18 Rugby Welsh
G’DAY!!
Following the previous weeks postponement, the Wheats were pleased to welcome Rugby Welsh to the Stade.
Players must have gone OTT on the Ready-Brek in the morning as everyone was there, changed, smoked up and on the pitch ready to warm up with an hour still to go to ko! And with only 1 visible hangover amongst the 20 players it was a very unusual Wheats changing room. There was a certain buzz about the place!
So with a good warm up sorted and tactics agreed all that was needed was some opposition and a referee. The opposition did their bit, but a phone call to the referee 10mins before ko revealed he had decided to pop over to Coventry Welsh instead?!
Selection gets harder and harder every week with players battling for positions – this is why it is important to get 2 teams out so everyone can enjoy a game on a Saturday. However, the selection committee made their tough decisions: the front row remained unchanged with Loachy returning from elephant hunting to pack down with Regan (Greg) and Leonard (Andy H); Ross recovered from mystery illness to line up with Scan in the 2nd row; the difficult back row selection was made with Casper starting at 7, Si H @ 8 and Bombscare Brittain at 6; this weeks starting half backs partnership was Benno and the Beast, Super Hands and Brad formed the centre pairing for the last time this season, with Charlie off to Auz their was sure to be some competition between them as to who was going to score the most tries. The Barrel returned to action on the wing after a long layoff, Long Man stood tall on the other wing and Murray Mint made his debut at 15.
The late arrival of the referee took away from the good build up and things went a little flat whilst awaiting the referee, but from the Welsh ko …. Andy H took the ball and made some hard yards, forwards rucked with rage, a break was made in the backs, back row AB linked up and put Brad in under the posts – the quickest try in league history?? 7-0.
Despite lots of chat and promise not to relax, the side did exactly that and Welsh had the better of the next few mins. Some reasonable D kept them out, but then a slight confusion in the backs led to a Welsh interception and score under the posts 7-7. Disappointing.
From then on though, there was only 1 side in the game, the next Wheats try came when Brad made a good break and with Charlie on his outside all he had to do was draw the full back to put Charlie in, but he decided not to bother drawing in the full back and gave the ball to CH who beat the full back, stepped inside to beat a couple more and go in under the posts. 14-7.
The Wheats were been pinged a lot and giving away too many penalties, some were head scratchers but that’s what you get in this league – Welsh put one over to make it 14-10. The rest of the half saw the Wheats run in 3 more tries, Long Man finished well on the right and Charlie soon notched up his hatrick. The Welsh struck another penalty to make the half time score 33-13.
Turning round at half time, the Wheats now had the wind behind them and with a 20 point lead things were looking good for an entertaining 2nd half, there was certainly lots of excitement from the sideline. 3 changes were made at half time / early in the 2nd half – Rob came onto the wear the 8 shirt, Carl replaced an injured Ross and Paul H came on for an injured AB (who went to hospital but got bored of waiting so left!).
Frustrating is probably the best way of describing the 2nd half, at times there were glimpses of team brilliance, but the odd mistake, reluctance to run to the breakdown, a couple of missed tackles and a couple of turnovers were some constructive learning points to take forward.
However, a few instances worthy of mention:
- Brad absolutely smashed a Welsh player in possession and the ball fumbled into touch, very cheekily he picked the ball up, took a quick lineout to the Beast who sailed past a couple of players to go in under the posts. Genius!
- Hands made a good solo break from deep in his own half beating several men, a Welsh player did well to track back and bring him down, but Charlie just got up again with ball in hand, beat the same players all over again and racked up another 5. This is why the man is called Super.
- With both lineout jumpers off in the 2nd half, Casper did a more than admirable job of taking our ball and disrupting the opposition. He did mention afterwards that some of his old mans throwing was a bit loose.
- The Barrel – now to be known as Linford Christie! Has come back with an extra few yards of pace. He followed a Beast cross field kick, out burnt several players then with outrageous skill picked the ball up off his toes and fed Murray inside him to go in for 5 more. Lesley Vainikolo eat his dirt!
The Welsh should be commended for the way they stuck at it throughout the game, the Wheats were certainly never allowed to drift as Welsh played with spirit and got a deserved try.
At the whistle it was 9 tries to 2 (57-18); tries were scored by CH (4); Brad (2); Long Man (1); Easty (1); Murray (1);
Now that was over it was time for the real fun to commence ……………………
England apparently won, but that was not important, Hands was off so it was time for fun and there followed a memorable evening. Worthy of mention is the fact that the Over 25’S HAMMERED the under 25’s in a 24man boat race – well done to the winning team! Shame on the youth!
Hands attempted a yard, courageous spirit and a bit of vom saw him through to finish sometime after the songs dried up.
Drinking games were attempted, but all got too complicated so it was decided to revert to the proven time served game of neck.
Post Wheats, the younger players went off to the Colly ….. whilst the vets, including JK, went home to get in their pyjamas and have a nice cup of horlicks! All in all a great club night – something we should do far more often (but not too often as hangovers bad bad bad)
Super will certainly be missed both on and off the field, all the players and club wish him well over the next few months and look forward to his return. However, the loss of such a committed and influential player has been eased ….. JK is due back from injury this week and another former Wheats centre has kindly agreed to come back and play in the remainder of the league games this season (he can’t be named for legal reasons at this stage, but he sold himself cheap – just 2 bottles of VK Ice! You know who you are, so thanks for agreeing to help out!).
MOTM: The Barrel was awesome in all aspects, Brad looked very dangerous as did Murray, but 4 tries can’t be ignored so the award goes to Super.
DOTD: Receiving the ball from 1 yd on a quick penalty and knocking it 10yards forward like a complete donkey equally can’t be ignored, so Super also gets this award. Closely followed by: the Beast for his 50yard drop goal attempt against the wind, the Beast for missing a conversion in front of the sticks, Jas W for his 80m kick upfield - from the oppositions 22! Browny for eating somebodies hair during the dance floor scuffle;
It was certainly a day for the backs scoring tries, but the forwards should be commended, they won some good ball in the loose, scrummaged superbly and the lineout looked much better this week!
Another great occurrence this week – our support outnumbered the oppositions!! This is a 1st!! Thanks to all supporters – please keep coming up – we promise entertaining rugby!
For those interested in the league, here’s how it currently stands ……
|
Midlands 6 West (SE)
|
|
|
|
|
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
Diff
|
Pts
|
Adjust
|
|
Coventry Technical
|
12
|
10
|
0
|
2
|
411
|
117
|
294
|
20
|
0
|
|
STADE WHEATS
|
13
|
11
|
0
|
2
|
361
|
196
|
165
|
20
|
-2
|
|
Stoke Old Boys
|
13
|
9
|
0
|
4
|
433
|
166
|
267
|
18
|
0
|
|
Coventrians
|
12
|
8
|
0
|
4
|
294
|
148
|
146
|
16
|
0
|
|
Atherstone
|
12
|
8
|
0
|
4
|
207
|
124
|
83
|
16
|
0
|
|
Warwickian
|
13
|
3
|
1
|
9
|
104
|
365
|
-261
|
7
|
0
|
|
Coventry Saracens
|
13
|
4
|
0
|
9
|
128
|
377
|
-249
|
6
|
-2
|
|
Trinity Guild
|
12
|
2
|
1
|
9
|
147
|
328
|
-181
|
5
|
0
|
|
Rugby Welsh
|
12
|
0
|
0
|
12
|
117
|
381
|
-264
|
-2
|
-2
|
|
We could write lots of complicated ifs, buts and assumptions, but why bother - lets just carry on enjoying our rugby and see where we are at the end of the season!
In reality, if we want promotion, we need to win all 3 of the remaining league games – all of which will be very very tough games so everybody do your best to be available! Let’s finish on as much of a high as we can! “ENJOYMENT COMES WITH COMMITMENT, COMMITMENT IS KEY!!”
- This Weekend (01.03.08): friendly to be arranged at home / somewhere local.
- Following week 08.03.08: Cov Tech @ home in the league. England play Scotland @ 15.15 – if we can’t get an early KO we’ll record the game and show at club in town after.
Player Ratings (remember – this is just banter!!):
- Andy H: set the day with his rampage, involved in everything in the tight. 7/10
- Greg: totally committed and best game yet in 2 shirt, although must have thought he was wearing 10 when an attempted chip hit an opposition player right in front of him. 7/10
- Joe Loach: consistently first to the re-starts and made some big hits – great to see. Carried superbly as always! Needs more support when rampaging. 7.2/10
- Ross: did all the hard work in the engine room and won his share of lineout ball. 7/10
- Scan: like a fine wine getting better and better with age. Even took a quick penalty to himself and made 20+yards. 7.25/10
- AB: the club has an abundance of back row talent, AB is a special one. 7.2/10
- Casper: self critical afterwards but still put in usual 100+ tackles – keep your head up when playing – ur awesome. Plus extra point for skills with the ladies in Colly. 8.25/10
- Si H: looked to enjoy his run in the 1st half, disappointed the crowd with no show and go but the day belonged to the backs. Minus 0.5 points for shying off early from the disco. 6.7/10.
- Benno: age is maybe defying his ability to hide hangovers, but some good breaks. 7/10
- Easty: distribution of the highest standard, ran the game throughout. 7.8/10
- Jas W: has come back even stronger & faster - great to have back. 7.8/10
- Super: what can we say! Class. 8/10
- Brad: as he likes to point out, not only does he score tries but has a hand in creating things for others; another top notch performance; 7.9/10
- Long Man: great follower of kicks with good D; good finish and extra point for starting the late night dance floor brawl 8/10
- Murray: made some great pacey breaks and supported superbly. Welcome to the Wheats! 7.8/10.
- Carl: worked hard throughout the 2nd half, a true club man: 7/10
- Rob: looked like a specialist 8 – very weird to see in a Wheats shirt! Good ticker and ball skills – one lost point for falling asleep on the stage: 7/10
- Paul H: came on and got involved in everything. Another player who matures with class as he gets older. 7.2/10
A special mention should also go to Gillam, who came with kit but was happy to let others play ahead of him. Gillam is a true legend and has agreed to be 2nd team captain next year (will be the classiest player ever to captain a 2nd XV at the Wheats).
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