Old Wheatleyans 34 – 17 Cov Tech
Good Start
Old Wheats’ first league game of the season took place in blazing 20 degree heat against famililar opening opponents Cov Tech. A good crowd had turned out at the Stade, eager to see these 2 sides in action.
The match got underway with Wheats kicking off and immediately applying pressure in the Tech 22. After lots of changing room chat about not waiting to see what Tech did in the first 10 minutes, Wheats actually delivered and came away with the first score of the match courtesy of Steve Johns. The Tech reply came nearly as fast though after persistent play created an overlap and the scores were tied at 5 each.
Si Hodgkiss made an early play for DOTD, apparently succeeding in convincing the ref to put away his yellow card for a tackle so late it nearly occurred in the return fixture, as after all it “looked like an honest mistake”.
Wheats continued to play some attractive rugby, and after some initial wobbling the scrum seemed to settle down a bit too. The backs were relishing the conditions and again crossed the whitewash to register another try through Jamie Keenan running through the tackles from inside the 22 to put the Wheats back in front.
Going through the hands continued to be the flavour of the day as the Tech defence was breached magnificently by a pass to Casper who couldn’t quite escape a covering tackle from the fullback as he raced to the corner, but flicked out a pass to scum half. Unfortunately Bryant’s sheer pace caused him to slightly fumble the ball forward, prompting a word from the VC Ross about the merits of occasionally putting boot to ball.
Old Wheats finished the half well as centre Jace Wetton appeared on the blind side showing a strong arm to brush aside a tackle at the 5 yard line and score near the posts leaving second rower AB with an easy conversion.
At half time the scores stood 17-5
The second half got underway and it was Tech that were next to register a converted score about 5 minutes after the break close the gap and set the game up well. It demanded, and got, a big response from the Wheats forwards, chief of which was a monster try saving tackle perpetrated by Weaves-the-younger which nearly took the attacker out of his boots.
In the back line Brad was enjoying a great game, breaking the line and tackles virtually every time the ball was put in his hands.
Wheats’ heart was soon rewarded when once again Steve Johns showed class and sprinted through for his second try of the afternoon in the corner. Further scores were threatened and Dean was unlucky to be denied the chance to open his account following ref’s decision that Matt Brown illegally passed the ball out of the tackle. He looked genuinely disappointed that he wasn’t going to be allowed to sprint the 30 yards to the corner.
The heat of the afternoon demanded some clever substitutions to keep the legs fresh. Cue tactical master-stroke as Hodge came on after 65 mins, penalised on 66 mins (not binding in the scrum), pinged again on 67 mins (lying on the ball). For this solid contribution he was immediately sin-binned, so staking a serious claim against his brother for DOTD.
It was Casper who finally got in by the posts after getting the ball in the middle of the park just outside the Tech 22, and slipping through the tackles to register the score which was duly converted.
Last word of the day went to Jonah though, who made it a hat trick, capping off what had been a great afternoon for him and the side.
At no side 34-17 to the Wheats.
MOTM: Steve Johns gets it for a class hat trick
DOTD: Si Hodgkiss just beats his little bro to it: NEVER talk to the ref, esp. if it is to persuade him not to bin the opposition…
- Andy Hibberd – hard working in a tough test for the front row. Solid. - 6
- Adam Mason – played with intelligence and vocal throughout. Noisy - 6
- Dan Scott – manned up and did a job & a superb kick. Visionary - 6
- Ross Lacey – covered pitch superbly from the row, until injured. Rangy – 6.5
- AB - mobile & strong as ever in the line out. Early exit. Passionate - 6
- Si Hodgkiss – keep your gob shut. Chatty. – 5.5
- Ben Weaver – nice try, great defence. Classic Weaves. – 7.5
- Joe Loach – Started at 8 and boshed all day. Expansive. - 6
- Dean Bryant – Speedy supporting runs on the shoulder all day. Deceptive - 6
- Brad Atkins – a handful in the backs, great 2nd half. Slippery. - 7
- Haddo – made the big stops in defence. Enduring. – 6
- Jace Wetton – apparently there’s no position he cannot play. Versatile. - 7
- Jam – Ran hard and kept his cool with the authorities. Diplomatic. - 6
- Matt Brown – Serious speed and good moves as always. Rapid. - 6
- Steve Johns – Could do no wrong. Quality. - 8
- Carl Dennis – Came on and collapsed a scrum. Daring. - 6
- Adam Jame – entered the fray early to give the scrum a solid base. Grunt. - 6
- Neil Hodgkiss – A non-binding, ball-covering, back-chatting machine. Discipline. – N/A
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