Stade Wheats 21 - 3 Warwickian
WWE comes to Parc De Wheats
On a wet Saturday afternoon, Stade Wheats were coming off the back of a confidence inspiring win at a tricky Wellsbourne side the week before. However injury had further ravaged the Wheats now missing Brad Atkins, Marc Day and Paul Wright as well as long(er) term injuries to Matt Brown and Ross Lacey.However the Wheats were buoyed by the vision of Richard East back after a 6 week lay off, on the bench, prowling the touchline like a caged tiger for 80 minutes.
The Wheats came out with a heavyweight front 3 of Hibberd, Weaver Snr and Loach backed by a mischievous Row of Si Hodgkiss and Haddo. Back row was as gorgeous as ever with Pig, Hands and PK. The half-back combination lacked in height but made up in bulk with Dean and Bobby McGowan taking up the conducting roles of the Stade. Outside, fresh from an inspired performance at Wellsbourne was James Keenan accompanying Steve Johns (mild birthday drinks?) with The Adonis on one wing, Gillam manning up on the other wing, and the ever vocal Lewis dictating from 15.
With conditions deteriorating as the rain swept in, Warwickians got he game underway. The Wheats nerves were soon shown through slippy ball dropped despite Deans crisp passing, resulting in several scrums where the Warwickians pack looked to try and dominate, however resistance from the front 5 proved strong and scrums were an even affair on a soggy carpet.The Wheats were also looking to dictate the tempo with a series of quick tap penalties to move the bulky opposition around and force the pace. McGowan was looking to create space for the outside backs with a stubborn forward display.
However despite this urgency, the breakthrough came mid-way through the 1st half with The Adonis barging his way over the line to register his score.
Further attempts were made to breach the line, however strong defence and Gillam being tackled without the ball in the 22 meant the score remained at 7-0.
However the first hald was metered by an injury late in the half to Captain Keenan who had to leave the field. Mason came on, moving to the row, freeing up Si Hodgkiss to blindside, Pig to 8 and PK moving to centre. This move bolstered the pack and added a dimension of direct play to the backs…to the point where Steve Johns and Gillam hands froze and didn’t require a shower after the game.
There could have been further injury as Ravishing Rick Flair entered the fray with a clothes line which resulted in Loach on the floor (giggling), the partisan crowd up in arms and the Warwickians 8 heading to The Cooler for 10.
This inspired a feisty end to the first half with significant potty mouth and a spot of pushing and shoving. The footballer in McGowan found this too much to take and showed his protest by lashing the ball into the oppo at half time. Footballers…
The 2nd half begun after everyone had chilled out, with the chase from Si Hodgkiss at the kick putting the Warwickians under pressure, the Wheats picking up a scrum just inside the Warwickian 22. Things picked up pretty much where they had left off in the first half – sustained Wheats pressure without product. Wet conditions meant it was a slippery pill, and it seemed Wheats couldn’t quite close the deal to get a second score. The pressure continued to come though, The back 3 lead by Lewis refused to let Warwickian out of gaol, running kicks right back into the heart of the Warickian defence.
The second came eventually through PK from centre, proving too hard to stop from close range and getting over for a score wide on the right following a quick penalty and some good vision from McGowan, who converted another wide out kick to make it 14-0.
This cushion, together with a bit of sporting behaviour from Bryant (corrected a decision to wrongly award Wheats a scrum) might have taken a bit of the edge out of the game, which was to the Wheats advantage. But even more telling was the raking touch-finder unleashed by the right boot of the pig to send Wheats fully 60 yards down the pitch, relieving pressure from a Warwickian spell of attack and re-establishing the territory.
From here on out it was pretty much a done deal, late in the game Warwickian slotted a penalty to get points on the board, but Wheats had the final word with what was to be the last play of the game – Hands getting in by the posts with typical ferocity leaving Rob with an easy 3rd conversion to make it 21-3 at no side.
1. A Hibberd
2. Ghost
3. J Loach
4. Hod
5. I Hadridge
6. Pig
7. Hands
8. PK
9. Dean “The Gent” Bryant
10. McGowan
11. The Adonis
12. Jam
13. S Johns
14. Ace
15. A Lewis
Subs:
C Dennis
A Mason
R East
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