Coventry Saracens 7 – 43 Old Wheatleyans
Cameras, Lights, Action …….
Following the previous weeks publicity for the opposition, the Wheats had a nervous wait and fully expected to receive a back-lash from Saras who usually prove tough competition anyway. There was some anticipation that the press would be there on mass, and had this been the case the Wheats had formulated a business plan with a primary objective of outdoing the opposition by standing aside and letting them win 351-0 to beat the world record and obtain some of their own publicity.
Whilst there was still the well publicised problems of long term injuries and a few unavailability’s, there was at last some good news with the Beast back & prowling ready for some on field action after a several month lay off with ankle ligament problems.
The line up was, as handsome as ever, Loachy, Mason & Hibberd packed down infront of Ross & Big C, the brothers grim were joined in the back row by senior weaver so at least one of the back row had some pace, Dean and Easty at 9 & 10, Steve J & Jas W covered the wings, JK was joined in the centre by back row Ben Hands (with the other Hands too busy eating pies in London), Bobby moved from 10 to offer some flair & vulnerability at 15.
In freezing cold conditions, the Wheats played against the elements in the 1st half. Neither side looked particularly interested in an all out aggressive display, some early breaks by the Wheats generally ended in a knock on & the Saras 10 used the ball to good effect to keep the Wheats pinned back in there own half from the resultant scrums. The Lineout was going well with Ross dominating in the early stages before been out jumped by the Saras 10 later in the game, luckily Si H was there at 4 to provide other options.
1st score went to the Wheats with the Barrel showing great passion, skill & vision to beat 3 or 4 players to the line. Yep – Saras scored next after some play near the Wheats line! This woke the defence up a bit and further pressure within 10m of the line was dealt with by some big hits. The Barrel came up trums again to score in the corner to make it 7-10 with half time approaching. Given a penalty chance, the Beast banged one of the post that took a random bounce of an opposition player who looked startled to see the PIG trotting towards him, the PIG, complete with Goa tan dropped over the line with the ball beneath him, some good 7 work in following up from the PIG. Half-time 7-17.
The 2nd half was scrappy to say the least, Saras had 3 or 4 in the bin throughout the game for various reasons. This coming & going seemed to confuse both teams at times in terms of who was on & who was off & how long was left!
The Wheats did register some good play, but not much. Good tries were scored with the Barrell completing a deserved hat-trick, Joe Loach putting in some good work all afternoon was also rewarded with a dot down, as was Big C after some good support work. B Hands made amends for a missed tackle (1st of the season?) by going over for 5. At the end it was 7tries & 43 points which is a good score against an opposition with some very good players. However, the side are rusty with this been only game 2 this year & there are several areas to improve on!
Several beers were enjoyed late in to the night, a particular talking point been Ross’s inabaility to out jump a fly-half & general abuse of the beloved Gillam.
A new Old Wheats product will also be launched soon, keep an eye on the website.
MOTM: Joe L was good in the loose, but Jas W undisputed man this week for 3 tries & one monsterous hit in the 1st half.
DOTD: Vice-Captain.
Plan for this Sat 7th Feb tbc dependant on fixture availability, weather & keenness to watch England. If no game, training will def be on for an hour before England ko. Will keep all updated during the week.
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