Wheatley faced their arch rivals Abingdon in the Oxfordshire County shield semi-final, hoping to make the most of their home advantage. Having been embarrassed by Abingdon 34-5 in the first game of the season Wheatley were determined to exact revenge, but the anxiety could be felt in the home dressing room. A bit of Taylor Swift had been requested to help the boys shake off these pre-game nerves but self-nominated music man Jack Smith decided to turn up late (fine). In contrast to Smithy’s poor timekeeping the Abingdon players were warming up a full 90 minutes before kick off!

Anyway, Wheatley kicked off the game with the wind behind them looking to make a strong start to the semi. Unfortunately however, it seemed the team was still half asleep as through some powerful forward running and quick distribution Abingdon scored two early tries! Bugger! 12-0 down after 10 minutes, “this may be a long afternoon” was no doubt running through the minds of some players. Luckily, after conceding the second try Wheatley started to get their act together. Two great charge downs and some great work by the rest of the pack lead to quick ball being recycled to a charging Dougie from five metres out. The Abingdon winger didn’t stand a chance. 12-5 and that’s how the first half ended but Wheatley knew they were well in this game now after a poor start.

In the second half, Wheatley continued to apply the pressure with the whole pack working their socks off to make metres and some strong runs from Adam Muir (back from recording his ladyboy documentary). Despite this pressure the breaks weren’t coming and Abingdon continued to show their dangerous side with a sneaky break from their fly half leading them deep into Wheatley’s half and they won a penalty bang in front of the posts. 15-5 Abingdon.

Without being disheartened Wheatley kept pushing knowing there was still 25 minutes to make the final. They managed to win a penalty 30 metres out and into the wind but fresh onto the pitch at fly half Dingle showed no fear and nailed it between the posts! 15-8. From then onwards Wheatley dominated possession and territory as a tiring Abingdon team resorted to a kicking game. Wheatley still couldn’t get the much needed try, with a faltering line out causing problems.

With 10 minutes to go Abingdon had a scrum in centre field and spun the ball through the backs looking to put the game to bed. Enter Josh “High Risk High Reward” Hillsdon who came off his wing to intercept and run it in under the posts! 15-15! Which team would hold their nerve?

By now “retired” Nathan Brooks was on the pitch, putting his weight to good use and throwing the ball around like a quarterback. The game was getting scrappy with tired legs and neither team wanting to throw it away in the dying moments. With a minute left on the clock a panicked Abingdon clearance was charged down by Newp who came agonisingly close to touching down for the win, just being beaten to the ball by an opposing winger resulting in a 5m scrum for Wheatley. A no.8 pick from Nath sucked in a couple defenders and with a two man overlap Dingle got white line fever and ran into the three defenders opposite him! Fortunately the ball was quickly recycled and passed out to Josh on the wing to score the winner in the last play of the game! “Yippee” said Nathan whilst running excitedly up the wing past all of our adorning fans.

MOTM – Josh
DOTD – Nath for celebrating like a 50 something lonely housewife on her way to watch 50 shades.