This Saturday sees a rare occasion of Wheatley playing a team younger than them, as they host Oxford University Whippets in the Oxfordshire county shield.
Historically, the shield has been a good hunting ground for Wheatley, making the final 3 times out of the last 4, unfortunately missing out on the silverware on all occasions. Whippets on the other hand are only in their second season of the cup campaign and already have one set of winners medals in their (probably velvet or fur lined) trophy cabinet.
The two sides have never met before and the very nature of university means teams are never the same year in year so past form is irrelevant! What we do know is they emerged victorious against Brookes 2s on Wednesday and so a cup game 3 days later will be a good test of their young bodies.
Cup games allow a full contingent of 20 players and with no shortage of volunteers, a strong side of guys who didn’t quite get the A’s needed to get in to Oxford (although a couple got close with ABSOs).
Captain Alex Acklam has recovered from a mid week bout of the squits to lead the side out alongside Peter Mitchell’s hooker and stepping up from the bench to start is Ezra Rees. Providing he can tear himself away from his Black Friday PS4, Matthew Gibb will start in the second row along side the now 2nd row regular Jack Atkinson. Surprisingly Newly chartered Daniel Bland will start at 6 alongside Caillin Taylor at 7. Simon Chadbone is also recovering from a bout of sickness that’s left his toilet looking like the Somme, so James Butler starting his Christmas card collection early at 8.
Kung fu Taylor starts at 9 alongside Aaron Laman who (along with a few others) thinks Scouting for girls are still a thing. Joe Hobdell carries the pride of his family on his broad shoulders at 12 alongside the returning Sanda Mpanza. Toby Butler will again prove the first two Butler boys were experiments starting at 11 with Joe Taylor making up the second pair of brothers (third if you include Poochie filming) in Wheatley colours as he starts on the opposite wing. Jordan Hook completes the side at 15, knowing that with Sanda back he’ll be in for a busy day.
Five subs names on the bench with Alex Gabbidon struggling to feed his Wheatley Rugby hat addiction (available now for £15 - see Tam) leading the quintet. James Neal passes the rigorous return to play assessments and so will take his place in the bench alongside Michael Ridge and the unfortunate soul who has to live with Bland and Gibb, Rory Wilkinson. A late call up to the squad after Dan Rule pulled out with a shoulder injury is Dave Thomas, who hopefully won’t be too confused by the youngsters fashion and music tastes.
Cup runs are something special to those on purple and with the chance to beat the holders who happen to be students of Oxford uni, in front of a large crowd (thanks to pre match lunch) motivation will be running high from 1-20.