The second team started their day like most Saturdays, anxiously waiting in the club house until 15 minutes before kick off to see if we had 15 men. Whilst the other team are changed and already warming up. In this case we didn’t we had 13. This didn’t stop Pete Ramsdale rallying his troops and talking us into borrowing one of Bicester’s players and playing with 14.
Having narrowly beaten Bicester 3 weeks before by a single point we new we had our work cut out. Between Peter Ramsdale and the Referee a wise decision was made to play on the smaller pitch to help those carrying a little extra weight to keep up with the play in the windy conditions.
With the 3 minute warm up out of the way Wheatley lined up for kick off. In true Wheatley fashion 4 passes were put together and Bicester ran in for their first try. 2 minutes played 5-0. After having a stern talking to by Pete and Surman we knew we needed to score next. With a good restart the pack took control getting under the ball and allowed us to camp inside Bicester’s 22 for the next 15 minutes. After several phases clean ball came out to the backs and with quick hands and good turn of pace Olly ran in for his first try of the day.
Wheatley spent the remainder of the 1st half in and around Bicester’s 22. With the a few more scores to both teams the 1st half ended with only a few points in it.
With an injured Prop the 2nd half started with uncontested scrums. Thank fully our 7 man pack had done the job in the first half and held their own in the breakdowns. With the wind behind us and gaps starting to appear Wheatley started to take control. With a further 3 tries from Olly 2 from Jack Plumridge and 1 for James Wheatley sat in a commanding position.
In the dying minutes of the game Bicester broke through our game line to go in for a try under the sticks. A consolation try but 5 points non the less.
As the whistle blew it ended 39 – 22 with a very dominant display from Wheatley, hopefully their form can continue onto Harwell.
Man of the Match : no8 Harry for disturbing every play that Bicester made and several crunching tackles.
D*ck of the day : Max for Swan diving over the try line only to have the ball ripped out of his hands.
Words of James Norton