Match Preview

After a disappointing weekend last time out against Buckingham, Wheatley 2nds look to get their first win of the season against Grove IIIs.

Grove are currently sitting 4th in the League, having narrowly beaten Gosford, losing to Harwell and being awarded a Walkover win by Quins. Despite starting in the same league as Wheatley last year, the two sides only faced off once after grove were eliminated from the league after failing to meet the required amount of fixtures. In that fixture, Wheatley lost 49-17, although with the valid excuses of having Peter Ramsdale as Prop and Toby Pocock on the Wing, as well as finishing the game with 13 due to injuries.

Due to being at home, Wheatley have the luxury of naming a more experienced side than the one that travelled to Buckingham, with the addition of Peter Ramsdale and Russ Neal returning to the second row, whilst Dan 'Poverty' Bland comes in to bolster the back row, with Noel Lembke holding the number 8 berth and Pete Evans returning to his favoured blindside role. the front row of Williams, Ruester and Durbin will look to continue where they left off against Buckingham and try to apply pressure at scrum time.

A vastly different back line actually features some specialist players. George Turner comes in at scrum half, whilst Andy Caldicott returns to Fly half. Relishing the chance to play outside of Andy, is James Pollard who continues his recovery from injury at inside centre with David Thomas starting at 13. Resident pocket rocket Oliver Tyson starts on the wing, pairing up with Phillip Lasko on the opposite wing. Continuing on from his MOTM performance against Buckingham, Craig 'I've never played rugby before' Buddle again starts at 15.

Wheatley also have something called "substitutes" and whilst not sure of what this term actually means, they will look to Tom Feryn, Welsh Tom and Tamworth to do whatever Subs do.