Didcot 13 - 6 Wheatley 1st XV

Wheatley travelled to the glamorous town of Didcot with just 15 players, 4 of which were newbies, Dan and Richard (Tom) flanking, Gareth Scrumming and Charlie playing in the centres.

After kick off both teams were defending well and not much had come from open play. Wheatley was awarded a penalty in front of the post and Jason Layman converted to give Wheatley the lead. With an opportunity arising on Didcot’s 22 when a penalty was awarded to Wheatley again. Captain Joe decided he would crash ball. However, Joe was ever so optimistic with his run up and ran out of steam before the ‘crash’ came – Didcot was then awarded a Penalty for Joe holding on. A few more tackles and some breaks were made but after Gavin threw his opposite winger into touch the half was over.
Half time 0 – 3 to Wheatley.

Second half arrived and Didcot had made changes and bought some fresh legs on. The first 10 minutes Didcot were camped out on Wheatley’s 22, the defence was holding strong until the inevitable happened and Didcot went under the posts, the full back kicking for the 2.

Wheatley were rattled and came on the attack but to no avail. The break downs became scrappy and the tackles higher than they should be. Wheatley’s chance came when Jason Layman popped the ball to Gavin who somehow knocked it on 5 meters from the try line (Jas later apologising for the poor pass). This led Didcot to break, kicking the ball into Wheatley’s half. Dan collected the ball and stretched his legs. Didcot decided they would stop him the unconventional way of a high tackle and full on shoulder barge . The ref, after several warnings previous, sin binned both players and with 10 minutes remaining Wheatley could see a chance of winning the game. This did not happen and the game ended with Didcot claiming the victory as somewhere after their try and the final whistle they kicked two penalties.

Didcot won 13 – 6

A bad Day all round and to top it all off Nick’s boots gave him a blister, although Shandy was looking forward to the return of Take Me Out.

Words by Gavin Belcher