Oxford Harlequins 0 - 58 Wheatley II

On a warm summers day where most people spent it down the pub we could see why both Pete Ramsdale and Jake Durbin were both absent for the day. Luckily Mike Lasko stepped up as Captain and James Norton offered to run the backs for what would turn out to be an interesting afternoon of rugby as Wheatley travelled to Oxford Harlequins.

The team surprisingly had all 15 players out on the pitch an hour before kick off running drills and a FULL warmup. This was largely due to us having the wrong kick off time and our Ref's watch not working, but none the less Wheatley meant business.

With a High and short kick off, Wheatley were able to retrieve their own kick and start applying pressure on Harlequins. A Thundering run saw Oscar go through 4 of Quins defenders before they gave away a penalty just outside their 22. James Norton Slotted it between the sticks for the 3 points.

From the restart Wheatley's pack took control of the ball and dominated at the rucks before a quick ball came out and was played short and flat to Joe Hyde in centre who broke through the game line. The ball was quickly recycled to allow Oscar to make another run through the defence and offload to Harry Bauer who casually side stepped the Quins full back to score under the sticks. Norton Added the two points with a successful conversion.

By this point Wheatley were on a high and Quins looked like they didn't want to be on the pitch. With a great work rate from the pack and runs coming off the side of the ruck from Kier Williams, Pete Evans and Max Rustler-Burger, Quins were struggling to contain the Wheatley attack. Joe Hyde and Micheal Ridge played a dominant attacking style creating large gaps for support to run in, resulting in a flurry of tries from George van den Berg, Colin Gemmill and Tom Glindon. All of which were converted.

With the first half coming to an end and Wheatley desperate for another 10 minutes to keep the momentum going Tom Glindon had other ideas. Making an unbelievable individual run from deep inside his own 22 through several tackles, he showed a clean pair of heals to both the winger and full back to score his second try.

The Second half started with Harlequins looking to turn things around and decided to camp inside Wheatley's 22 for a good 10 minutes. That was until Colin Gemmill read the passage of play and intercepted the ball 5m out from our try line. Running the length of the pitch to see him go in for his second try. Any body watching would think he had been taking lessons from Josh Hilsdon the way he pounced on the interception.

The game became slightly untidy with Harlequins showing frustration at the break down and trying to force the play. Wheatley kept at them with their simple game plan and this soon saw Joe Hyde going over the try line from inside centre. In celebration He then drop kicked his conversion for the extra 2 points.

Harlequins tried to counter attack to relieve the pressure and in the last 10 minutes their full back broke through the defence with Wheatley's try line in sight. However, James Norton, determined not to concede any points, tracked back and in what can only be described as rear mounting the player in such a fashion that the ball was dislodged and turned over. Both players left a bit unsure as to whether they had been violated in the process.

With a Class act from Wheatley coming to an end there was just enough time for one last try from Tom Glindon giving him his hatrick and a brilliant individual effort from Oscar seeing him go over for a try with the last passage of play, unfortunately Oscar's Glory Drop kick was not such a pretty sight.

Final Score 58-0 to give Wheatley a solid 95-5 aggregate over the two league games!

Hopefully this win should set the tone with only two competitive matches left to play this season (both at home to Witney and Abingdon)!

MOM - Tom Glindon and Oscar
DoD - Ollie Tyson - because

written by J Norton