WHEATS held by Ledbury in top of the table clash

Old Wheatleyans RFC 25 v 25 Ledbury RFC

On a fantastic day for rugby, the sun shone over The Stade and welcomed our old rivals Ledbury up the M5 to the hallowed turf in CV6. Quite a crowd had promised to come and watch the game as it’s a good measure to see how far the Club have come since the days of Midlands 4 when the Wheats just pipped the visitors to the league title a few years ago.

The Wheats were without several senior players but the strength in depth from the Stags again proved that the step to the 1st XV is more surmountable than the last few years. The Wheats welcomed Ben Dale to the 1st XV Squad who is another Bablake School graduate and follows a long list of recent players to represent the Club at full honours (with his Mum on the side-line cheering him on).

The Wheats are entering a tough period in the league campaign where the up and coming games against Ledbury, Manor Park and Upton over the next three weeks respectively will define the league credentials of the team.

The Wheats wanted to push on from last weeks’ strong performance v Kings Norton and start brightly against a Ledbury team that only narrowly lost to Manor Park the week before. However it was Ledbury playing up the hill that capitalised on two Wheats errors to score a quick two tries (a charged down kick and some quick work by Ledbury down the wing) – only one of the tries converted. The Wheats forwards were slightly more dominant than Ledbury in the tight exchanges and were applying a lot of pressure to the Ross Rd boys line, but resolute defending held firm until a good passage of play involving several phases between the forwards and backs resulted in quick ball from a ruck for VC Lowey to feed stalwart Wrighty to power home over from 10m out breaking several tackles as he cut a mean line (in all honesty it was 2m and I wrongfooted no-one – but one day my son will read this by which time this bit will be deleted!) – penalty converted. Ledbury added another penalty before half time where they took the honours 8-18 at the break.

The halftime team talk was short and brief, the lads knew we hadn’t started playing yet and we felt that we had the better of the set plays and our backs were always making ground; so we just needed to pull it all together. This intent was evident as Captain Craig picked from the base of the scrum and scored in the corner after breaking several tackles to kickstart his team into gear, as he has done several times already this season (conversion missed by our Aussie Stevie Coleman). The score was pulled back to 13-18. Ledbury are a good team and their 13 and 15 were very threatening players, and it was those two players that bought Ledbury back into the game and put the Wheats under pressure with some strong running. A few phases later a missed tackle allowed Ledbury in under the posts to take what was a commanding lead 13-25 lead.

Some good lineouts, solid hits and aggressive scrums provided the Wheats with a base to attack again and it was Dru who cut a fantastic line to dot down over the whitewash to pull the scores back to something more acceptable, conversion was stroked over to make it 20-25. The Wheats had the taste of it now and with the young Ledbury side showing a few nerves they panicked which allowed the Wheats to attack again and look to take the lead. After several strong carries by our back row and some excellent rucking and mauling, we were camped in the Ledbury 22, and a quick passage of play allowed for quick ball and Lowey fed Wright once more from at least 10m to barge over the line again to bring the scores level with about 10mins to go – unfortunately the conversion was missed. 25-25.

The Wheats were going for the jugular and were camped yet again in the Ledbury half, and with the assistance of a few penalties we were once again on the 5m line trying to push for the win (Ledbury were also, looking not only to see out the game but to counter at every opportunity – much to their Coach Rudder’s disbelief on the side-line!!). Unfortunately with the last throw of the dice, a lineout throw was deemed not straight which gave Ledbury an opportunity to clear the ball into touch and both players congratulated each other in what was a fascinating and thrilling game played in a fantastic spirit.

Full-time 25-25.