Match Report: Wheats 105 Greyhound 6

The Old Wheats welcomed Hereford side Greyhound RFC to the Stade for the first time on Saturday afternoon. It was the first VP’s day of the season and over 70 VP’s attended a meal laid on by the club. Plenty of friends, family and members of the club came up for kick off to create a great atmosphere on the sidelines. They were treated with a BIG win from the 1st XV boys!

It was perfect conditions for some exciting running rugby and that’s exactly what the Wheats delivered. Straight from the kick off Wheats pressured Greyhound into mistakes and immediately went on the front foot. Some heavy pressure and some good build up play saw James Przybek bundle over for the first score.

5-0

Wheats carried on the pressure with the forwards turning over a Greyhound scrum. Some more impressive play set up captain Liam McCrea to score his first of the day.

10-0

Greyhound tried to get a foot hold in the game but Wheats ferocious defence made the visitors lose possession. A fantastic turnover from scrum half Sam Eaton set up a great try for the Wheats. Eaton got his hands on the ball from the ruck and managed to get the offload away to allow Wheats quick ball to centre James Hancox who sold a great dummy and strolled away to score under the sticks. Gareth Windsor added the easy 2.

17-0

A clean take from the restart set up the bonus point try within the first 20 minutes for the mighty Wheats. A couple of solid phases from the home side allowed space in midfield. Fly half Gareth Windsor took the ball inside his own half and broke the Greyhound line, running in open field Windsor had his team mates lining up to finish off the move. Big Dean Beauchamp was the man to dot down in corner for a great finish in those wonderful white boots!!!

22-0

The following minutes started to become scrappy with a few penalties to the away side. One of the penalties resulted in Greyhounds fly half slotting 3 points for his side.

22-3

Just before half time came another Wheats score. Some great work from the Wheats set up James Hancox to pull away from the defence for his second try of the game, again under the sticks. Converted by Windsor.

Half time: 29-3

During half time Wheats coach Matthew Cappell urge his side to stick to their game plan and structure that the boys have been working on at training. With a couple of changes made including ‘veteran’ Richard Lowe coming on at 10 and Gareth Windsor dropping to his favoured position at 15.

The floodgates were shortly opened early in the 2nd half. Some good build up play inside Greyhounds half created captain Liam McCrea’s 2nd score of the game. Sam Eaton switched the play to the short side where Gareth Windsor was waiting. McCrea running one of those huge lines of his, just outside the 22, went crashing through the Greyhound defence and dived over the white wash.

34-3

Greyhound managed to add another 3 points to their tally after some indiscipline from the home side.

34-6

Only a minute later came another score. More great build up play from Wheats set up great field position, for Richard Lowe to find prop/fly half Liam McCrea who brilliantly tipped on to hooker Alan Beauchamp who charged in another score carrying a Greyhound defender with him. Converted by Windsor.

41-6

Breakaway tries came thick fast for the Wheats who showed fantastic running rugby in front of some very jolly VP’s. James Hancox added 2 more to his tally for the day, finishing off with a peach of a try from his own half. Finishing the game with 4 tries, the centre is on fire so far this season!

Captain Fantastic Liam McCrea completed his hat trick in stunning style. Took the ball inside his own half and powered his way down the touch line with defenders falling off him! A big man running at frightening speed, that was impossible to stop until he crashed over in the corner to biggest cheer of the day from the Wheats faithful! Club president Adam Mason informed Liam that for every try he scores this year he will donate to the charity Trigeminal Neuralgia Association UK who are sponsoring the Wheats captain this season. Keep it up skip!!!

Number 8 Ben Craig scored 2 wonderful tries himself in the 2nd half and even taking his own conversions, slotting 1 out of the 2.

Further breakaway tries from Steve Pahal x2, Lewis Faulkner, Gareth Windsor and Jamie Hutton rounded off a fine win for The Old Wheats.

A dominant performance from the boys where every player 1 to 20 but in a great shift. On to next Saturday now with a tough trip to Harbury.

Huge respect to the Greyhound lads who stuck at it throughout the game and stayed for a beer afterwards after a difficult game and long journey.

A little shoutout to all the Mini Wheats who did a great job in bringing the water bottles and the kicking tee throughout the game. Great work from the future of the club!!!

Final Score:
Wheats 105
Greyhound 6

Coaches Corner

What a day !

It was a great afternoon for the club. The VP’s were treated to one of the biggest scores in clubs history!!!

Thoughts for the game. Fair play Greyhound. After speaking to their players they had 12-13 Friday night and managed to feild 15 on Saturday and stuck to the task after nearly a 2 hour trip to us.

For me we started very well and scored 20 points in 20 minutes. Then we tried a bit hard for the rest of the half trying to push the pass that bit further or carry that bit harder.

At half time the message was structure. Stick to it and that’s what they did. We were able to put on 5 fresh pairs of legs in the second half also which helped keep the momentum and a further 70 points were scored.
So many players had great games and scored. Tom Brown and Ben Dale were really unlucky no to feature on the score board for work they put in. Gareth Windsor pulled the strings and set up half the tries with James Hancox benefitting the most with a haul of 4.

We look to what will be a very tough away fixture at Harbury next week and need to make the effort for training. If we don't keep moving forward Saturday will count for nothing come the end of season!

Matthew ‘Cheeks’ Cappell

The VP's managed to raise an incredible £445 for the Alzheimer's Society. To find out more and to donate please click on the link below.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mw346544?utm_campaign=pfp-share&utm_content=mw346544&utm_medium=fundraisingpage&utm_source=Facebook&utm_term=dBYYWbrzd

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