October 2008 - Match Reports
Saturday 25th October
Southern Counties North
Aylesbury 18 - 12 Witney
After a good performance in the cup the previous week, but failing to come away with a result, Witney needed to stop being nearly men and really have a go at fellow league strugglers Aylesbury. Aylesbury had other ideas though, and came away quite comfortable 18-12 victors.
The game started well enough, with Witney having the first attempt at goal after an Aylesbury infringement. Unfortunately Witney were unable to make it count as Wheeler struck it wide and the team were dealt a further blow with Muller (left) injured in the incident and having to leave the field of play.
After this, Aylesbury became the dominant side, and with Witney unable to win possession on their own lineout, the pressure began to mount. There was impressive scrappy defence by Witney, with Hicks and Worrall turning over some good ball to clear their lines temporarily but penalties will always be conceded with this much pressure and soon enough Aylesbury had taken a 3 point lead.
Not long after they extended this lead with a try, and Witney’s heads seemed to go down. Renowned over the last few years for having the tightest defence in the league, this title seemed long forgotten as within minutes Aylesbury had crossed again after their fullback made a beautiful break from within his own half.
Their was some small amounts of attack on display from Witney. Caffeky, on for Muller, had a few strong runs, and James Lamb showed his usual determination but despite these brief individual glimpses the team failed to put together two passages of play and rarely threatened the opposition line. Any time the ball crossed into the Aylesbury half their excellent Number 10 was able to clear his lines with a fantastic boot. Witney managed to get three points from a Wheeler penalty but going in for halftime at 18-3 was as much as they could possibly deserve.
The second half showed a turn around of sorts, with Witney upping their heart and intensity but unable to produce the rugby needed for a victory. Still unable to win a lineout and still having a deep back three due to the Aylesbury 10 credit must go to Witney for getting back into the game. Wheeler was able to claim three points from a sweetly struck penalty before having to go off injured and Lamb took over from there, knocking a further two over to tighten the scores.
If Witney had been able to show any cohesiveness to match their willingness a great comeback could have been possible. Aylesbury were clearly riled, as the match became scrappy and two of their players were sinbinned but the best Witney managed was some good back play started by Lamb and going through the hands of Strutt and Monks before Rollinson (right) was held up a foot from the line.
Close though that incident was, if Witney were to have claimed those points, Aylesbury could have thought themselves very unlucky. This type of performance needs improving significantly and the team will have to use that as motivation for their next match.
1st xv
Tustin, Monks, Lamb(J), Strutt, Hicks(A), Wheeler, Campbell(G) : Brocklebank, Groeblar, Serle, Bennett(C), Fowler, Worrall, Muller, *Hicks(J)
Repl : Richens (Serle), Caffekey(Muller), Rollinson(Wheeler)
VIEW FROM THE TOUCHLINE
Its not often I’m glad when I can’t make the matches but this week it sounds as if it was as good a one to miss as you can get. Aylesbury are a difficult outfit to play and have some good players but the lads should really be looking to take something from these matches. Four sides are now pulling away from the pack and for the rest of us it could be a long old relegation battle unless a purple patch is found very quickly.
Berks, Bucks & Oxon Prem "A"
Oxford Harlequins 2nds 10 - 16 Witney 2nds
The visit to Oxford Harlequins usually proves to be a difficult one for the seconds, so this win was definitely one to be enjoyed. Starting off playing into the strong wind our kicking game was spot on, as George Bibby and full back Matt Hood both cleared well always finding touch or forcing the home team back into their half. Also Toby Perry was causing Quins all sorts of problems at the front of the lineout and Witney were playing the conditions well. At the back of the scrum Joe Rowles had another fine game and debutant Pete Minch at scrum half was linking well with his burly number eight. With all the forwards working hard at every ruck, it was no surprise that we won penalties and "Copper" fired over a couple to put us six nil up, but Harlequins did reply with one of their own. His third penalty kick kept us in control of the game, but the one blip in this dogged display was giving away a sloppy try which was converted. But still turning around at ten nine was a pretty good effort from all concerned.
The second half with the wind behind us was played all in the Quins half and I can only remember them getting close to our line on one occasion. As Witney were playing all the rugby it was just a matter of time before we scored and a try finally came from our in form winger James Taafe(right). Quick ruck ball gave the backs the chance to move the ball across the field and the mighty Taafe crashed through to touch down and "Copper" converted to give us a lead that was never threatened.
The Oxford cold showers didn’t dampen the victory and captain "Fish" was awarded "Kevin the chicken". Mo (left) deservedly got "Tit of the day" for having the whitest trainers in the Northern hemisphere.
Match Report from Quins Web Site - CLICK HERE
Berks, Bucks & Oxon North 1
Witney 3rds 7 - 8 Gosford AB 2nds
An incredibly disappointing game this week. After our good start to the season we were eyeing up this game against the bottom team in the league as a potential 2 points. However things don't always turn out how you expect. For a start Gosford were no way as bad as their current league position suggests. Add to that the usual 3 - 4 players we seem to lose every week as the teams above need reinforcing and we had a tough game on our hands. As you can tell from the score it was a pretty drab affair with neither team ever really putting together much at all in terms of phases. This wasn't helped by 
an interesting interpretation of the breakdown by the ref who was a big fan of penalties and scrums which stopped both teams from gathering any form of momentum in their play. We played into the wind in the first half and led 7 - 3. The try coming from the returning Matt Watts (left) who charged over from 10 yards out after a good flat pass from Pete (right) at number 10.
The second half saw us fail to use the wind fully to our advantage as the play stayed within the middle of the pitch, neither side unable to put pressure on within the opposing 22's. One of the few trips up there saw us win a penalty which just missed. Gosford then scored a breakaway try after some turnover ball saw them have an overlap on the blind. With the conversion missed we plugged away knowing a score was needed. The pack started to get on top in the scrum but then strangely the ref decided we would have uncontested scrums following an injury to a Gosford player who was for some reason was still able to play on. Anyhow, everybody did their bit and we were rewarded with a penalty and it was the last play of the game. Unfortunately it wasn't to be as the kick missed. I've been trying to think what the positives are to take from this game. We battled well and played till the last whistle and could have easily have won it. However, I think the bigger positive to take is for the club as a whole. Despite all the current injuries and unavailable players we are still there as a 3's team in a league with a load of other clubs 2's and not only competing but holding our own. Even when Ran is deprived of players more turn up (where does he keep them?). Most of these guys are unable to train due to family / work commitments or their bodies can't take it anymore, but come a Saturday and they are there playing for the club. I bet most clubs would love to have so many people willing to play. I hope Ran can take some pride in the result of the seconds this week away at Oxford Quinns as a number of those players are there directly as a result of playing for the 3's week in week out this season. Just to show how tight this league is the other bottom team, Buckingham 3's, also won this week against Aylesbury who were joint second with us before the games.
3rd XV
1. T Hickman, 2. G Williams, 3. M Khan, 4. R Pearman, 5. M Rogers, 6. D Brown, 7. Awesome 8. J Williams, 9. Kenna, 10. P Moriarty, 11. Paddy, 12. M Watts, 13. M Calley, 14. Brillo, 15. T Winstone
Repl: 16. A Nicholson, 17. C Mills, 18. J Burke, 19. T Hook (all got on)
Tries - M Watts
Cons - P Moriarty
Berks, Bucks & Oxon North 2
Aylesbury 3rds 20 - 12 Witney 4ths
Witney travelled to Aylesbury with a very changed side and a new and young front row and second row and did themselves proud against a very much older and experienced pack and with a very young 15 year old referee it was going to be an interesting afternoon.
Witney got off to a slow start against a very strong head wind and Aylesbury went over for a try within 10 mins. We lost Mark Parslow a couple of min later with a knee injury, so a bit of a re-shuffle was required in the pack with Mark Brooks coming on at 8. The wind was not getting any easier and Nick Mason was doing well at 9 to get the ball to
The second half however, was a great show of rucking, mauling and support play. Ben Alder, Tom Young, Bill Quarterman and
Witney continued to roll forward and Aylesbury’s penalty count started to increase. A quick tap penalty 5m out saw
Witney continued to dominate but were unable to capitalise and a break away from Aylesbury was stopped with some great tackling 10m out, but with the aid of a few unseen hands in the ruck, were able to pop the ball out and score with the last play of the game. Another superb effort by the lads, and if we continue playing like this then the wins will start to come.
4th XV
1. T. Young 2. M. Jones 3. B. Alder 4. C. Morris 5. M. Parslow 6. C. Manning 7. P. Romaine 8. B.l Quarterman 9. N. Mason 10. A. Cotton 11. J. Kenny 12. S. Harris* 13. B. Morris 14. M. Timms 15. L. Manning.
Repl. W. Drake, M. Brooks , M. Delnevo ( All used)
Saturday 18th October
EDV Cup 2nd Round
Witney 9 – 21 Widden Old Boys (
PHOTOS)
The confident looking visitors from Gloucestershire are going well in their League but the first few exchanges showed them that Witney would not offer them an easy passage into the next round. The Witney forwards enjoyed a good physical start in the lose and some solid scrimmaging early on with the new look front row of Matt Brocklebank, Brad Groebblar (right) and Alan Richens all showing up well. Stand in scrum half Phil Gouldie was released down the wing but the Widden defence was excellent – as it was all afternoon – and they covered the threat but Witney were deep in the visitors half and they were awarded a penalty and 1st XV debutant Dan Wheeler kicked the three points to give Witney a deserved lead.
This galvanised the visitors into some good play themselves and they put together some nice looking moves with their back row being at the centre of most of their most impressive plays. Witneys back row was also having a big game with Tim Muller in particular enjoying those early periods with some great linking play although perhaps he went a couple of yards too far on a couple of occasions. On the other flank Will Worrall was his usual hard working and lively self all afternoon while skipper Jez Hicks was making good inroads from the base of the scrum and also doing some sterling work in defence. It was just as well the makeshift Witney pack was up for the battle as Widden were a good side and were running some strong lines in the lose play. They gained their reward after about 20 minute with a penalty from their lose head prop who didn’t look like Johnny Wilkinson but his kicking was very effective all afternoon.
Witney lost scrum half Phil Gouldie early on in proceedings but Carl Strutt moved in from midfield and did a good job in getting the backline moving. Fly half Dan Wheeler was kicking well though and was making the most of some indiscretions from the visitors who were getting on the wrong side of the referee. From the lineouts Charlie Bennett (left) was playing well in the unaccustomed position of second row alongside Owen Fowler. Young Bennett was taking good lineout ball alongside Jez Hicks and this allowed the threequarters steady ball but the Widden defence was impressive and gaps were hard to find. Tim Muller burst through on one occasion but delayed his pass a fraction too long and another half chance was gone. Even James Monks was not bursting as many tackles as he sometimes does but still ran well on the wing and combined well in defence with Joe Collins and Louie Collins.
It was Widden who looked the most likely to score though and from a well worked threequarters move, their full back cut a great line and scampered over, the prop missing his only kick of the afternoon but at 3-8, Witney had plenty of work to do.
After a couple of great tackles, James Lamb enjoyed a powerful burst in Witneys midfield and the visitors defence started to show some cracks but their cover tackling was excellent so Witney had to show patience. More penalties were given away and the referee was reluctant to show a yellow despite constant “advice” from the visitors. Another Dan Wheeler penalty cut the deficit before halftime but with the elements being in Widden’s favour Witney really needed a try but it was not to be.
The second half showed both sides trying to play open rugby but generally it was the defences that came out on top with the Widden team work impressing and some big hits from James Lamb in particular from the home side. Chris Murray was offering his twinkle toed option in the midfield while Joe Collins and Louie Collins both enjoyed some strong runs but time and again if one tackle was beaten the second line defence was excellent.
The two kickers exchanged penalties to make it 9-11 but the visitors were kicking well for position and kept Witney pinned back. Replacement Wayne Caffekey made some powerful thrusts in typical robust fashion and Will Worrall kept asking plenty of questions but good phases of play by Witney were generally restricted to their own half and not in the crucial areas. Will Hook came on and after a dynamic showing for ten minutes, he picked up an injury and had to leave the field. Final replacement Mark Serle came on but even “Norm” could not turnb the tide! The visitors scored a try to clinch the victory with about five minutes remaining and their prop added the extras and a late penalty to give them a deserved victory. Its back to League action next week with a trip up to Aylesbury and with the squad being pushed to the limits, coaches Campbell and Harper will hope a few of the walking (or not) wounded will be given the all clear soon.
1st XV
Collins(J), Collins(L), Lamb(J), Strutt, Monks, Wheeler, Gouldie: Brocklebank, Groebblar, Richens, Fowler, Bennett(C), Worrall, Muller, *Hicks(J)
Repl : Murray(Gouldie-10), Hook(W)(Hicks-30 blood)(Bennett-50), Caffekey(Muller-50), Serle(Hook-65)
VIEW FROM THE TOUCHLINE
So many changes but a great attitude throughout the team and the forwards really fronted up to the job in hand. Players like young Charlie Bennett really did well despite playing out of position and the commitment from 1 to 15 was there all match. Some wrong options when half chances came their way but a good performance in general. The visitors played some good rugby and obviously were a fit outfit and also playing with confidence, especially in the lose. The lowlight was the injuries to Phil and Will while the highlight was James Lambs tackling and I am sure there would be a few players from Widden with a few bumps and bruises resulting from some of his hits. Still the visitors deserved their spoils and I am sure have the ability to progress a bit further in the competition, good luck to them in future rounds.
Friendly
Witney 2nds - no match
A week off for the few remaining players that were no injured !
Friendly
Stow 2nds 14 - 33 Witney 3rds
Following last week’s great result, the 3’s were looking for a second win on the bounce away at Stow. This was secured, and in some style. Stow is no easy place to go, and we travelled knowing they would have a strong pack and complete strongly in the rucks and mauls. Due to some player unavailability we had to use Kenna in the pack and pinch Martin Jones from the 4’s to step in at hooker. I later found out in the showers that he’s a scrum half (Editors Comment - Paddy, how did you find out he was a scrum half in the showers, is there a tell tale sign?). The Stow pack had the better of the early exchanges and their number 10 kicked well to pin us back. They scored in the first 5 minutes through their winger who chased up a Stow miss kick and following a short game of football and some nutmegs scored under the posts. As the game progressed Witney started to come into the game and the back 3 of Tony, Russ and Paddy all made good running returns from Stow kicks and Fish and Warren were breaking tackles in the centre. At times our support play and passing out of the tackle was superb. However, we always tried to force the final pass and there were many knock ons when we should have just set it, made it secure and started again. 
Eventually we made the break through with Fish kneeing on a pass, much to the dismay of Stow who thought it was a knock on, and picking it up to go in under the posts. It stayed like this till half time. In the second half we tried to play the rugby in Stows half with Pete kicking well from 10 and the pack now coming out on top in the loose due to better fitness. In the scrum too it was far more even with Terry, Tim and Martin sorting it out well. One visit into the Stow 22 saw good work from the pack allowing the backs quick ball and some straight hands gave Fish the chance to stretch over for his second of the day. This really got Witney tails up with Kenna making great ground from the re-start to keep the pressure on. Another well set ball in the 22 this time saw Tim Hands (left) throw a lovely dummy to waltz through under the posts. The last 15 minutes and the game opened up as Stow chased the game. This saw them play their best rugby as they started running with the ball instead of kicking it away so much. Unfortunately for them the old head of Fish can read a pass before it happens and while looking to spin it out wide he nicked in with a classic interception and had a walk to the line (plenty of time to decide whether to drop it or buy a jug). Not finished yet Witney had time for one more as Paddy (right) was invited to open his legs and show (if I do say so myself) excellent gas to score in the corner. Stow managed a consolation try right at the end with a good team move helped by some weak tackling.
It's back to league action this week and (I think) a game against Gosford who have been struggling this season so far. Another performance like this and we have a great chance of getting 3 wins in a row and maintaining our position in the top half of the league table. Hopefully some of the injured guys will be back so Ran doesn't loose to many to the seconds.
3rd XV
1. T Hickman, 2. M Jones, 3. T Hands, 4. R Pearman, 5. A Clevely, 6. Kenna, 7. D Brown, 8. J Williams (M Calley 55'), 9. R Martin, 10. P Minch, 11. Paddy, 12. Fish, 13. W Fitches, 14. R Gurney, 15. T Winstone
Scorers : Tries - Fish x 3, T Hands x 1, Paddy x 1, Cons - P Minch x 4
Witney 4ths 16 - 20 Chinnor 4ths
As chinnor returned for the rearranged league match we were confident of a good game as the friendly a few weeks away was so close, and a good game we got!
Just a shame it was a close game with Chinnor again getting the narrow win.
With the 2nds not playing we didn’t have to struggle as much for players and the guru Nick Godfrey shouting from the side seemed to spur people on, This week we saw the return of Caspar Morris who after only wanting 20 mins “out of the way” played 80 in the front row, so many people had a good game we had a hard think for our man of the match, Taffee with a great try and strong runs all game, Tim Walker (again) who is playing on form at the moment but the winner was Phil Romain (right) who was everywhere and won a lot of ball with being at every ruck on the field, with a lot of close games this season so far I’m sure like me the rest of the lads are enjoying the games so I’m goings to have a plug at getting people training to try and turn it round to a narrow win!
4th XV
1. D. Godfrey, 2. C. Morris, 3. D. Smith, 4. B. Quarterman, 5. Steve Godfrey (Awsome), 6. C. Manning,
7. P. Romaine, 8. S. Copperwheat, 9. T. Walker, 10. P. Moriarty, 11. N. Mason, 12. S. Harris (C),
13. J. Taffe, 14. E. Drake, 15. L. Manning
Repl : 16. Z. Rafael (Godfrey), 17. M. Minch (Quarterman), 18. J. Kenny(Mason), 19. Mark Brookes
Scorers : Tries - L. Manning and J. Taffe, Conv. L. Manning x2
Saturday 11th October
Southern Counties North
Witney 24 - 13 Windsor (PHOTOS)
A much improved effort from the lads after the disappointment of the past couple of weeks. From a poor kick off Witney responded in the best possible way with a big scrummage from the restart and that show of intent was there for most of the match. The recalled Matt Brocklebank and the impressive Alan Richens typified the hard work needed to turn things round and they were rocks around the performance. With that scrum against the head, some good phases followed and eventually Carl Strutt (left) crossed for a good try, Ed Mitchem missing the conversion but Jez Hicks was hugely please with the start his players had made.
Hicks was a giant in the lineout too alongside Simon Chatterton and Wayne Caffekey and young hooker Sam Collins regularly found his men and they took an amount of the visitors ball too. A Windsor penalty cut the deficit but generally Witney remained in the driving seat and as well as edging the set piece, they were by far the more lively in the lose play and stole a fair bit of Windsor ball with the back row of Wayne Caffekey, skipper Hicks and the irrepresible Will Worrall all enjoying themselves.Despite being the better side, points were needed before the interval and they cam late on in the half. Full Back Ed Mitchem made a break from deep inside his own half and Carl Strutt was onhand to complete his brace. Mitchems touchline conversion was the icing on the cake but it was his last contribution as he left the field injured.
Windsor came out after the break knowing an early try was needed and a couple of poor Witney tackles saw the mget that vital score and reduce the deficit to 2 points. The visitors were now enjoying their best moments of the match and played some nice rugby for 10-15 minutes as Witney regrouped. The sole reward for their endevours was a solitory penalty but it was enough to give them the lead.
Witney had played too well to let this one slip though and with replacements Tim Muller and Nathan Phillips both having effective cameos more scores seemed likely. The first was a typical barnstorming effort by winger James Monks who had run with venim all afternoon. The final passage of play saw stand in scrum half Phil Gouldie scamper round a few defenders to get the winner under the sticks, George Bibby converting.
1st XV
Mitchem, Collins(L), Lamb(J), Strutt, Monks, Bibby, Gouldie: Brocklebank, Collins(S), Richens, Fowler, Chatterton, Worrall, Caffekey, *Hicks(J)
Repl: Serle(Richens-70), Muller(Caffekey-55), Phillips(Mitchem-38)
Despite the score line Witney 2nds can take a number of positives out of this game. Had it not been for a crazy ten minute period, when poor clearance kicks were returned with interest, we could have easily walked of the pitch with a far different result. There were a number of changes from the side that was beaten at Buckingham the week before, some down to unavailability, some down to injury and some because players didn’t return phone calls from the captain. This resulted in us only having sixteen players and some of them playing out of position, in particular forwards Will Hook on the wing and prop Lee Ashford on the back row.
Anyway the positives were young colt Ben Greehy, who came in for his second team debut at full back. He had a terrific game, clearing up any sticky situation in a calm manner, all this with a broken thumb which happened in the opening minutes of the game. Also number eight Joe Rowles played his first full eighty minutes of rugby in nearly two years and had a good game, clearing up a lot of untidy ball at the back of the scrum. And Mo Dewey (left) once again proved what a handful he can be, as he made numerous yards from the back of rucks and mauls. We had some great periods of play and when we were patient and built our phases we were able to get behind a pretty good Marlow defence, which caused them plenty of problems. The "mighty" James Taafe showed excellent finishing skills for his try, after a sharp backs move created space for him in the corner. "Copper" converted from the touchline to send us into the break leading 7 - 5.
Minutes into the second half "Copper" extended the lead with a penalty, but sadly straight from their kick off we relaxed and conceded not one but three quick converted tries and also suffered from a couple of poor refereeing decisions! However we did show great character, as we didn’t give up and spent the remainder of the match camped in the Marlow half. In this period wing man Taafe could have had a second try, had the pass not been judged forward.
With a friendly in place for Saturday, we have plenty to work for our next league game.
Aylesbury Athletic 17 - 20 Witney 3rds
This was a great response after the disappointment of last week’s loss. We travelled with only the bare 15 with many faces having to play out of position and a number of normal faces missing. However those who played did a great job and have given 
Ran a selection dilemma for the next game. We knew this was going to be a case of Aylesbury looking to play the game out in the backs and we would be wanting to play the game in the forwards. This is just how it turned out. In the first half Witney’s defensive line was a little wonky allowing the very pacey Aylesbury fly half too much space which he exploited to score 2 very good tries. In return Andy Moriarty slotted over a penalty and some superb forward play by the pack saw Matt Calley, who had a strong game at outside centre, cross for a great team try. This saw us turn round 8 – 12 down. With our poor second half in mind from last week we 
knew what we had to do this time round and Ran will have been thrilled with the effort and commitment shown by all 15. We sorted out the defensive line and plugged the holes which were present in the first half. Everybody stepped up to the mark in the tackle area and the loose. Damian (left), who we have missed over the last few weeks, was knocking down any Aylesbury player with the ball and getting back up to take the next one. Big John Williams was powering through tackles and winning lots of balls in mauls and Taff was awesome as well. The pack must have won at least 90% of all the scrums and stole plenty of line out ball with Andy Clevely getting up high at the front. With all this ball and resulting field position it was only a matter of time until we scored with John crashing over under the posts. Andy converted to put us 3 points up. We continued to dominate play but were caught out by the Aylesbury number 10 again who completed his hat-trick with another fine individual try (I wonder what their alternative is to the hat-trick jug?). However, we didn't let our heads drop and continued to press the Aylesbury line. A nice backs move saw Andy Moriarty 'score' in the corner only for the home touch judge to change his mind when told to do so by the Aylesbury players (this happened more than once during the game). Back we came and it was Brillo continuing his reincarnation as a rampaging left winger who went over, again in the left hand corner, though to far in for the touch judge to raise his flag this time. With Andy unlucky with his touch line conversion we had to hold out for the last 10 minutes. Some superb cover defending from new boy Tony, Paddy and Jamie Burke snuffed out a few hairy moments as the clock counted down. Not wanting to make it too easy on ourselves there was a misunderstanding when the ref told us there was 1 minute left with us having the put in to a scrum in our 22. This was interpreted by some as the last play of the game, so the ball was kicked off (and not even forward), meaning we had to face one final attack. The defence held firm though and what to many would have looked like an unlikely victory was secured. A special mention must go to Pete Holliday (right) who thought he was coming along to run the line and only play if we were desperate. He instead had to play the full game and did a fantastic job. Hopefully his scan will be good news and we can have him back for good soon. I guess just as amazing was Jamie playing the full 80 minutes, though not as amazing are his shorts. If anybody his some spare ones (size: pretty big) then please throw them his way!
3rd XV
1. P Holliday, 2. G Williams, 3. T Hickman, 4. R Pearman, 5. A Clevely, 6. T Davies, 7. D Brown, 8. J Williams, 9. A Moriarty, 10. P Moriarty, 11. Brillo, 12. J Burke, 13. M Calley, 14. Paddy, 15. T Winstone
Scorers : Try - M Calley, J Williams, Brillo, Cons- A Moriarty x 1, Pens - A Moriarty
Witney arrived with great hope after last year’s game. After all almost nicking the game with 12 (latterly 11 men), what could we do with 17? The team as it started is listed below, but don’t let that fool you. Hardly 5 minutes passed without a re-shuffle. Right from the start Winlsow took control of the game driving Witney forwards off the ball and running good lines in the backs to cut through the backs. Within the first 10 minutes the visitors had conceded three tries, had a deficit of 15 point and had lost two players to injury (Alan Cotton (torn calf muscle and old age) and Will Drake (back injury)). Witney were looking at a long hard afternoon of tackling (or not as the case had been). But Slowly Witney started to come back in to the game, keeping hold of the ball and driving in to the heart of the Winslow defense. Just before half time Clive Manning (right) broke clear, bounced the ball forward basketball style and scored (looking a little embarrassed when the referee awarded the try). Leigh Manning converted for the extra 2 points and it looked like game on at half time.
However the second half started like the first with Witney leaking tries and this time it continued. In the meantime Steve Harris was making a bid to play every position on the field (twice), and particular mention should also be made of the Mark Brooks who, not having played for years, also covered a surprising number of positions. In the end injured players started to come back on as more went down and but for the heroic defense of Leigh Manning, and the inability of Winslow to pass and catch it would have been a really embarrassing score (no trust me that’s not as embarrassing as it could have been).
The showers seemed a bit more crowded than last year!
4th XV
1.Dave Smith, 2.Jelly, 3.Mike Hourigan, 4.Drew Mcvey, 5.Jakob Soulac, 6.Karl Anders, 7.Clive Manning, 8.Mark Brooks, 9.Steve harris, 10.Alan Cotton, 11.Nick Mason, 12.Mike timms, 13.James Kenny, 14.Will drake, 15.Leigh Manning
Repl : 16.Toby Morris, 17.Matt Delnivo (both got on)
Saturday 4th October
Southern Counties North
The first score from a Milton Keynes penalty as Witney struggled to get out of second gear but with all the set piece possession, there was no need to panic quite yet. The alarm bells did go off though after 15 minutes as the lively home no 9 broke blind from a scrum on around half way. He glided between Jez Hicks and Louie Collins and had just enough pace to get to the line before Phil Gouldie tackled him. The travelling Witney support hoped that this would galvanise their side into top gear but they were disappointed as little seemed to change. Ed Mitchem and Louie Collins worked hard from the back to try and create some attacking positions for the team but just when they thought things couldn’t get worse, they did. Fly Half Henry Lamb limped off the park and the reshaped back division had to try and find their feet with Henry’s brother James moving into the pivotal no 10 position.
Coaches Campbell and Harper had a few select words for their side at the break but also had to reshuffle again as Adam Hicks had to leave the field to be replaced by flanker Tim Muller who did a fine job on the wing. Whatever was said at the interval worked as Witney looked far more up for the match after that. The home side increased their lead with a penalty but were starting to give away more and more penalties which allowed Witney to gain more momentum. Will Worrall began to have more of an influence and asked a lot of questions of the home defence and James Lamb and Aaron Tustin both ran with real purpose in the midfield. The forwards began to front up a bit more in the lose too and with Hicks and Chatterton (left) continuing to edge the lineouts – taking their own ball from Sam Collins and pinching a few MK lineouts too – things began to look brighter for the visitors. Their defence had tightened up too and they only allowed the home scrum half one more long run in the second 40 minutes. Half chances came and went for Witney but dropped balls, isolated runs or forward passes at crucial times thwarted any real scoring opportunities.
This match report will be brief, as there really is not much to say about Witney's part in this match. Buckingham used the windy conditions well, pinned us back in our half and put us under pressure, that resulted in first penalties and then tries. The one good part of the game was our scrum which had the upper hand all afternoon and Dan Godfrey gave a fine performance in the front row. Robbie Mills scored our only points, finishing in the corner from the only backs move of any real quality and Dan Wheeler and Matt Brocklebank enhanced their chances of starting next week when they came off the bench.
At the end all Nick could say was that no one gave up and it was just a poor performance against a decent Buckingham side. He did stress that getting to training regularly would improve things a lot and hoped to see every one this week.
The home side voted Chris Murray (right) as the best Witney player, but by then he and many of our players had drifted off. "Copper" stood in for him in the beer race and won with ease. "Kevin the chicken" was not awarded, hopefully he will reappear next week, along with some winners beer.
Reps: M.Brocklebank(Perry), D.Wheeler(Moriarty), S.Aldridge(Fuller).
In typical 3's fashion, the team had a different look to it than the previous week as many faces were moved up the 2's. There were many positives to be taken from this loss and also some negatives which we need to work on for next week. The first half saw Witney playing into a very strong breeze which enabled
Unfortunately we didn't continue this into the second half which became far more scrappy for both teams. An early penalty from Franny saw us take the lead but another try from
The latest on Shaun is that the early fears of something being broken have gone. Instead it's the dreaded ligament injuries so he's looking at roughly 12 weeks out. We wish him all the best with his recovery. Next up it's the superfit, superyoung Aylesbury Athletic who are doing well this year and will provide a tough test.
3rd XV
1. T Hands, 2.
Tries - J Rowles and Warren Fitches, Cons - Franny x 1, Pens - Franny x 3
4th XV
1- Stu Wilkins, 2- Manny Karn, 3- Mike Hourigan, 4- Zoltan, 5- Jakob, 6- Karl Anders, 7- Andy Dubourski, 8- John Williams, 9- Tim Walker, 10- Alan Cotton, 11- Ed Drake, 12- Ben Morris, 13 Toby Morris, 14- James Kenny, 15 Leigh Manning
Repl: 16- Will Drake, 17- Phil Romain, 18- Declan Duffy, 19- Pete Moriarty, 20- Clive Manning, 21- Andy Moriarty (ALL of them got on)
Scorers; Ben Morris (Try); Leigh Manning (Convertion, Penalty)
Wednesday 1st October
Friendly
Witney III 33 – 29 RAF Brize Norton
It became obvious that the influential Adam Hicks (left) at fly half could control the Witney backline and a fast movement of the ball from centre to wing saw Andy Moriarty open the scoring with a try out wide. Andy blasted the conversion over so the home side led 7-0 early, in fact Andy missed just one all night (off the posts) and was the difference.