On the 17th of September the Wildboys had their first home fixture of the 2016/17 season against Windsor 2XV. They were looking for a historic victory similarly to Vanessa Williams who became the first black Miss America just 33 years earlier. Windsor having come up a league were no doubt keen to make their mark, and they were out early warming up, getting ready for this much anticipated encounter. The last time these teams met the score was a relatively close 8-22 to the Wildboys.
The Chinnor starting line-up was much more recognisable this week, with the return of Rob Nichols in at 10. Guy Hackshaw and Jayson Abbott in the back line, and Wild Bill and Max Williams back in the pack. With Adam Draper unavailable this week, the Wildboys recruited in Chinnor veteran Trevor Powell who brings a wealth of experience to a Chinnor RFC fixture.
The first 5-10 minutes of play was ruthless for Windsor as the Wildboys cut through the breakdowns swiftly, gaining ground with every pick up. Before long Max Williams was over the line for a well worked try. Conversion missed by Mr James Way. It wasn’t long after when we saw Wildboys wannabe Elliot Bevan dash over for his first of the season, again this was narrowly missed by James Way.
It was at this point that the Wildboys started to get a little rushed at the breakdown and performing everything with a bit too much haste. This caused Elliot Bevan to throw a spin pass wide which was intercepted in his own 22, and it was an easy run in for Windsor to get their first points on the board. This was then expertly converted – maybe they could teach the Wildboys a thing or two!
With possession firmly back with the Wildboys they started to press again. With a kick deep into their half the Wildboys chased well, with some strong challenges going in by the likes of James Way. However for his efforts he got 3 stitches in his lip and a tooth hanging on by a thread. Gossip Girl and the Wildboys wish James the swiftest of recoveries and hope that his glorious tooth can be saved.
The Wildboys then restructured and saw Rob Nichols coming in at 9, and Trevor Powell taking the 10 position and Cam Harvey coming on the wing for his debut appearance.
This reshuffle did not affect the Wildboys as the tries began to fly in. Jason Hankins scored his first of the season, Rob Nichols bagged 1 from short, and Sam Ludgate touched down. The conversions were now being taken by Jayson Abbott, and he managed to get 1 out of those 3 with the other 2 hitting the post. Half time saw the score stand at 27-7, and Ed Devine came on for Pieter Nell to add to the destructive nature of the Wildboys pack
The beginning of the second half saw the Wildboys pile on the pressure which released the uncharacteristic show and go by Rob Nichols who darted under the posts for his 2nd of the game. The easy conversion was then missed by the ever reliable Jayson Abbott.
The handsome Wildboys then got into their stride, and more tries came in from Sam Ludgate for his 2nd, a debut try from Cam Harvey which was well finished, Guy Hackshaw and Ed Devine shared their 1st of the season while Jason Hankins finished it off with 11 tries in total for the Wildboys. Out of these last 5 tries, Jayson Abbott hit the post on 1, completely missed the other 3 and managed to drop one over.
Some tremendous performances this week by the Wildboys, who are still looking for their first clean sheet of the season, notably Wild Bill, Sam Ludgate, and Guy Hackshaw who all received nominations for their efforts for Man of the Match. But the clear winner was Ed Devine who played very hard and made golf balls appear inside opponents heads.
Mare of the Match went to Elliott Bevan who threw the unnecessarily wide spin pass which caused Windsor’s only try. Until next week, keep it Wild….
You know you love me
xoxoxo
Gossip Girl

Man of the Match: Ed Devine
Mare of the Match: Elliot Bevan
Tries: M. Williams, E. Bevan, J. Hankins (2), R. Nichols (2), S. Ludgate (2), C. Harvey, G. Hackshaw, E. Devine
Conv: J. Abbott (2)