On the very first day of October 2016, the dearest Wildboys travelled over to Witney to face Witney II’s. Rewind 41 years and it would be on this exact day that Muhammed Ali faced Joe Frazier in what was dubbed the ‘Thrilla in Manila.’ Unfortunately, it is not so easy to come up with an equally catchy phrase to rhyme with Witney, nonetheless, the Wildboys hoped to be the Ali of the two in this much anticipated bout.
The Wildboys were keen to set the precedent for the rest of the season when they turned up to what they knew was always a hard fought encounter. As the game began, Chinnor were receiving the kick and they were panicking as William ‘Wild Bill’ Taylor was yet to arrive to the fixture. They steadied their nerves and plucked the ball out the air and took it hard into contact. The Wildboys dominated from the word go and before long Harry Hillier was scampering into space releasing Max ‘Mick the Miller’ Wood, who in turn passed the ball out to Jon Down who cantered over the try line for the first points of the day. Of course the conversion did not go where it was supposed to, leaving the score at 5-0 in favour of the Wildboys.
From the restart, the game continued in much of the same trend, Chinnor were controlling the breakdowns and making some good strides forward. A big hit from Jayson ‘Bert’ Abbott and big carries from Pieter Nell and Ollie Jackson set the tone and allowed the backs to open up and play the rugby they wanted. Before long the new slimline Robert Nichols was jinking his way through and releasing Adam Draper who pounced over the line to make it 10-0. This time, just to mix things up, the resulting conversion gained the Wildboys a further 2 points.
When the game restarted, Witney upped their game, they used their added weight in the pack and performed some good rolling mauls. The Wildboys were resilient as ever and defended well, in the process George White picked up an injury to his ribs (the loss of padding in this area has clearly created a weak point) he was replaced by Wild Bill Taylor who within minutes was trucking the ball under the posts for the third try of the day. There is little point discussing the conversion.
17-0 was how the score remained at the half way point, this was down to the fantastic work rate of the whole Chinnor team, notably Tots Rackstraw and Max Wood, who both had an outstanding first half of rugby. The half time break saw Tom Price make his debut as he replaced Will Bhagat, also Tom Jarvis was replaced by the fit again George White.
Once more it was a half dominated by the Wildboys, energetic runs from Harry Hillier, Max Wood and Jon Down tore apart the Witney defence. As did a fantastic break from Rob Nichols which saw him cut through the initial defence and dart toward the try line, but all of a sudden he was hit like a freight train by Witney’s full figured winger, sending him hurtling backwards in the opposite direction to the ball he once carried. He picked himself up with a grin on his face and the resulting scrummage saw a wonderful phase of play, powerfully finished off by George White. It was never in any question that the resulting kick would be converted, everyone had every faith in Jayson Abbotts ability and it paid off as the ball sailed between the posts.
Tommy Jarvis returned to the park as Pieter Nell had done his shift for the day and the game continued.
Witney continued to try and breakdown the Wildboy defence, but the defence remained firm and soon was turning into attack and soon after that a try. This time it was finished by Ollie Jackson and was much deserved for his performance. The kick was missed.
Witney were refusing to be nilled and kept pressing, numerous driving mauls saw them edging ever closer to the try line. Harry Hillier was replaced by Dan Cundy who bred a new lease of life to the team, however Witney were continuing to press. At one point their big 8 picked the ball from the back and ran blind to a nearly clear try line, defended only by Captain George White, he defended it like he was defending his castle and smashed the man back, ripping the ball in the process and charging the ball away from the line. This summed up the resilience and determination of every single Wildboy in this fixture. With notable performances from Jon Down, Tots Rackstraw and Max Wood, however this week man of the match was awarded to Ollie Jackson who seemed to be everywhere on the pitch. Mare of the match was uncharacteristically awarded to Adam Draper, who when taking a penalty, managed to kick the ball into touch, behind him.
Next Saturday the Wildboys face Amersham and Chiltern at home, until then, keep it Wild….
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Man of the Match: Ollie Jackson
Mare of the Match: Adam Draper
Tries: J.Down, A.Draper, W.Taylor, G.White, O.Jackson
Conv: J.Abbott (2)