Bouncebackabilty Bespeaks Belief

In January 1985 Duran Duran’s ‘Save a Prayer’ gained momentum when a special remix became a single in America which peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Accelerate 33 years and the Wildboys were hoping that Simon Le Bon had saved a prayer for them as they faced Witney hoping to pick themselves up from last week’s defeat against Bracknell.
With a few notable players on the wayside, the Wildboys had a previously un-seen 9 and 10 partnership of Max Graham and Jon Down and a stand-in prop, Mark ‘Martin Bradbury’ Bradburn. With that the teamsheet included the anticipated return of George Hope, Chris Jeffcock and Adam Draper who were led out by the ever-faithful captain; George White.
The heavens opened when both sides were warming up, but fortunately this eased when the first whistle whistled. With it slippery under foot, both teams took a little while to adapt to the conditions. A few balls where inevitably lost in contact, and the Wildboys had possession in a dangerous place. The forwards kept working hard and kept the ball tight, this allowed Max Williams to be bundled over by his compadres for the first of the game. Jayson Abbott stepped up, and converted. 7-0.
The ball was sent high at the restart and was collected from Tom “has anyone seen my grey and green under armour boots” Rackstraw. The following phase of rugby was superb by the Chinnor Wildboys. There was some great work at the breakdowns by Jon Goodson and George White. Some strong runs by Jayson Abbot and the 2 impressive Max’s; Max Graham and Max Williams. All this resulted in a great team try which Chris Jeffcock kindly finished off. The following conversion was missed.
The Wildboys slightly went off the boil at this point, and let Witney back into it. A great solo effort from their 13 saw him jink his way over the line, and scored their first of the game. 12-5. There were some stern words under the posts and the Wildboys went back at it. These seemed to work, as the Captain won several scrums against the head and the Wildboys were in another strong position on the pitch. Suddenly, a loose ball was kicked along the ground by Witney and a foot race was on. This foot race was won by Witney, and saw them closing in on the Wildboys lead. 12-12.
The start of the 2nd half was slow. The Wildboys had seemed to switch off slightly, which meant the play was a bit stagnant for a short while. The conditions weren’t helping, and the result was many scrums and lineouts. George White had redeemed himself from the Amersham game, as the arrows he threw were impressively straight and expertly collected by his brothers in the pack. The Wildboys patience eventually paid off, and George Hope was awarded a try for his efforts. Jayson Abbott converted making the scores 19-12.
With the game coming to a close, the Wildboys started to get a little sloppy. Several penalties were given away which lost ground, however their defence stood strong. This forced Witney to send the ball over the uprights for 3 to keep them within reach. 19-15. Not only did the Wildboys need to put the game to bed they also vitally needed a 4 try bonus point to keep them in any contention for the league title. Some great pressure in the final minutes of the game saw the Wildboys in the red zone, there was some heavy duty rucking which sadly saw Max Graham dislocate his elbow and be marched straight to the hospital, of course the Wildboys wish him a speedy recovery, and as the game commenced the bandy knees of Trevor Powell thrust over for a well-deserved try, which Tom Hook kindly converted – 26-15.
There were a couple of players nominated for Man of the Match, Mark Bradburn was short listed for his hard work stepping in at the front row, Chris Jeffcock for his consistent terrier like approach, Trevor Powell for marshalling the game with his old mind and sprightly ability and Tom White who frequently broke the gain line when carrying and for stepping up to the front row. However, Captain George White took the mantle this week, for his hard work around the park and some impressive set pieces.
Mare of the match had a few nominees, Trevor Powell harshly for his kicking efforts, Joe Adams for a dubious pass to Bradbury, Harry Lowe for dropping the ball over the line, Tom White for passing to a lazy Witney runner after breaking the line, but it was Max Wood who took it this week for being slightly hungover, and who was caught heaving on the side of the pitch with 5 minutes to play.
Next week the Wildboys face Henley which is always a much anticipated local derby so until then, keep it wild…
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Man of the Match: George White
Mare of the Match: Max Wood
Tries: M. Williams, C. Jeffcock, G.Hope, T.Powell
Conv: J.Abbot (2), T.Hook