Wildboys Hit it Baby One More Time

On the 17th of November 2003 one of the finest musical talents to ever grace the airwaves, Britney Spears, became the youngest ever person to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at the tender age of 21. 15 years subsequent to this significant day saw the Wildboys host second place Maidenhead in what was sure to be an equally momentous day.
The Wildboys had a couple of notable absentees for the fixture, the ever-present Guy ‘jawbreaker’ Hackshaw had been requested to help with the Falcons, he selflessly agreed, but sadly the fixture did not go ahead. The hardly ever-present Rob ‘melted candle’ Nichols was bothering penguins out in Patagonia, Dan ‘hips don’t lie’ Coulon was trying to make his relationship with Uni “friends” last and James ‘Thornberry’ Way had a hurty hamstring (again). Nonetheless the Wildboys had 18 fantastic names written on the team sheet who were all keen to get the game underway.
When the game began it was clear that this was to be a hard-fought contest with both teams looking to finish the game at the top of the league. In the early stages of the game it was the Wildboys who were able to take the front foot. A well drilled lineout saw the forwards power forward well into the oppositions half and when the ball came out Max ‘I Am Weasel’ Wood made a break, closely followed by the Wildboys forwards, a couple of delightful offloads saw George ‘The Lorax’ Hope power over the line for the first 5 points of the day. Harry ‘Lego Head’ Hillier sent the conversion straight down the middle for the additional 2 points.
The Wildboys continued to press hard, Harry Hillier marshalled the breakdowns well, at times resembling Ice Ages’ Scrat protecting his acorn, he got the forwards working hard and making big carries. Jon ‘Bigger than Jay’ Down made powerful runs off his wing and the in form George White at one stage resembled Anton DuBeke on the dance floor as he side-stepped and foxtrotted through the middle of the field, which was followed by another moment when he dummied a man and Argentinian Tangoed his way into open space. This dominance began to pay off and the Wildboys were awarded with another try, several powerful pick-and-go’s from the forwards finally ended with Sam ‘the fridge’ Jones steaming over the tryline. Once again ‘Scrat’ Hillier notched over to put the Wildboys 14-0 up.
Maidenhead continued to press hard, but solid defending all over saw the Maidenhead threat extinguished for the most part. At one stage it seemed that Maidenhead’s persistence had paid off when they had a two on one overlap down the wing, but a piece of defending straight out of the top drawer saw Max ‘Duke Weaselton’ Wood tap tackle the man with the ball, quickly return to his feet and tackle the recipient of the offload, keeping the score at 14-0 as the game reached half time.
As the second half commenced it did so with the same energy that had ended the first. Once again the Wildboys pack dominated at the breakdowns and enabled Adam ‘Foghorn’ Pipkin to get the ball out to the backs, during one such occasion Tom ‘Casper’ Strathdee managed to knock himself out after being tackled and had to leave the pitch for a sit down. The score remained at 14-0 for quite some time as the Wildboys had two tries disallowed for double movement. Eventually they managed to break the deadlock when an overthrown line-out landed in the hands of Tots ‘Rugrat’ Rackstraw who scampered over the line for his first of the season. Hillier made it three from three and extended the lead to 21-0.
Maidenhead managed to get one back as a momentary lapse in the Wildboys defence was exposed. The resulting conversion was narrowly missed, putting the score at 21-5.
The final score of the day fittingly came from the forwards, a scrum was marched over the line for Max ‘the bod’ Williams to touch down. Hillier’s 100% record faltered, and the score was 26-5.
With only minutes remaining on the clock, George ‘Chewbacca’ Hope (cute) dived to the floor in agony. His reaction made many think an ambulance was required, but thankfully assistance from the visiting side’s physio cleared up that it was in fact only a sprain. With that the final minutes of the game were played out and the score ended at 26-5 in favour of the Wildboys, who extended their lead at the top of the table.
It was a fine performance by each and every of the Wildboys, so much so that Captain George White nominated every player for man of the match. Other nominations went to Max Wood for his weasling runs and dogged defence, Max Williams and George Hope for their dominance around the park, Mark Bradburn for some powering runs, Adam Pipkin for his puppeteering at 10 and Harry Lowe for great D and glorious breaks down the flanks. Both Tom White and George White came close to receiving the accolade, but this week it was Sam Jones for his powering carries and strength in defence. Mare of the match was always going to be tough on a day with next to no mistakes, so it was awarded to George Hope for his hurty ankle.
The Wildboys have no fixture until the 1st of December when they head over to Newbury, until then keep it wild…
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Gossip girl xoxo

Man of the Match: Sam Jones
Mare of the Match: George Hope
Tries: G.Hope, S.Jones, T.Rackstraw, M.Williams
Conv: H.Hillier(3)