Sat 29 Oct 2022
Old Wheatleyans 18 – 12 Alcester
Alcester’s seven game unbeaten run came to an end on Saturday as they lost out to Coventry opposition Old Wheatleyans, 18-12.
The game started shakily for the visitors who were down to 14 men within the opening 10 seconds as captain Will Silk was shown a yellow card for being in front of the kicker at the start and proceeding to take his opposite man out in the air.
Old Wheats weren’t able to capitalise with the extra man early on but were awarded a penalty when Alcester were back to full strength and slot it overly neatly to take the lead in the game.
Alcester then began their attack. Dwayne Cruickshank attempted to flick the ball on to Mark Burrell, who was free on the wing, but the ball was slightly forward in the process.
Powering on, Cruickshank kicked an excellent 50/22 regaining Alcester the lineout five metres out from the try line. A driving maul formed and Alcester powered over with Jacob Turner crashing the ball down over the line.
With seven players missing from last week’s winning line up, Alcester struggled as other players were fielding outside of their preferred position meaning play wasn’t flowing as neatly as it had in previous weeks.
A missed tackle on the wing saw Old Wheats slip passed to score in the corner and regain the lead which they held on to into the break as they kept Alcester out by holding up another driving maul attempt over the line.
There was just three points in it at half time, 8-5.
Alcester started with a heightened intensity in the second half with a period camped on their opponents line. Old Wheats went down to 14 men, as their number 7 was shown a yellow card in the danger zone.
Ieuan Hopkins picked up from the back of the break down and went on a short powerful run over the line, the conversion was good from Tom Burgess as Alcester took the lead again.
Ten minutes later and the intensity had swapped sides with Old Wheats closing in. A player from either side was shown a yellow card as the home side pushed for the line.
Alcester’s scrum was forced back at an alarming rate as Old Wheats crashed over the line, separating the teams by just one point.
Jamie Harland made a try saving tackle on the wing to prevent the home side from progressing further before bizarrely Old Wheats were awarded a penalty from comments the referee had heard from spectators on the sidelines.
This frustrated Alcester and they became flustered allowing the home side to capitalise and score, leaving Alcester too little time to respond and losing their first game in just under two months.
Alcester still gained a losing bonus point from the game helping them to stay top of the table heading in to next week where they welcome Pinley to Kings Coughton.
