Sat 19 Feb 2022
On a very wet and windy day at the Hithercroft, Wallingford welcomed Shipston-on-Stour as they came to the end of a run of seven games on the bounce.
In selection, the hosts were without the Sam Botting, Nathan Chapman, Josh Morris and Conner Murphy, but were able to welcome back Tyler Harvey, Alex Brown, Ralph Smith and Ollie Corbett.
Early on, Shipston signalled their intent with an ambitious cross-field kick which didn’t go to hand, as they reminded Wallingford of their threat in the backs.
After a relatively even opening ten minutes, it was clear that this was a contest between Shipston’s lively backline and Wallingford’s strong pack, especially at scrum time.
As the game progressed, Wallingford enjoyed a period of dominance, as the forwards battered their way into the Shipston twenty-two and entrenched themselves on the Shipston line. But whether it was from driving scrums or picks around the breakdown, Wallingford contrived to cough up possession just as they looked destined to score, as they somehow came away scoreless from this period of dominance.
And the visitors made them pay for this before the end of the half. With Wallingford starting to give away penalties, the visitors worked their way into the Wallingford twenty-two, and after a prolonged spell of pressure, they eventually burrowed over with a short range try which was well converted.
The half ended 7-0 to Shipston.
The second half began with relative stalemate, as Wallingford defended well to contain the Shipston backs, whilst Wallingford struggled to take proper advantage of their dominant scrum.
As the game entered the final quarter, Wallingford seemed to up their intensity, whilst Shipston’s discipline and execution began to fail them.
It enabled Wallingford to finally get on the board with a well struck Charles Campbell penalty from 30m out.
Then, with ten minutes still to go, Wallingford got the crucial next score. The dominant scrum finally paid dividends, as Ian Jeffreys controlled the ball well before twisting over the line for his 73rd try for the 1st XV. Campbell then converted his tenth successful kick in a row to extend the lead to 10-7.
As the game neared an end, Wallingford began to run out of backs, with Jack Payne, Ollie Corbett and Tom Cerullo off injured, and ended up with a 17 year old lock in Silas Allum finding himself on the right wing, and a tired hooker in James Norris partnering Ralph Smith in the centres.
As the game neared the end, Shipston had one last opportunity to level the game with a penalty 35m out in front of the posts. Surprisingly, they opted to run it, and after a couple of minutes of attack, Wallingford’s defence forced the turnover and the game was over.
This was a fine win for Wallingford. They’ve struggled to contain Shipston in their three previous encounters, and the conditions might have helped to some extent, but the drift defence was excellent throughout, limiting the visitors to very few try-scoring opportunities.
The pack put in a big shift, with the front row of Lawson Dallimore, Jack Thurston and Tyler Harvey immense in the scrum, whilst Tom Diment had probably his best game for the club at seven, but man of the match went to skipper James Norris, who has been consistently excellent over the last few games.
