Sat 25 Sep 2021
Wallingford 2s opened up their league campaign with an impressive 62-3 win against Pheonix in an entertaining game.
After over 18 months without any competitive rugby, Wallingford 2nd XV returned to action with a league game against Phoenix 2nd XV on a perfect day for rugby.
In selection, there were a raft of absences (24 across 1s and 2s), but Wallingford were able to field a strong side as players young and old came out of the woodwork to bolster the numbers.
Wallingford started brightly, and were patient in their build up play, as the forwards stuck to the gameplan and made good yards early on. Despite dominating possession and territory in the opening exchanges, a bit of rustiness saw Wallingford butcher a few good chances, before they finally opened the scoring. After several forward carries in the Phoenix twenty-two, the ball went to Smith at fly-half, who delayed his pass to put in Kai Lewis for a short range try on debut. Try converted.
The forwards continued to be patient in the tight, and were rewarded with the next try as Andy Gillies drove over from short range as Wallingford began to reap rewards from their early good work.
Next up was another debut try, this time for U19 Conor Whitty, who along with fellow U19 wing Ollie Kyle saw plenty of ball in the first half and made good yards every time.
The Wallingford backs started to grow into the game, with the flair pairing of Kai Lewis and Lenford Eugene in the centres creating chances nearly everytime they got the ball, and it was full back Greg Fairchild who benefited from this as he opened his account for the season.
Lenford was beginning to dominate in the centres, and he showed pace of old to race in from 30 meters for the last score of the half, as the half ended 35-0 to the hosts.
The second half saw Phoenix create their first chances of the match, as they worked their way towards Wallingford's try line, but ferocious Wallingford tackling prevented them from crossing the whitewash.
Wallingford's backs then continued to run riot in the second half, as Smith, Fairchild and Lenford all ran in excellent long-distance team tries, as well as a slightly more agricultural finish from Gillies for his second.
After Phoenix got on the scoreboard with a well struck penalty, Ollie Kyle picked up his deserved debut try as he raced in from 30 meters to finish the scoring.
Final score Walingford 2s 62-3 Phoenix 2s
This was a cracking game from a relatively scratch side. They played with a structure rarely seen in the 2s, which is testament to the quality and clarity of the coaching this season. Literally everyone had a strong game, but there were standout displays from Lenford Eugene in the centres, a constant thornn in the Phoenix side, U19 Joe Nisbet, who was excellent at scrum-half, and U19 Aaron Toolin who was immense on his seniors debut. But man of the match went to the evergreen James Willcox-Jones, who was exceptional throughout, even playing out of position at prop.
1.Willcox-Jones 2.Hill (Mount) 3.Fixter 4.Timms (c) 5.Toolin 6.Padbury (D.Henderson) 7.Morris (Baxter) 8.Gillies 9.Nisbet 10.Smith 11. Whitty 12.Lewis 13.Eugene 14.Kyle (Cleophas) 15.Fairchild
