Wheatley 3 Stow 43
Stow travelled to Wheatley for this final match of the season. They were greeted by damp and windy conditions and a pitch that sloped alarmingly from touchline to touchline. Despite this Stow started the game at a high tempo which the Wheatley team could not match. Stow were moving the ball away from the breakdown quickly and efficiently and were soon 14 – 0 up after tries in the corner by Dan Adams and Will Bevan. These challenging conversions in difficult conditions were expertly slotted by in form goal kicker Nick Cafeiro. Stow continued to dominate both possession and territory but after a rare excursion into Stow territory, Wheatley were awarded a penalty virtually in front of the posts which they accepted gratefully, 14 – 3. This proved to be only a temporary setback for Stow as they resumed their entertaining running game which resulted in two further tries for Nick Cafeiro and Craig Chapman respectively. Cafeiro continued his fine form with the boot to again convert both scores 28 – 3. As half time approached Wheatley moved steadily into Stow territory and forced a five yard scrum after a storming run over the try line was deemed to be held up by the referee. Stow took the scrum against the head but at the resulting ruck, wing forward Richard Huggett was yellow carded for hands on the ball. Stow defended the resulting kick to touch to lead 28 – 3 at the half.
The second half started slowly with the Wheatley forwards dominating the set pieces and the breakdown to frustrate what little possession that Stow were winning. The referee was starting to lose patience with both sets of forwards which resulted in a period of very scrappy play. To their credit and despite the scoreline Wheatley showed great spirit and spent most of this phase of the game in the Stow half. The half finally came to life after a Wheatley forward was yellow carded for infringing at a ruck and Stow broke loose with Craig Chapman scoring a fine try. The conversion was missed this time 33 – 3. Another Wheatley forward received a yellow card, again after foul play at the breakdown, to leave the home side with 13 players. This was the cue for Stow to step up the pace and they dominated the rest of the half with further tries by Ollie Whiteman and Craig Chapman. Nick Cafeiro had lost his range by this stage and both conversions were missed to leave the final score at 43 – 3.
All I all a fine effort by Stow, with the win consolidating a steady season which sees them finish 5th in the league table.
