Old Patesians – 17
Witney – 15
In a display of determination and commitment, Pats produced a gutsy performance to overcome their impressive Oxfordshire based opponents. In a very evenly matched contest, it was the home side who took their scoring chances the better and prevailed as victors on a glorious sunny day at Everest Rd. Pats were undaunted by the all too familiar challenge of facing a team much larger than them and from the kick off a ferocious pace was set as both sides looked to play a fast and expansive game. After 20 mins of attack and counter attack, no significant territorial advantage was gained by either side as defenses held firm with superb midfield tackling from both sides. Witney’s well organized efforts to out muscle the home sides smaller pack was met with fierce counter rucking as the two sides traded blow for blow. It looked as though the deadlock had been broken when Witney were penalised for coming in on the wrong side but full back Lee Hathaway’s well struck penalty narrowly missed the target and score remained 0-0 Witney cleared their lines but some slick interpassing between forwards and backs saw Pats work their way deep into the visitors half and when they were found offside at a ruck ever alert scrum half Nick Chittock intelligently took a quick tap penalty, darted up field and flicked a super pass to his captain George Carrie who was charging up on his right and there was no stopping him as he dived over to open the scores. Pats were inspired and once again Chittock combined with Carrie who found big Will Safe on the visitors 22 but a huge defensive tackle saw the ball go forward and Witney were saved. Neither side’s lineouts were functioning well and when Witney stole Pats ball on the halfway line the ball went along their line to outside centre whose sliced punt up field proved awkward for Hathaway to field and he was forced to hack the ball dead. From the following 5 metre scrum a couple of pop passes to midfield produced a try for the visitors to level the scores going into the half time break.
Pats upped the pace of play as the second half got underway but over exuberance saw them pinged a couple of times for being in front of the kicker when Lee Hathaway looked for territory. From a lineout on the homesides 22 came a superbly worked try which shocked the visitors, Pats stole Witney’s ball and found Nick Chittock who fed to Fly Half Tom Head who in turn found Sam Colbert-Smith whose perfectly timed pass found flying winger Jonny White in space on the left wing and with lightning pace he scorched 75 metres around the flagging Witney defense for a superbly taken score in the left corner. A similar breath taking move followed as White once again found himself in space and raced 60 metres up the left wing and produced an outrageous side step infield wrong footing the entire Witney back line and off loaded to replacement centre Andrew Cox who off loaded to Tom Head but Pats over complicated the move, knocked on and squandered what would have been a magnificent score. Pats won the following scrum against the head and whipped the ball along the line to find Lee Hathaway at pace wide on the right who scored in the corner. Injured whilst scoring Hathaway was to play no further part so it was Colbert-Smith who produced a magnificent touchline conversion taking the score to 17-5 With their pride dented the visitors mounted a sustained fight back and the Pats defence endured a pounding as wave after wave of ensued. The homeside managed to turn the ball over on their 22 and newcomer Luke Pearson covered some hard yards with a good carry only to be penalized for holding on. Witney wasted no time at all and charged over under the posts but the simple conversion was crucially missed. As the game drew to an end, touch was missed from a clearance kick by Pats and after some enterprising forwards interplay Witney found their bulky centre out wide on the left who charged over to take the scores to 17-15 Staight from the kick off Pats launched a sustained attack attack with a move off the training ground but poor handling saw the ball knocked on in the Witney 22 and an opportunity was missed. The final few minutes saw Pats camped out in their own 22 under huge pressure. Their huge defencive effort held out and finally their captain George Carrie saved the day and with tremendous strength he ripped the ball from a maul right on the Pats try line and when the ball reached the hands of replacement Scrum Half Jamie Leich in one movement he twisted and launched the ball off the pitch and the final whistle was blown ending the game at 17-15, much to the relief of the home supporters.
