Sat 11 Oct 2025
Aldermaston 29 Shire Hall 48
For the second league game of the season, Shire travelled to our neighbours and friends at Aldermaston. Shire had again put out a large squad despite missing a few regulars. In the true spirit of rugby, we lent Aldermaston a couple of players to ensure that the game could go ahead. Before the match, both teams observed a minute’s silence in memory of Jenny Bosley, our League Secretary, who sadly passed away last weekend. Shire started well and after only 3 minutes, Luke Jellicoe charged down a kick, gathered the ball and went over unopposed. Billy Wigley could not add the extra points, but he was on the scoresheet for his debut Shire try 10 minutes later when the ball was fed wide to stretch the Aldermaston defence. No conversion but Shire were getting into their stride. Another Luke Jellicoe break resulted in a try for the supporting Gwyn Robins who went over despite being under pressure. Billy Wigley added the extras and so after 20 minutes, Shire had a commanding 17 point lead. From here it should have been routine for Shire to add more points but for some inexplicable reason, probably complacency, Shire’s game started to fall apart. Some poor tackling allowed Aldermaston’s big No.8 to make huge yardage to create space for their first try. Just 3 minutes later a further break by their No.8 from the base of the scrum put the winger in to bring the score to 17-12 in Shire’s favour. What had been a fairly comfortable ride was in danger of becoming a disaster.
Half Time Score: Aldermaston 12 Shire Hall 17
Half time saw the introduction of Fergus Bennett, Gabriel Barlow and Jamie Mattison but initially no progress was made. Kris Sharma had a kick charged down which Aldermaston capitalised on to record their third try and bring the scores level. Aldermaston were good value in levelling the score but in reality, Shire were the better team. Good breaks were made by Luke Jellicoe in particular but his normally safe passing seemed to have deserted him as balls went forward or to the ground. A rampaging run by young Rory ended in a good try which Billy Wigley converted to give Shire their try bonus and also the lead. Not to be outdone, back came Aldermaston with yet another No.8 break which resulted in their bonus point try. The conversion tied the scores again, but some parts of Shire’s play were starting to click again when, within 5 manic minutes, Shire scored 3 tries through Fergus Bennett, Jamie Mattison and Matt Margot who appeared on the wing to finish the best try of the game when the ball was actually managed to be passed backwards! Billy Wigley added one conversion, but Kris Sharma’s sole effort was woeful. With ten minutes left, Shire had 17 point lead but Aldermaston kept at it. A long kick deep into Shire’s back field saw no one at home and this allowed the ball to be regathered and their full back went over unopposed. To Shire’s credit, they came back into it when Jamie Perry fought his way over for Shire’s 8th try. Billy added the extra points and so the victory was sealed.
So, the victory was achieved and also the try bonus point but Shire made it looked very difficult. We should have been very happy, but the victory felt very flat. The scoreline suggests total domination but at times the passing wasn’t good, the tackling innocuous and the support play was under par. Aldermaston fully deserved their try bonus point but we could have prevented that. Thatcham are our opponents next week and we will have be much better if we are to maintain our current position as League leaders.
Final Score: Aldermaston 29 Shire Hall 48
Tries: Luke Jellicoe, Billy Wigley, Gwyn Robins, Rory, Fergus Bennett, Jamie Mattison, Matt
Margot, Jamie Perry
Conversions: Billy Wigley (4)
MOTM: Alex Webb – an excellent all-round performance
DOTD: Luke Jellicoe – woeful passing!
