Sat 6 Dec 2025
Wallingford 0 Shire Hall 68
It had been nearly 15 years since Shire last visited Wallingford for a League fixture. On that day, we won comfortably and secured the league title. Only one player, Neil Evans, remained from that side. To put it into perspective, nearly half of Shire’s 2025 squad had only just started primary school! For this season’s fixture, Shire fielded a full team and a packed bench. Shire welcomed back Joe Tett for his first game of the season and Luke Jellicoe after illness. The game was also Luke Barefoot’s 100th club appearance, even though it had taken him 14 years! Shire started well and it only took 4 minutes for Luke Jellicoe to dance his way through the defence for the first score. Billy Wigley missed the conversion, and this proved to be the start of his bad day with the boot. In this opening spell, Wallingford were penalised many times for playing the ball on the floor and they were punished by some good touch finding kicks by Billy Wigley. With so much possession, Shire were guilty of holding on to the ball too long which allowed the covering Wallingford defenders to get back. Matt Brazier and Luke Jellicoe both made telling breaks, but the chances were wasted. It took 25 minutes for Shire to extend their lead when a good move in the backs allowed Manzi Murenzi the simplest of touch downs. Billy missed adding the extra points but only 5 minutes later. Matt Margot’s fine break found a supporting Dan Smedley who raced over to score. This time Billy Wigley added the extras and so Shire were 17-0 up. Just before half time, Wallingford had no answer to Luke Jellicoe’s fast feet, and he scored again to secure the try bonus point. Billy Wigley managed the extra points this time. Soon afterwards, Luke Jellicoe was forced to leave the field after an accidental collision with a Wallingford player’s knee and this brought Joe Tett into action for the first time in the season. Shire were totally dominant all half and Wallingford had not made any inroads into Shire’s 22.
Half Time Score: Wallingford II 0 Shire Hall 24
The message at half time was clear – let the ball do the work! A raft of substitutions came onto the field – what a luxury! Wallingford started the half well but could not cope with speed of the Shire backs who were admirably led by Dave Tridgell. 7 minutes in and Andrew Ryan scored his first try for the club with a powerful run which was converted by Billy Wigley. 3 minutes later and it was Ed Gallen’s turn to get on the scoresheet with his 4th try of the season. No conversion but then a brilliant 50 metre run by Joe Tett was ended just short of the line, but it was recycled well for Jason Tunkhume to touch down in the corner. You guessed it – no conversion! Shortly after, Wallingford’s fly half went sent to the naughty step for a high challenged on Laurie Moss. Soon after Kris Sharma danced his way through a tired defence to record his first try for the club. Billy Wigley attempted the conversion in front of the posts with a drop kick but it has to be said it was woeful! The last 10 minutes of the game were a try fest for Shire as firstly another Margot-Tridgell combination created a try for Dave. This was quickly followed by another try for Kris Sharma after a quickly taken penalty put him in oceans of space. This time the conversion was attempted by Dave Tridgell, but his effort was no better! Finally, Billy Wigley earned a plus point for a strong back’s move to finish off another fine play. Dave Tridgell did add the conversion but there was still time for Laurie Moss to complete the score by breaking through a very tired Wallingford defence. Guess what -no conversion from Billy!
An excellent performance, especially in the second half. What is becoming apparent in this league is that nearly all clubs are at times unable to field their strongest teams as there have been some unexpected results. Today we were just too quick and our younger players were just too fast for Wallingford. The scoreline could have been bigger, especially if Billy had managed to pack his kicking boots! Next up is Phoenix at home who have not had the best of starts so we hope we have another strong squad to move us up the league. This win today meant we moved from 9th to 6th.
Final Score: Wallingford II 0 Shire Hall 68
Tries: Luke Jellicoe (2), Kris Sharma (2), Manzi Murenzi, Dan Smedley, Andrew Ryan, Ed Gallen, Billy Wigley, Jason Tunkhume, Dave Tridgell, Laurie Moss
Conversions: Billy Wigley (3), Dave Tridgell
MOTM: Dave Tridgell – the catalyst for all fast attacking options to set up many tries. (Special mentions for Matt Brazier and Andrew Ryan)
DOTD: Billy Wigley – his school report would read “Must do better!”
