Sat 31 Jan 2026
Shire Hall 5 Aldermaston 44
It was Harold Wilson who famously said, “a week is a long time in politics”. This same phrase could be applied to rugby at Shire Hall. A week ago, Shire fielded a side top heavy on forwards. This week it was loaded with backs. After nearly a year out through injury, Rhys Stewart made his return, albeit out of position at flanker. This game should have been in Sonning, but our pitch was not available, so Aldermaston kindly agreed to host the game. Conditions were not ideal, but it would be the same for both sides. It would be a question as to who could master the muddy pitch the better. The early passages of play were very even, and both sides were forced to show off their defensive qualities. Shire were forced to make a change after only 15 minutes when veteran Geoff O’Brien was forced off to be replaced by another veteran Tom Birch. 10 minutes later and the referee had no option but to show the yellow card to the Aldermaston winger for a deliberate knock on. 5 minutes later and it was Billy Wigley who was considered to commit a dangerous challenge, and he was sent to the bin as well. The view from the sidelines was that the challenge was innocuous, and the card seemed a bit harsh. Aldermaston landed the resulting penalty to take the lead. Shire pressed the Aldermaston line hard but to no avail. Matt Margot came closest to adding to his impressive try scoring total but the chance went begging. With 5 minutes of the half remaining, Shire took a quick penalty and Ollie Homan-Green crashed over to record his first try of the season. Rhys Stewart could not the extra points but Shire now had the lead. The last play of the half saw some excellent vision from the Aldermaston fly half who placed an inch perfect kick into space for their winger to go over virtually unchallenged. The difficult conversion was added to give Aldermaston a 5 point lead at half time. It had been an attritional half with both sides giving no quarter in pretty awful conditions.
Half Time Score: Shire Hall 5 Aldermaston 10
At half time, Shire brought on Luke Jellicoe, Fergus Bennett and Geoff O’Brien to replace Billy Wigley, Dhilan Patel and Tom Birch. An early penalty for Aldermaston increased their lead but Shire were unable to keep possession as the aggressive Aldermaston blitz defence denied any progress. Any penalties conceded by Shire were punished by the siege gun boot of the Aldermaston fly half. On the hour, another penalty conceded resulted in another 3 points for Aldermaston. It was noticeable that Shire could not gain any territory and they were unable to actually get into Aldermaston’s half. The last 20 minutes of the game belonged totally to Aldermaston who handled the conditions much better and played with real conviction. Two tries were scored by deft grubber kicks through, exposing space with which Shire’s back line could not cope. The final scoreline was emphatic but Shire did have a good first half, but the conditions proved tiring and that was noticeable in the final 10 minutes.
There is no doubt that Aldermaston were deserving winners, avenging the result earlier in the season when Shire ran riot. Quite simply, Shire had no Plan B. This result will have disappointed the coaching team, but we will bounce back. Next up is Thatcham. Our thanks to Bex and her team at Aldermaston for agreeing to host the game.
Final Score: Shire Hall 5 Aldermaston 44
Try: Ollie Homan-Green
MOTM: Oliver Kidson – tackled his heart out.
DOTD: Billy Wigley – another yellow card!
