This weekend, Wheatley firsts welcome Farnham Royal to Oxfordshire and the Holton Playing Fields of Dreams as they look to put the disappointment of last weekend's cup loss behind them and reestablish their credentials as title challengers.

Wheatley last met Farnham Royal on a balmy autumnal day in October where they emerged victors in an emphatic 7 try 55-7 win, with tries from Laman (x2), Stanton (x2), J. Taylor, Hook and Hillsdon. Since then, the paths of the two teams have diverged, with Wheatley sitting 2nd in the table and Farnham Royal lying bottom with a solitary win to their name, a 22-21 win over Aldermarston. Never the less, Wheatley have showed on many occasions this season what can happen if you underestimate a team and so will need to be prepared from the off.

With everyone having survived the great blizzard of 2017, Wheatley will field what is now a reasonably settled team. Alex Acklam will once again lead the purple wall at prop along with his front row buddies, Peter Mitchell and Alex Gabbidon, who has recovered from the knee injury that reduced him to the bench last week. Lock Nick Banton will be hoping for some collapsed scrums to improve his foot work, whereas the second (at least) attractive member of the Gibb family starts alongside him at Five. The only change to the forwards comes in the back row as James Neal moves from 6 to 8 and in a move that will hopefully reduce his card count, Daniel Bland moves from 7 to 6. Caillin Taylor returns to the action at 7 after a brief absence for reasons unknown.

The back line chemistry remains, with the heinous knocker oner Aaron Laman again starting at number 9 and Andy Willis' brief spell at flanker is over as he starts at 10. Jack Taylor has recovered from his illness and will start at 12 and Josh Hillsdon moves from the wing to 13. Last week's try scorer Dan Rule retains his wing berth, whilst on the other wing, Jordan Hook will pay a similar bribe to the ones he paid Blue Boar and Chipping Norton so Farnham will let him walk a try. Iain Downer completes the side, as always, at fifteen

With Jack Smith setting a record in time taken to get injured, Wheatley's bench takes on a new look. Simon Chadbone will be fresh from entertaining the Ladies and raring to go, whilst Jack Atkinson will be moaning at the lack of a physical bench. In an upsetting turn for a Family who has gone through so much, Joe Hobdell's injury will mean his to try and remove the shade brought by his disgraced brother will have to come from the bench.

Although the casual observer may see Farnham Royal as an 'easy' team due to their league status and the recent history, Wheatley will see this as a game that they can really lay a marker as to what they want to achieve this year and banish the hurt of last week and the Ladie's day attendees watching, everyone will be looking to impress!

Kick off 2pm