Gosford Dimonds turn on the style for Mark

With 2 league games (won comfortably by the hosting side each time) and one friendly (also by won by the hosts - GAB) already played this year, GAB travelled to Wheatley for a final showdown for their last match weekend celebrations (although we didn't get their pig roast...). The pre-match talk from Cap'n Stuie was to make sure that we saw Mark Dimond off with a win that befits of the service he's given to the club before he moves away from Oxon on to pastures new.

With no travelling team registering points before this game (66-0; 29-0; 60-0) the pressure was on both teams - for Wheatley to preserve the record and for GAB to break it.

Within a few minutes of the start, that was broken as, following Andrew Dubowski obtained turnover ball, Patrick Siret was put into space and his familiar pinball style saw him round the defence and score near the posts for Tim Ellis (in his first appearance for the 2s) to knock over the first of 5 conversions for him.

Wheatley quickly retaliated before taking the lead with 2 close range tries - their pack was mauling effectively and was the only area where they had superiority, with neither side really laying down a marker in the scrums or lineouts and Gosford's back's cutting lines all day.

This spurred GAB into action and with Ski yet again causing mayhem - this time with a chargedown near the tryline, Andy Schwarz was able to drop on the ball for his first score of the day. He was involved heavily in the next score as Richie Robbins returned a clearance kick with interest, finding Schwarz in support - his offload put Rob Eynon into enough space for the full back to go over the whitewash.

Eynon scored again, this time powering over in the corner under pressure from 3 Wheatley defenders after another turnover and good hands across the backs created the space. Following this, Wheatley had a period of sustained pressure, with GAB giving away penalties. From one such penalty, a 5m line-out was collected and expertly driven over the line for what would be the last time for the hosts.

Thew second half saw the late-arriving Bill Smith move to 10, with Tim Ellis to 9. Immediately from the restart a series of quick rucks enabled Bill to work Andy Schwarz into enough space to drive through for his second score, leaving the fly half with an easy conversion. Smith also jinked his way through to release Ben Gilkes. Richie Robbins added 2 scores, one a trademark interception, a visiting player from Didcot (covering for an injury) broke away from halfway and celebrated his own try (apparently as his brothers were in the Wheatley team) and we think there may have been more scores as well but memories of the second half have faded with the enjoyment of the game.

Throughout the match both sides played in the spirit of the game, as had been the previous 3 and we look forward to playing Wheatley again next season.

Final word must go to Mark Dimond, who scrumaged, tackled, mauled and rucked with the same ferocity and effect as he's always done. He leaves behind a club who will miss him and where he'll be welcome back any Saturday, with or without boots.

Good luck Cooch, and thank you.