OXFORDSHIRE SHIELD

WHEATLEY reached the semi-finals after winning 16-5 at Harwell in the only tie of the weekend.

The 2014 runners-up saw off their determined hosts in terrible weather conditions on Saturday.

Early tries from Adam Muir and Duncan Dingle, both set up by Alex Acklam, plus a penalty from Dingle saw Wheatley lead 13-0 at the break.

Harwell fought back with a try from Rob Froud-Williams after the weather cleared, but Dingle’s second penalty sealed Wheatley’s victory.

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Holders Gosford All Blacks gave Blue Boar a walkover due to injury problems.

Gosford had to play a rescheduled BB&O Premier Division match against Chipping Norton on Saturday, with the Shield contest on Sunday.

Gosford’s injury list was exacerbated by the Chippy match, which meant they could not play two days running.

With both teams having free weekends on November 15/16, Gosford had offered this as an alternative, but Boar said that was not possible as they had already made plans to host the match at Oxford RFC and could not switch.

Gosford coach Matt Watts said: “I would like people to know that we have not just pulled out.

“Up until Sunday morning, we were going to play the fixture, but we ran out of fit players.”

Blue Boar secretary Brian Kentish said: “We plan our calendar around these Shield dates. We had quite a few people who would have been unavailable next week.”

The other two 'contests' saw Abingdon and Littlemore gain walkovers from Didcot and Faringdon respectively.

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