Five Points Makes It A Happy New Year For Hoppers

Seniors: First XV: 17th January 2026

It was a happy new year at the "Lane” for G’s as they welcomed Oxford Harlequins II to kick 2026 off on a bright, and considerably warmer that recent wintery conditions, day.

So, it was G’s who kicked off from the railway end and were soon on the attack as their forwards got on top and were ahead after 4 minutes with a try from a lineout drive from hooker, Jack Walkenden and the conversion from stand-off, Conor Gilmore saw them move into a 7-0 lead.

Despite some visitor forays into G’s half G’s were able to maintain pressure on them and soon saw themselves 19-0 ahead thanks to 2 tries from prop, Aaron Sheehan the second set up by number 8, Louis Brown and a conversion from Conor Gilmore.

The last 10 minutes of the first half should have seen G’s score again, but the visitors seemed to stiffen their defense and came back with an unconverted try to narrow the gap to 19-5. But G’s had the last word of the first half as Jack Walkenden grabbed his second try and G’s 4 try bonus point with the Conor Gilmore conversion making it 26-5.

The second half started well for G’s as Aaron Sheehan got his hat trick try which was converted by Conor Gilmore to make it, what looked like a comfortable, 31-5 lead.

However, the visitors weren’t reading the same script and so, they upped their game, as G’s struggled to gain any traction, which saw them reel G’s in with 3 unconverted tries to make it 31-20.

G’s sealed the game with a well taken try from full back, Chris Brown set up by winger, Tom Orishaguna with a well-placed kick ahead and the conversion from Conor Gilmore made it 38-20. The visitors though, had the last word as they pressed for a second bonus point and closed the game with a converted try to make the final score 38-27.

Next week G’s have a re-arranged game away to Marlow 2pm kick off.