Fylde welcome old North West friends and rivals Macclesfield to the Woodlands on Saturday (ko 15.00) for what will be, for different reasons, a very important match for both clubs. Fylde continue their efforts to try to get into the top four clubs in National Three (North) whilst Macc are desperately attempting to avoid relegation.
Macclesfield have had a disappointing couple of seasons in the division following a superb 2004/5 when they finished runners-up and lost the promotion play-off game at Launceston. They finished 9th in 2005/6 & 2006/7 and in both seasons flirted with relegation before pulling themselves around. This time it looks harder as they’re in the third relegation place and battling furiously with Morley, one place below them in 13th place, and chasing a number of clubs including West Park and Bradford & Bingley who are four points in front.
Up to early November when Macc were roundly defeated 20-41 by Fylde in what was probably the Lancashire side’s best attacking display of the season, they hadn’t won a game and were anchored at the bottom of the table, looking certain relegation candidates. However, following that defeat the team really started to improve and recorded seven wins in nine games including fine wins against promotion contenders Rugby Lions and Hull Ionians. Losing at home to Tynedale by only 13-19 last Saturday showed how much the squad has developed since that black day in early November. They pressed the outstanding league leaders hard and were rather unfortunate not to pull off a shock win.
Like Fylde, in October Macc jettisoned their head coach, former Fylde fly-half star Steve Burnage, who was in his second season at Priory Park, and replaced him with Steve Mannion. He’s assisted by forwards coach Andy Rice who is their long standing scrum-half. Between them and the players they’ve made a real difference to their form and league record.
There’s little doubt that they’ve missed skipper and highly influential former Manchester tighthead prop Rob Bieniasz who has missed most of the season with a back injury. However, ex-Orrell skipper Matt Collie has provided expert cover.
The Macclesfield pack is a combative group of players featuring experienced performers such as lock/no 8 Jeremy Bostock, former Launceston lock Neil Keane, prop Ben Latham (ex-Manchester & Vale of Lune) and utility backrower Oliver Hewitt.
The fulcrum of their back line is former Orrell, Plymouth & Wakefield fly-half Ross Winney. Apart from orchestrating Macc’s attack he is a very competent goal kicker with 157 points to date this season, 4th in the N3N list of top scorers, ahead of Fylde’s John Armstrong who is 7th with 134 points. They each have a comparable success rate of 63%. One of the architects of Macc’s near promotion achievement in 2004/5, New Zealander Mike Newell, returned to the Club in the late autumn but his appearances have been hampered by a prolonged knee injury. He has been joined by fellow Kiwi, lock or no 8 Reubin Harvey.
Other influential backs are former Halifax centre Richard Hughes & Sale Jet’s utility player Fergus Mulchrone. Ex-Fylde fullback Phil Macey, who was a student at UCLAN, had been having a good season until a serious knee injury a few weeks ago ruled him out of this campaign.
Fylde will check on skipper Roger Banks, who suffered a deep head cut against West Park last Saturday, and prop Darren Clark who also retired through injury at Red Rocks. Centre Alex Hurst will be in the selection frame if his injured ankle has recovered, as will record try scorer Nick Royle who is expected to have overcome an arm injury. This will give the rugby managers a pleasant selection headache in the backs amongst whom Lewis Boyd had a particularly good game as a replacement for Royle against West Park.
At last everything has come right, for a change we scored first through Dan Rayson from a penalty for not rolling away, which Dan slotted with ease, but we were that busy patting one another on the back, we lost concentration and conceded a try down the left wing while our defence stood and watched, which was scored under the posts to make the conversion simple, 3-7 behind looks familiar.
Prop Tarran Vailionis had to leave the field with a blood injury and was replaced by Craig Rogerson, playing his first game since October due to cruciate ligament damage, and the old head rallied the troops and organised them into a tremendous attacking force. Whilst we had been dominant in the front row with Taz there, we were now unstoppable pushing Waterloo back in every scrum and making life very difficult for their forwards apparently for the first time all season, but as I recall we did the same thing 2 weeks ago when we played at Waterloo and lost. Having rucked them off the ball the forwards powered onwards through James Dixon and Conor Ryan with a lovely rolling maul getting ever closer to the try line only to lose the ball forward and concede a scrum, once again Waterloo found themselves going backwards and Hooker Joe Barrow stole the ball and again the Blackreds surged forwards and when scrum half Grant Law went for the try we were all ready to celebrate until the ref signalled that the ball had been held up. The home team were well aware of the fact that Waterloo were having difficulties with the power and strength of the young Blackreds, and once again they drove towards the line only to have the ball stripped, but when the fly half attempted to clear the ball the ever Alert James Ravell, charged down his kick and was able to hang onto the ball and charge in for his first try of the season, which unfortunately went unconverted, 8-7 to the home team and looking good.
From the restart Dixon created havoc as usual chasing Kristian Borthwick’s kick and flattening the receiver who held onto the ball too long and Aspatria had the penalty with which Rayson hit the post and a 22 drop out followed, again Aspatria drove for the line through the forwards only to be caught offside 5 metres short of scoring and Waterloo cleared to touch, with both lineout’s working well they kept possession and with ball in hand looked dangerous at times but Aspatria’s dogged defence held tight. A special mention here to Chris Chudleigh from Rugby Performance UK for doing a defensive session with the backs before the game, he certainly improved things and obviously speaks teenage youth fluently as he made them understand what the rest of us have failed to get across since September. Half time 8-7 to Aspatria and in control of the game; let’s hope they don’t do an England in the second half.
The second stanza was a tremendous display of junior colt’s rugby with both sides competing well for the ball, but it was the Cumbrians who started to dominate the game upfront. Some changes had been made at half time with 2nd row Daniel Rodgers having to retire with a stinger injury to his shoulder, patched up Vailionis retook his place in the front row with Adam Birkett going into the second row in place of Rodgers, and Rogerson going to number 8, and another change to the pack was the introduction of hard hitting Carlisle King in place of Conor Ryan at blind side flanker, the only change in the backs was that of Sam Carter at scrum half in place of Grant Law. The changes seemed to up the momentum of the Aspatria players, with Vailionis pillaging the ball at every opportunity, and making good yardage beyond the gain line, and James Ravell using his dancing feet to make fools out of Waterloo’s central defence another score was inevitable, and when man of the match Dan Rayson made a break the opposition were left behind with the full back drawn by Rayson the ball was passed to Kris Borthwick whose quick hands shipped the ball onto Max Scales, normally a flanker but filling in on the wing today for Will Steel who was taken ill during the warm up and Max scored a lovely try but the conversion from Rayson was charged down.
Waterloo never gave up and but for some great defensive tackling from the likes of Ravell, Scales, Birkett, Rogerson, Rayson and I could go on to mention the whole team but that would just bore you even more than I already have. Both teams added another penalty to their score and the rest of the game was spent wishing the ref would hurry up and blow the whistle with both side looking as if they might score.
With both try scorers being from Bothel and Robert Miller also from Bothel I wonder if there is something in the water up there, they can certainly turn out some good players from a little village.
What a way to end the last league game of the season with a home win against the mighty Waterloo, let’s hope we can replicate it this coming Sunday in the league Plate completion when we play Fylde at home ko 1:00pm, come down and support the lads and I feel sure they will treat you to a wonderful display of rugby. The future certainly looks bright for Aspatria rufc with these talented youngsters coming through.
Final score Aspatria 16 Waterloo 10
In poor conditions Aspatria pack dominated against the wind and lead 0-10 at half time, 2 tries by Heine Jonkers and a conversion by Jack Clegg. Wigton rallied in the early part of second half and scored a converted try by Paul Brough. In the last quarter Aspatria took control and Jonkers scored another 2 tries. 4 in total giving this local derby a good away win for the Visitors.
Didsbury gave a good account of themselves on Saturday, losing 50 – 19 away to Leigh in the Lancashire Trophy.
Leigh play in the league above Didsbury and have won the Lancashire Trophy for the last two years, so it was an unenviable task facing Toc H. Didsbury travelled with a fairly strong squad and gave a debut to young winger Iain Bailey. The signs were ominous as Leigh scored a converted try within the opening minutes, but Didsbury did not buckle and struck back almost immediately. A dropped pass was kicked forward by debutant Bailey, who raced onto the loose ball to touchdown for a try, perhaps the fastest debut try in Didsbury history. Davies added the conversion to level the scores at 7 – 7. Leigh were clearly playing to their strengths and spread the ball wide as quickly as possible, but in the tight exchanges Didsbury competed well and it would appear had the upper hand in a number of instances. Despite working hard in defence Leigh managed a further 4 tries in the first half, but Didsbury’s coaches will be pleased with Toc’s second try just before half-time. A Didsbury lineout in Leigh’s 22 was thrown to Andy Lynn and a good catch and drive saw the pack drive over the line. Hooker Mike Hyde grounded the ball and rightfully claimed the try, but the effort of his fellow forwards was unstoppable.
Didsbury managed to keep the second half tighter and spent long periods deep in Leigh territory. Leigh did manage a further three tries, but the try of the game was scored by Didsbury just before the final whistle. Having been awarded a 5-metre attacking scrum Didsbury pushed hard and forced their opponents to back pedal. The ball was spread wide and after several phases fly-half Quigley pit in an astute kick behind the defence. Flanker Dave Foster was the quickest to react and pounced on the ball to score. Davies added the extra points for the conversion, making the final score 50 – 19.
Didsbury will take great heart from their performance, against a very strong Leigh outfit. The fitness of Didsbury’s players was good and the sprit showed should go a long way to securing a midtable finish in the league. Next Saturday Didsbury visit Cumbria to face Wigton in the league.
Fylde came out on top in this hard and tetchy Lancashire derby and move up to 5th place in National Three (North) in consequence. Although their backs showed greater penetration than those of the home team and led for the majority of the game, West Park didn’t give up easily. They fought back and were ahead for a 12 minute period early in the second half. But Fylde’s forwards battled back despite losing skipper Roger Banks with a nasty cut head after 39 minutes and being reduced to six due to sin binnings for Dan Bowman and Nick King.
West Park opened the scoring on 9 minutes when a Fylde player was caught offside at a ruck and Andrew Soutar kicked a straightforward penalty. Just three minutes later Fylde replied with a well worked try. The visitor’s pack drove down the midfield and Richard Kenyon made a clean break through Park’s defence. He was caught and possession was turned over with a Park clearance kick to touch. Unfortunately it didn’t reach it’s intended destination. Fylde fullback John Armstrong ran the ball back and and passed to winger Lewis Boyd. The young Cumbrian cut a beautiful line and sped through the heart of the Park defence to score under the posts. Fylde are fortunate to have such a talented player as a stand-in for record try scorer Nick Royle who missed the game through an arm injury. John Armstrong converted the try for a 7-3 lead.
By this time the Fylde pack was really warming to its task. This is a big, powerful unit and when they’re able to get the bit between their teeth then they’re a real force to be reckoned with. They showed this on 17 minutes when a driving maul went 25 metres over the West Park try line and ended with prop Darren Clark the last man up. This was Clark’s second try for the Club in 43 appearances. This made it 12-3 to Fylde as Armstrong missed the conversion kick.
But, predictably, West Park were in no mood to surrender control for the rest of the 1st half. They came back strongly and a second Soutar penalty on 31 minutes reduced the deficit. Park now took the game to Fylde and a couple of midfield breaks, led by former Fylde centre Dave Cunliffe, went close. But Fylde defended well and repelled the series of attacks to close the half in front at 12-6.
An unfortunate and deep head cut to skipper Roger Banks who was raked by a Park forward required him to be taken to hospital just before the half-time whistle. Like a number of national league clubs West Park didn’t have a doctor present to attend to the wound so that was the end of his match. Whether such a lack of medical cover at this senior semi-professional level is acceptable is a matter of debate. One only hopes that any well intentioned treatment by the required 1st aid trained person in a future game doesn’t lead to litigation. The experienced Cumbrian county captain Dan Bowman replaced Banks in the backrow with Sam Beaumont switching to no 8.
Although the 2nd half began in much the same way as the 1st, with Fylde in control, West Park rocked the visitors on 48 minutes. They broke away down field and excellent inter-passing between forwards and backs led to scrum-half Phil Webster scoring a good try. Soutar converted and Park were in front again at 13-12.
The game was now boiling up and there was a 20 minute period of bad tempered play. In his season at the Woodlands Dave Cunliffe showed himself to be an aggressive and ‘in your face’ player who took no prisoners. His snarling style was appreciated in certain respects by Fylde supporters but they saw the other side of it in this game. He was sinbinned on 55 minutes for foul play and Fylde took due advantage. A drive by their pack on 60 minutes saw Sam Beaumont held up over the line. From the subsequent scrum Oliver Brennand sneaked in at the left corner for his 22nd try of the season. John Armstrong then kicked a superb conversion from the touchline to stretch his side’s lead to 19-13.
Only two minutes later the game took a turn for the worse for the visitors when Dan Bowman was shown a yellow card for foul play. On 66 minutes matters became critical for Fylde as lock Nick King was adjudged to have pulled down a Park line-out jumper and joined Bowman in the bin. From the subsequent kick to touch and lineout near the Fylde line the West Park drove over against the opposing six man pack and flanker Matt Williams claimed the try. Soutar missed the conversion so Fylde led by the closest of margins at 19-18.
But the weakened Fylde forwards then put in a sterling effort which proved to be the turning point in the game. They drove up the middle of the pitch and scrum-half Aikman broke right. He did another delightful switch pass, this time to fullback Armstrong who sidestepped his way past a couple of Park defenders to score under the posts. He converted his own excellent try and put his side 8 points clear. In so doing, he also earned a bonus point for Fylde with their 4th try of the afternoon.
Soon afterwards Fylde were back to 15 men and they held the late advances of West Park at bay. The game ended with a deserved win against a game and redoubtable team who never seems to know when they are beaten. The cuts and bruises picked up in this tough 80 minutes will heal and the visitor’s coaches and players will look back on this game as a hard job well done.
Didsbury Toc H were left to rue several missed chances after they lost 6 – 15 to visitors Kirby Lonsdale.
The Cumbrian visitors are performing well in the league, but there was an expectancy around the Didsbury camp as Ford Lane saw its first rugby since the floods a month ago.
The game was played in fantastic conditions and this suited both sides who like to get the ball wide to their pace players. Didsbury had the better of the first quarter, with their pack recycling quick ball allowing fly half Keith Quigley to orchestrate the game and pick out runners from midfield. One long miss pass found the ever-aware Pete Davies, who chipped the ball over his opposite winger and the sped towards the touch down. But for once Davies wasn’t quite quick enough and the ball was just over the dead ball line when he dived on it, much to the relief of the Kirby defence. Kirby had their own pacey wingers and a clever inside ball found a winger who split the Didsbury defence. Despite good tackling by Batt, the ball found the other Kirby winger who scored in the corner. The conversion was missed, but in that last play Didsbury lost Ian Fennel to a hamstring injury, which will see him missing the next four weeks. Didsbury continued to work hard and the pack had the upper hand in the scrums, just before half time it looked certain Didsbury would score. The ball was recycled quickly and Didsbury had a massive overlap to exploit, but a mix up in midfield saw the ball dropped and the chance went begging.
From the restart Didsbury made ground downfield and were soon on the score sheet with Davies converting a penalty. Kirby aren’t flying high in the league for no reason, and they demonstrated this by ruthlessly scoring a try on their next visit to Didsbury’s 22. Several phases saw the Didsbury defence stretched allowing a try under the posts, the conversion was added to make the score 3 – 12. Rich Bray, who had replaced Fennel in the first half, was looking lively on the wing. Bray chipped ahead and as with Davies in the first half, just as he dived to touch down for a try the ball crossed the dead ball line. Didsbury consoled themselves with the next score, but it was only another penalty by Davies. At 6 – 12, the game was up for grabs but Kirby closed the game out with a penalty of their own and restricted anymore chances for Didsbury.
Didsbury will be regretting the missed opportunity of vital league points and will have to build on this performance.
Next week Didsbury visit Leigh in the Lancashire Trophy.
Once again the Blackreds Colts are endebted to Silloth Rugby club for allowing us to use there pitch, following Saturday nights frost. The pitch at Bower Park being frozen and unplayable Jimmy Lettice kindly allowed us the use of their facilities for our game against Blackburn, which following the match at Blackburn promised to be a tight game, but due to injuries and work commitments Aspatria could only field a scratch side, and consequently suffered as a result.
The young Blackreds quickly threw down the gauntlet and pressured Blackburn into giving away an early penalty, which was smartly put away by Adam Birkett, but this only seemed to spur the Lancastrians into life as they drove at the heart of Aspatria’s unfamiliar defensive lineup, and when the ball went wide the Blackreds were unable to cope with the Blackburn wingers pace and he touched down for the opening try which they failed to convert, this was to be quickly followed by the lads second of the game and the conversion made the score 3-12 to the visitors.
Changes were needed and the home side was shuffled around to strengthen the midfield, and this seemed to work, with the Aspatria pack now strengthened by Dale Williams they started to look steadier in the scrums but were still being pushed off the ball in the loose and it was only a matter of time before Blackburn stretched the lead even further using their pace out wide to good advantage and scoring under the posts, the extras were added to give them a 16 point lead, which they extended to 23 points before half time and Aspatria looked like they had no answer to the onslaught. 3-26 to the visitors.
More changes were made by the home team and Jamie Hine was brought into the second row for his first home game for 2 years, with Max Scales pushed out to the wing to strengthen the defence. Hine added strength to the pack and thereafter the scrum held solid, and with Scales’ solid tackling on the wing Blackburn’s strike player had nowhere to go and took little part in the rest of the game.
Man-of-the-match Carlisle King was like a terrior in the second half and was all over the field pressurising Blackburn into mistakes, robbing ball and making yards along with Tarren Vailionis Jon Sandwith, Joe Barrow and Richard Ridley with Kristian Borthwick marshalling his backs they probed at the Blackburn line through Scales who was brought down a yard short but quickly recycled the ball for Birkett running hard on a good line to cross unchallenged for the Blackreds only other score of the game. Blackburn scored another converted try before the final whistle. Although deservedly beaten, the Blackreds coaches were justifiably proud of a tremendous second half performance from this much under strength team.
One more match to go in the league, at home to Waterloo, and if this frost persists we may well be back at the seaside club to play if they will allow us, this team get better each week and are well worth coming to watch, with most of them still eligible to play junior colts next year, and a good crop of young players coming up behind them the future looks bright for Aspatria’s Junior colts.
Aspatria 8 Blackburn 33
As Leicester Lions’ Jon Boden stroked over a penalty kick in front of the Fylde posts five minutes into injury time to level the scores at 34-all it was almost possible to hear the gasps of relief coming from the Lions’ coaches, officials and handful of loyal supporters who had made the trip north. Make no mistake, this was a let-off for the Midlands promotion contenders who were always behind until this fateful final minute. Good team that they are, there
were spells during this game when they were outplayed by a hard working Fylde side who will believe that they deserved to win this excellent advertisement for level four rugby. Indeed, this was perhaps the best game that has seen at the Woodlands for a few seasons. The spectacle was helped by a sunny, warm day and a perfect pitch for a feast of running rugby. A good crowd of almost 600 thoroughly appreciated the fare on offer. The big and powerful Fylde pack, featuring an impressive return to national league action for veteran prop Matt Filipo following an absence of two years, was in outstanding form and dominated the opposition from the off. The Lions soon realised that they had to play a fast and loose game, getting the ball out and away from the tight and loose exchanges and they did this very successfully. But their cause wasn’t helped by skipper Junior Fagalilo badly injuring his knee in the pre-match warm up. Replacement Jonathan Russell was drafted into the starting line-up at no 8. Fylde had a perfect start. After only two minutes the ball was moved along the backline to centre Richard Kenyon who chipped cleverly over the Lions’ backs into the corner. Winger Nick Royle rarely looks such a gift horse in the mouth and raced onto the loose ball, picked up neatly and dived over in the corner for a well worked try. John Armstrong’s attempted conversion drifted wide but Fylde had a 5-0 lead. There was no release in the pressure on the Lions as Fylde maintained the frantic early pace. On nine minutes the Fylde forwards secured good ball and fly-half Neil Hunter shipped the ball left and it reached Oliver Brennand 40 metres out on the left. The winger skipped past the first defender in his usual touchline hugging style, changed gear and outpaced the other defenders to score an excellent try. Once again,
Armstrong’s conversion attempt missed the target but the home side had a deserved 10-0 lead.
The Lions had to break up this pattern and they did this by moving the ball through their backs at any and every opportunity. On 16 minutes they attacked down their right. The ball reached Gareth Roberts who had come off his left wing and was 30 metres out. He ran at Oliver Brennand who drove him backwards towards the touchline. Just when it looked as though Brennand had bundled Roberts into touch, the tricky little winger slipped out of his grasp and burst the final 20 metres for the try. Boden converted easily, reducing the deficit for his side to 7-10.
Fylde stepped up the pressure, especially through the tight exchanges. On 21 minutes Hunter kicked a penalty to touch 10 metres out from the Lions’ line. The subsequent lineout was won and the Fylde pack drove for the line. As they rumbled over, scrum-half Craig Aikman smuggled the ball and dropped down for the try. Armstrong’s attempted conversion hit the post and fell the wrong way but Fylde led by 15-7.
On 30 minutes, this time on the Fylde left, they repeated the treatment with another driving maul. This time hooker Alan Holmes was last up to claim the try. John Armstrong converted this bonus point winning 4th try and Fylde had a deserved and dominating 22-7 lead. With the clock running down to the half-time break, what followed was a crazy period for the home side which changed the fate of the game.
On 40 minutes the Lions attacked through the left centre field and the ball was worked out to winger Roberts. He skipped through a couple of tackles and scored his second try of the game with a punishing burst to the line. Boden converted and the Lions were now only 14-22 down.
Instead of steadying the game and playing percentage rugby, Fylde regained possession and attacked down their right. Fly-half Hunter threw a long looped pass to winger Royle. But the very smart Lions fullback Gareth Collins read the play, intercepted the pass before it reached the Fylde player and he raced 50 metres for a very soft try. Boden converted and, amazingly, the Lions were now only a point adrift at 21-22 down. The half-time whistle blew and the Lions must have believed that they had won the lottery. From a position of complete Fylde dominance, 5 minutes of slack play had let the Lions back in the game.
Whatever was said in the home dressing room paid immediate dividends as Fylde opened the second period in much the same way as they started the first. On 42 minutes they attacked down their right once more. This time the ball did reach Royle and the blond winger set off on a trademark run 40 metres out. He broke past two players and powered through another, almost being brought down in the process. He briefly staggered but regained his balance to race over into the corner for a quite brilliant piece of individualism. Armstrong conversion drifted wide but Fylde had a rather more convincing 27-21 lead.
Five minutes later, there was a Fylde scrummage 30 metres out from the Lions’ try line. Scrum-half Aikman burst away and picked a wonderful line to sprint through the heart of the Lions defence without a hand laid on him for an excellent try under the posts. Armstrong converted and Fylde had extended their lead to 34-21 with more than 30 minutes still to play.
But this switchback contest had plenty more drama to unfold as the Lions came back yet again just four minutes later. Leicester moved the ball down their left and their very talented Kiwi outside centre Scott Alfred orchestrated another clever backs move. This time it was their top try scorer, fullback Gareth Collins, who darted through the Fylde defence to touch down. This was Collins second try of the game and his 13th of the season, four behind the leading N3N try scorer, Fylde’s Oli Brennand. Boden converted and his side was now only 28-34 in arrears.
Given the glut of scoring in the first 51 minutes, the game now changed character as both teams dug in trying to find the killer blow. A straightforward Boden penalty kick brought the Lions to within three points of Fylde. But the home side continued their physical dominance up front and as we entered the final five minutes of normal time they camped inside the Leicester 22 metre line. Time and again the Fylde pack drove for the line, recycling in a controlled fashion and they thought they were rewarded as lock Nick King claimed a touch down. On each occasion somehow the Lions pack held them up before a Fylde player offended and Boden cleared downfield.
As referee David Sainsbury let the game go into several minutes of injury time, the Lions battled into the Fylde half and up to their 22 metre line. A Fylde defender strayed offside and to the big crowd’s horror the referee awarded the penalty in front of the posts. Boden’s nerve held and he converted easily. The referee blew the final whistle almost immediately.
Whilst the final result was a big disappointment to the home side and its followers, the neutral spectator would have had a very entertaining afternoon. Here was two talented teams playing somewhat contrasting styles who had served up a fine match. The scrummages were even and the lineouts shaded by the home side with Greg Johnson and Roger Banks jumping well. Indeed, the physical prowess of their excellent pack always gave Fylde the edge but the Lions played a shrewd and loose running game, using their mobile and speedy forwards led by hooker John Williamson and openside flanker Marc Howgate, always supporting the man with the ball and with sharp handling.
But Fylde’s game wasn’t static and laboured in comparison. With the best two wingers in N3N, Brennand & Royle, as evidenced by the division’s try scoring statistics, Fylde will always be dangerous when they move the ball wide. Six tries to four tells an interesting story, with five of Fylde’s notched by their backs. Fylde slip two places to 7th in the crowded N3N mid-table. As with eight other clubs, Fylde could finish the season in 3rd place or be relegated in 12th! This is the most even league for many seasons.
Pershore will rue missed opportunities and the referee’s inadequacies after Saturday’s fixture against Chosen Hill. The first game at Piddle Park in 2008 due to yet more flooding was a highly entertaining game in which the visitors scored the winning converted try with less than 5 minutes to play.
The home side started well and the Pershore forwards soon started to exert some dominance on their opposing pack. The Chosen Hill scrum was under all sorts of pressure and it was from a scrum that Pershore opened their account with a pushover try. Number 8 Martin Hope claiming his 12th try of the season. Centre Scott Morris converted. The visitors were soon level. After attacking in the corner the spread the ball and caught the Pershore defence napping on the other side of the pitch and crossed the whitewash. The conversion was added to make the score 7-7. The rest of the first half belonged to Pershore. They were camped on the Chosen Hill line for what seemed an eternity but just could not cross the line. The referee was partly to blame as he struggled to officiate the scrum. On several occasions the Pershore forwards again pushed the Chosen Hill Scrum back over their own try line but he allowed the visiting pack to fragment and join the scrum behind the Pershore front row. On at least 2 occasions he should have awarded a penalty try but he was never going to be brave enough to make such a big decision.
The second half saw the visitors with a little more of the ball but the Wing Forward partnership of Ed Day & Chris Copson made sure any attacks were stopped early. New signing at Fly Half Will Woodhouse orchestrated the Pershore backs well, and with some excellent kicking from hand ensured that the home side enjoyed good field position. There were a few times when the game seemed as if it was going to boil over but the brandishing of a couple of yellow cards for each of the teams seemed to calm the tempers down. Mid way through the half the fly halves exchanged penalties to make the score 10-10 going into the final quarter. The remainder of the game was tense and it was the visitors who got the winning score after attacking from the back of a scrum near the Pershore line.
Pershore will hopefully be able to make amends and ease their relegation concerns if they can find victory when Stroud visit Piddle Park on Saturday 23rd February 2008.
Waterloo 30 Aspatria 8
Never trust a sat nav to get you where you want to be, they obviously don’t understand roundabouts, nevertheless we arrived at Waterloo on time and in glorious sunshine.
Being without any recognised centres this was going to be an uphill battle for the young Cumbrian side, but as usual they stepped up to the mark and played with pride, with the first 5 minutes being an arm wrestle for superiority upfront which was obviously going to run on throughout the game with Aspatria eventually just winning the battle. The home side opened the scoring after charging down Kristian Borthwick’s clearance kick, and despite the forwards rushing back to aid the backline defence, Waterloo managed to scramble over for the try which went unconverted. Adam Birkett reduced the deficit to 2 points 5 minutes later with a penalty just inside the Waterloo half, but poor defending allowed the home team to break again and score their second try of the game which again went unconverted.
As the Blackreds found their feet they started to get into the game a lot more but gave away a penalty for not rolling away from the tackle and Waterloo extended their lead to 13-3 before the visitors finally crossed the line through Matthew Dance scoring on his debut start for the Blackreds taking a lovely cross field kick from Borthwick and dabbing the ball down in the corner, unfortunately the difficult conversion just shaved the outside of the post, game on at 13-8. Waterloo extended the lead again to 16-8 at half time following a penalty for off-side.
The second half saw some very scrappy play from both sides and if it had not been for some strong tackling from captain Richard Ridley and back row cohorts of Birkett and Ravell and a fine display from full back Will Steel, Waterloo would have run away with the game, but it was only some inconsistent refereeing decisions that awarded Waterloo their third try, following a knock on in midfield and a knock on under the post to score a 7 point try, which was followed ten minutes later by some more strange decisions, when the home teams centre knocked on, on Aspatria’s 5 metre line, then gathered the ball up only to be stopped half a metre from the line, but then reached out in what was to everyone else a double movement and to everyone’s astonishment was awarded the try which again was easily converted from in front of the posts.
The final 10 minutes was an all out attack from the visitors but with the midfield players in unfamiliar positions they lacked that cutting edge and were unable to penetrate Waterloo’s strong defensive line. Jamie Hine took to the field for his comeback game for the last 5 minutes and showed his strength in the scrum, but the sheer size of the home team was starting to take its toll and the injuries were starting to come fairly fast when the ref blew the final whistle.
Next week we are at home to Blackburn 1:00pm KO hopefully we should see a return of the players who were unavailable this week.
Workington Zebra’s U13’s 14 V’s Aspatria U13’s 41
Despite the scoreline Workington’s young team represented their club with pride and made the more experienced Aspatria team work throughout for their victory.
Having not played each other at this age group both teams were moving into the unknown leading to a tense opening 10 minutes as the two forward packs competed for early dominance. Led by some excellent early work from Richard & Lloyd Wilson it was the Aspatria pack that gained the upper hand, pining the Zebra’s eight back into their own 22 and prompting some desperate defence. Lack of discipline eventually allowed the home team to break free but their success was short lived. Pouncing on a loose pass, the Apsatria forwards quickly recycled the ball and after some slick passing Luke Johnson was unleashed to charge in from around 40 yards, leaving a stream of would be tacklers in his wake. It was the start of a productive day for Johnson and his back line partners.
From the restart Aspatria again moved the ball wide this time into the hands of pacey young winger Billy Smith only to see him denied a score by the touchline. Aspatria stole the resulting line broke through again to score. Another score came quickly afterwards and it looked like Aspatria would run away with the game, but Workington struck back. With the same commitment they had showed in defence the zebra’s turned on the pace to score two excellent quick fire tries. At half time the game hung in the balance.
Aspatria knew they faced a challenge to hold onto their unbeaten record and duly rose to the challenge. The outstanding Adam Miller eventually began to dominate around the ruck area, halting the opposition No8’s rampaging drives. The game changed, Aspatria’s forwards began to dominate, seemingly winning ball at will with excellent work from Ronnie Morris proving decisive. Next, the Black Red back line sprang to life, Brad Hughes as solid as ever in defence showed his attacking prowess, slicing through at pace. But it was the half back combination of the irrepressible Dan Foy and Sean Mumberson who took the game by the scruff of the neck, Foy set the pace of the game driving his pack forward, while Mumberson used a combination of intelligent kicking and sublime passing to create opportunities for the exciting back line.
Special mention goes to Ashley Ravell who led the front row with pride, bashing and bullying his way to a much deserved try; and young Ryan Morris at full back combining probing pulsating runs with dependable defence, a real star of the future. A huge team effort carried the Bower Park club to the final whistle, battered but victorious.
