Wirral Win Derby Game at Anselmians

Despite the heavy rain we have had recently the Ans Malone Field ground
was in good condition to play this game and emphasis must go to the grounds man for preparing the
pitch for this ground. It is some years since Wirral had played Ans in a league fixture so there was a
lot of pride riding on this game.
Wirral were looking to play the same team as that which played Manchester last week but shortly
before the game, BEN BROOKS had to leave the ground to attend to a family matter, spoke to him
on Sunday and matters have been cleared up to some extent. Without Ben playing that left Wirral
without three of the first team backs, so SAM BROADBENT was brought off the bench to play inside
centre. To make up the squad, Wirral were able to bring in ROB PEARL who had been due to play for
the thirds on the adjoining pitch to be on the reserves bench.
With an element of sun peering through the clouds, Wirral played towards the motorway end in the
first half in front of a large crowd.
From the kick off it was Wirral who had the ground advantage and on 4 minutes had a 5m line out
and this was the case for the first quarter of the game with Ans rarely out of their half. Whilst Wirral
had penalties they decided to go for line outs close to the Ans line in order to press home their
ground advantage. RHYS JAMES just failed to score in the right hand corner as he was tackled into
touch. Following this play the ball came out to the left, from mid field JIMMY ANNETTS put in a kick
to the left hand corner, where EVAN ROBINSON raced through to kick through to score in the corner,
the conversion was missed 0-5 (21 mins).
Ans came back into the game as they used their bigger forwards to plough down the middle and
were rewarded with two penalties but both were missed. On 36 mins Ans put pressure on the Wirral
line and although good tackling by Wirral kept out Ans who thought they had scored only for this to
be ruled out for an off side decision.
Ans were attacking and had exposed Wirral but a dropped pass enabled JIMMY ANNETTS to grubber
kick forward some 50m and MARK EDWARDS used his speed to race through and touch- down wide
out, duly converted by JIMMY ANNETTS, 0-12 (37 minutes). Ans then attacked again and a penalty
gave ANS a scrum 5m out and from this Ans were able to get a push-over try, duly converted to
leave the score at half time, 7-12. LEWIS HAYES came on for ADAM DON
The second half started with a high kick caught by RHYS JAMES under pressure and then made an
exciting 50m run, from this position Wirral were rewarded with a penalty which from 46m out and
15m in from touch, JIMMY ANNETTS converted, 7-15 (46 mins). A few minutes later, Wirral had a
scrum some 25m from the Ans line, picked up by TOM AKEHURST who raced through the Ans
defence to score and duly converted by JIMMY ANNETTS, 7-22 (50 minutes).
For most of the second half, Ans applied greater pressure on Wirral and had opportunities to score
but lost the ball or the tackling of the Wirral group kept the opposition out. On 60 mins ROB PEARL
came on for STUART GRATTON. On 28 minutes the pressure from Ans told when their forwards were
able to use their weight to cross the line for a converted try, 14-22 (68 minutes). CHRIS DERMODY
came on for CHRIS BURROWS. Further pressure was absorbed by Wirral and were struggling to get
down to the other end but courageous tackling kept Ans out. Towards the end of the game, Wirral
managed to work their way downfield and with the last play of the game, Wirral had play some 40m
out, the scrum was won and a chip by TOM AKEHURST down the right wing was collected in full

flight by MARK EDWARDS to score the bonus point try in the corner, the conversion was missed and
that was the end of the game.
Wirral now move up to 5 th in the league and don’t have a match next week, but next play on the 4 th
November against Northwich where Wirral will be looking for a win following the Cup defeat at
Northwich in early October.
The 3rds drew their cup game against Ans 3rds 17-17 but won the game by virtue of being the away
side. It was a hard task as GRAEME PHELAN said playing much of the game at second row was tiring
for him.