Wirral Earn a Bonus Point in a Draw with Vale of Lune

For the trip to VOL, Wirral had to make a number of changes following the injuries incurred at Leigh last week and seeking to improve on the defeat at home when the two teams last met earlier in the season, Robbie Pearl and Ali Baker having to sit out through ankle ligament and hamstring problems respectively. Matters were exacerbated with Ben Marsh injuring his hand in training in what appears to be an injury to the scaffoid, which puts him out for the rest of the season. Phil Donaldson was not available due to work commitments.

Harry Broadbent came into the back row with Dave Doneo going to No 8, Joe Murray replaced Ali Child, Danny Harvey came in at centre to join his brother and Matt Slater came on to the right wing for his first game of the season. The subs were Steve Pendergast, Ali Child and Sam Edgar.

Following heavy rain overnight the ground was in ideal condition and there was a breeze in evidence, which was in Wirral’s favour in the first half.

Within the first minute VOL took the lead when a kick to touch from the Wirral 20m area was charged down and from the resultant scrum the ball was spun left before a switch left caught Wirral off guard and the overlap allowed the VOL winger Richards to score in the corner, the conversion was missed. 5-0 Wirral were looking to attack when possible but on 8 mins the lead was increased, when VOL attacked down the right and again overlap created for Richards to score, the try was converted by James Moore (ex Wirral G S) to make the score 12-0. This was another poor start by Wirral.

Wirral now buckled down to the task and started to make ground into the VOL half, A double penalty advanced play into the VOL half but the penalty from Craig some 40m out was missed.. VOL had further opportunities to score but the Wirral defence held out and the chances were lost.

On 22 mins from a scrum won in their own half, James Annetts made a break of 30m and feinted to pass right but passed the ball inside to Craig Harvey who ran the 25m to score under the posts, converting his own try, 12-7 VOL could have scored again but a forward pass denied them but at this stage both teams were committed to open rugby. On 33 mins Wirral took the lead when a high kick to the VOL 20m area was dropped but with Sam Broadbent following up retrieved the ball, before setting up Matt Slater on a 20m run to the try line, which was converted by Craig 12-14. With half time approaching, Wirral were looking to hold on to the lead but this was not the case with pressure coming from VOL, a series of surges towards the Wirral line were held but when the ball went down the VOL backs, a run round created the overlap for VOL to score and Moore duly converted. This left the score 19-14 at half time.

Within the first minute of the restart, Wirral took the lead. From the kick off the ball was taken by VOL but Tim Hodson stole the ball from the player and the ball passed down the backs, allowing Craig to run round his centre to score in the corner and converted the try from the touchline against the breeze. 19-21

There were a number of penalties being awarded against Wirral and VOL were now looking to seal the game and took the lead through James Moore with a penalty from 35m 22-21. On 48 mins came the try of the match, when from inside their own half, Wirral mounted an attack, with James Annetts chipping over the VOL defence collected the ball to draw the full back before releasing Craig Harvey to run 25m to score under the posts for his hat trick and Wirral try bonus point. Craig converted.22-28.

Over the next 8 mins Wirral had a number of penalties awarded against them in their half which resulted in Moore converting two of them from positions directly head on to the posts., this brought the scores level at-28 all. On 60 mins Wirral made two subs, with Steve Pendergast coming on for Chris Hughes (Injury to shoulder but should be fit for next week) and Sam Edgar coming on for Ross Page.

A further VOL: attack was thwarted when a VOL was held up over the line but the referee was already playing advantage and gave Moore the simplest penalty in front of the posts to allow VOL to retake the lead 31-28.

Wirral were still attacking and a penalty from 35m was missed but with 7 mins remaining a superb drop kick from 30m by James Annetts equalised the scores at 31 -31. VOL came back in an attempt to set up a drop goal opportunity but the Wirral defence hounded down the VOL attempts. The final plays of the game were in the VOL half and another drop goal attempt failed but Wirral were still looking to attack .The last mins became heated and the two No 10’s were sin binned for an altercation but this was virtually the last play of the game.

A good result for Wirral given that they had given VOL a 12 point start at the beginning of the game and a number of key players were missing through injury but it does highlight the strength of this young squad.

Following results today, Wirral now climb to 6th going ahead of Wilmslow on point’s difference. Next week is the last home first team game of the season against third placed Liverpool St. Helens and we will be looking for a better performance against them than the game a few weeks ago at LSH. We are looking for a big crowd to support the team in what has been a successful season in this higher division.

Richard McNeil