Debut for Annetts is Highlight of Wirral's 3rd Consecutive Home Win

Wirral were seeking their 4th win in 5 games against an opponent, BP whom they have never beaten previously and came up with a try bonus win by playing an open running game.
For the return game against BP there were a number of changes, with Danny Harvey playing at centre as Ollie Atkinson had school commitments, this allowed the club to bring in James Annetts for his debut at fly half. Ben Marsh returned to No 8 with Tim Hodson on the bench alongside, Richard Lloyd-Jones and Ben Toleman, also looking to make his first team debut. Wirral played on the Twickenham pitch playing into a slight breeze but away from the club house.
It was obvious from the start that BP were to use their forwards whenever possible to maul their way downfield and had early ground advantage, however it was Wirral who took the lead after 5 mins with a Danny Harvey penalty. 7 mins later BP equalized when their scrum half dummied a pass from the base of a maul catching a Wirral player on the move. O ‘Donnell scored the resultant penalty. 3-3
On 19 mins a high kick from Annetts was dropped by the BP winger, Titiloye and from resultant play, Wirral took the ball down field some 25m before releasing the backs and with the pace of the backs, Phil Donaldson had a 20m run to score in the corner. Danny converted from the touchline. 10-3
From the kick off Wirral were again looking to attack but a missed pass saw possession going to BP and down the backs the ball sped leaving the BP winger Harrison in acres of space but his run to the line was thwarted by an excellent tackle from Martin McNeil.
With playback in the BP half and Wirral retaining possession well, the ball went down the backs only for Chris Tyson to be in a centre position and gave a superb reverse pass to Ali Baker who swept through the gap and sprint some 40m to score under the posts. Danny converted. 17-3 This was a game swinging from end to end and BP were now pressing the Wirral line a clearance kick was charged down and Wirral were forced to touch down over their own try line but eventually managed to clear their lines.
On 32 mins came a well worked try which began some 50m out with a series of small drives from the forwards which tied up the BP defence, the ball was released and Ali Childs made ground with a dummy before passing to James Annetts who sold a couple of dummies before the space opened up for him to run some 35m to score an excellent try on his debut, this was again converted by Danny from 10m in from touch 24-3. Wirral extended their lead just before half time with another penalty from in front of the posts by Danny, when the BP centre Mudd was sin binned.27-3 at half time.
Early in the second half, Richard Lloyd-Jones came on for Phil Donaldson. Pressure was now being applied by BP given that they had the slope in their favour and 8 mins into the half, Robbie Pearl was sin binned. With an advantage in the forwards and territorial presence, the BP forwards continued to attack the Wirral line and nothing could stop the BP No 8 McConnell surging over from 5 m out, this try was converted by O’Donnell. 27-10
On 52 mins Wirral had the chance to extend their lead but Danny’s kick from near the touchline just shaved the upright. However they continued to press and after 57 mins effectively sealed the game with their bonus point try. A BP clearance kick was charged down and play was concentrated on the BP line but no further progress could be made, a beautifully weighted cross kick, saw 2 Wirral players in acres of space and a reverse pass to Sam Broadbent saw him cross the line unopposed, with Danny adding the conversion 34-10.
With Wirral continuing to attack on the blind side, a move saw the ball get unto the hands of the BP winger Titiloye who sped unopposed 60m down the touchline to score and this try was converted by Wilde 34-17. Wirral came back again and an astute kick by James Annetts saw the ball bounce into touch a metre from the BP line but Wirral could not capitalize on this position. With 15 mins to go Ben Toleman came on to make his debut in place of Ross Page and Tim Hodson for Dave Doneo.
A series of penalties took BP down to the Wirral 20m area and they once again brought their rolling maul into play which resulted in one of their forwards scoring 10m from the corner flag, the conversion was missed. With 12 mins to go this was the last of the scoring but did not stop both sides from trying to add to their tallies. To some extent in the last 5 mins Wirral shut up shop with a series of short forward drives. In possession BP tried to break the stubborn Wirral defence as when kicking down field, Wirral ran the ball back well or kicked for touch. The final score was 34-22 and the many spectators considered this to be Wirral’s best display of the season and their first defeat of this well known club. The pleasing aspect was the confident debut from James Annetts played and this may well have contributed to Wirral getting their backs moving as was the case last season. However mention should be made of the other 17 players who did not flinch from their task in what was a good all round game from them all.
With the other league results going our way we have consolidated our position in 8th place in this highly competitive league and should secure our place in this league next season.
Next week the Wirral team is away at Liverpool St. Helens who are currently third in the league and pressing for promotion.
Richard McNeil