This was an historic win for Wirral as they achieved their first double over New Brighton (NB) in living memory, in what was an important game for both sides with Wirral looking to consolidate their position in the top half of the league and more importantly for NB who had to look to win to retain their place in the league, but this was dependent on other games being played simultaneously.
Wirral‘s team changes for this game were that both wingers, Matt Slater and Ollie Atkinson were not available through injury and school commitments respectively. Danny Harvey moved to one wing and Ali Baker returned after injury. Phil Donaldson regained his place in the centre. In the forwards Chris Tyson was not available and Dave Doneo stepped up to the second row berth. The substitutes were Paul Sherlock, Jason Green and Ben Toleman. Ben Marsh was down to play in the programme but it has now been diagnosed that he has broken his wrist and will be in plaster for up to 6 /7 weeks. The match was played in ideal conditions with a breeze blowing down the park, which favoured Wirral in the first half.
The match was barely a minute old when there was a controversial incident as Harry Broadbent was jumping at a line out for the ball and was tackled in mid air by the New Brighton captain, Phil Buckley and Harry fell to the ground from a great height and was clearly injured but came round after a couple of minutes. The exchange referee gave Wirral a penalty but other than talking to the NB player no further action was taken when a card, even red, should surely have been given. From that penalty, some 36m out and 15m in from touch, Craig Harvey gave Wirral an early lead. 0-3
During the next 8 mins Wirral mounted a number of attacks in the NB half but could not capitalize on this possession and ground, eventually NB were able to get into the game and with a couple of penalties were able to move up field. On 10 mins after a series of thrusts, the NB No8 Tuipulotu, who is a prolific scorer of tries from this range, forced his way over and Steven Dean converted 7-3
Wirral had the opportunity to reduce the lead but the penalty from some 35m out was missed. NB then looked to move up the field using their forwards in a series of thrusts and Wirral were now kept in their own half and on 29 mins NB increased their lead with a penalty from 25m out and 15 m in from touch, when a Wirral player was deemed to be off side when following his own kick.10-3 At this stage Wirral made their first substitution with Jason Green coming on for Steve Pendergast with Chris Hughes going to prop. From the kick off two further penalties to NB saw them again in the Wirral 20m followed by a 5m line out and from here, NB could have added to their score but Tuipulotu dropped the ball in the act of scoring.
From the resultant play on 37mins, Ross Page broke the NB defence to make a break of some 50m when he was tackled but the support was there and a speculative kick down into the NB 20m was misfielded by a NB player, Ali Baker advanced some 10m before passing inside to Craig Harvey to score near the posts and Craig duly converted to equalize the scores 10-10. For the remainder of the half Wirral were again on the attack with a number of breaks but could not deliver the final pass and their only reward was a further penalty chance on the stroke of half time and Craig obliged to give Wirral the lead 10-13.
The second half started in the same vein with Harry Broadbent picking up at the base of the scrum and passing to Ali Child who set up the backs with Phil Donaldson releasing Danny Harvey but he was tackled 5 m from the NB line. Play was concentrated in the NB 20m area and Wirral were awarded a penalty which was taken by the ever alert Ali Child who passed to Dave Doneo, who although tackled stretched out whilst on his back to place the ball over the try line, the try was converted by Craig from wide out to increase the lead to 10-20.
Play now reverted to the Wirral half were NB made a number of half breaks through their forwards and an astute kick from the NB fullback, Sean Ellis set up another NB attack and from a 5m line out, the NB pack collected the ball and that man again, Tuipulotu was behind the surge to score his second try and this was again converted by Steven Dean to leave the score after 57 mins 17-20
The NB backs were again attacking but good tackling by the Wirral centres; Craig Harvey and Phil Donaldson were able to halt, so NB concentrated play amongst their forwards. On 62 mins Wirral extended their lead when Ali Child made a blind side break and passed back inside to Ali Baker, whose speed and guile enabled him to score from 20m out and this try was also converted by Craig to increase the lead to 17-27. Wirral continued to attack and had a number of opportunities to score again but the final pass did not go to hand. On 25 mins an altercation resulted in Craig being yellow carded and this gave NB the impetus to attack Wirral but the defence held out and on running out of defence Harry Broadbent was subject to a high tackle, which resulted in NB most influential player, Tuipulotu being also sin binned. At this stage Paul Sherlock came on and 5 mins later, Ben Toleman came on for Ross Page, who appeared to be carrying a slight injury.
With 5 mins to go and NB needing to score twice, came the try of the match, if not the season, as James Annetts from mid field made a break and side footed the opposition to be in the clear with the full back in front of him, but a feint one way and went the other left the NB full back for dead as he ran to score a great try 10m in from touch. The try was not converted but gave Wirral their try bonus point. The last few minutes were left with Wirral again attacking and were unlucky not to add to their score. Final score 17-32
NB could have added to their score in the first half through their forwards but Wirral had the greater opportunities with the speed of their backs combined with the ability in the centre to stifle any NB back moves.
Wirral continue to be in 7th place behind Sandbach on the basis of Sandbach having won more games but an inferior point’s difference. With other results today going NB way, it means that Leigh are likely to be now relegated. From the league below, Anselmians gained promotion with a 26-25 win over 2nd place Widnes and thus we will have 2 more local derby’s next season.
It has been a pleasure to report on Wirral’s games this season as we have seen the team develop during the year and adapt to this highly competitive league and all supporters recognize the hard work put in by the team and they have been rewarded with a mid table position.
I will not be at Altrincham Kersal next week but the team would welcome supporters to see them play the league leaders, who have now been promoted to the league above. Richard McNeil