Wirral Comeback at Harrogate Almost Succeeds

For the trip to Harrogate, Wirral had to again make changes to the team selected, which had been the same as the starting XV the previous week. JAMES REEVE had to withdraw following a non-rugby injury in mid-week, so MIKE WARREN came off the bench. From the subs bench, CHRIS HUGHES had to withdraw due to work commitments, so the bench was SAM BROADBENT, MARK GIDMAN and JOHN HARRIS with PAUL LEWIS as the front row replacement.
After the heavy rain during the week, the pitch looked in excellent condition with plenty of grass, obviously well-watered during the summer months.
The early play was all with the home team and the first occasion Wirral had the ball they were in the home 20m area, the forwards nudged forward and JOE MURRAY scored only for the try to be disallowed for a double movement. There then followed a 12 minute delay as the Harrogate fly half was treated and an ambulance was called for as he had a suspected broken leg.
The first try came after Harrogate moved the ball left and right before the live wire home side wing forward James Dyson broke through the Wirral defence to score out wide, the conversion was missed. A quickly taken penalty by ROB PEARL led to another Harrogate infringement in front of the posts and JAMES ANNETTS duly converted. 5-3 (12 mins). Two minutes later loose play by Wirral in mid field led to the home No 8 Tom Harvey receiving the ball 20m out and breaking through tackles to score with the try being converted by Nathan Wyman. 12-3 (14 minutes).
Wirral made a break down the right through MATT LOON to take play to 30m out , a pass inside did not go to hand, the home side kicked ahead and out-paced the forward covering back and then a favourable bounce enabled Andrew Lawson to score close to the posts and duly converted. 19-3 (21 minutes): this was an unfortunate score to give away when attacking. On 28mins Harrogate created a 4 to 1 overlap but a bad pass allowed Wirral to regroup and defend the 20m area. However from this position Harrogate advanced forward and James Dyson was awarded his second try when he forced his way over close to the posts and duly converted. 26-3 (30 minutes). SAM BROADBENT came on for PAUL LEWIS with CHRIS SPEED moving into the forwards.
Wirral raised their game and inter passing set JAMES ANNETTS free 35m out to score 15m from the posts, which he duly converted 26-10 (34 minutes). Minutes later Wirral were back on the score board after twice being held up over the line as the forwards sought a way over the whitewash, the score came as CRAIG HARVEY drove for the line and lost the ball only for a Harrogate player to touch the ball in flight and DAN HARVEY following up, caught the ball and dived over under the posts, again converted by JAMES ANNETTS to leave the score 26-17 at halftime. The spectators from both sides may have thought that DAN caught the ball off a forward pass but the referee confirmed to the Harrogate 4th official at half time that the ball had been touched in flight.
At the start of the second half JOHN HARRIS came on for MIKE WARREN. On 44 minutes a brilliant run down the touchline by JAMES ANNETTS beating three players with speed and guile resulted in him scoring only him to find that his foot had gone onto the touchline whitewash. Certainly the second half Wirral were playing with more spirit and not allowing the Harrogate team any progress as there tackling was spot on until a penalty took Harrogate 10m from the Wirral line. MARK GIDMAN came on for SAM BROADBENT, the latter suffering a cut to his head, which would need some stitches/glue. From this position close to the Wirral line, Harrogate were held up over the whitewash and from the resultant 5m scrum, scrum half Danny Matthews was fed by the No8 and was able to scamper over the line and duly converted by Wyman to extend the Harrogate lead to 33-17 (62 minutes).
Wirral were not dispirited and for the rest of the game it was played in the Harrogate half, the Wirral forwards made progress until a pass set JOE MURRAY through the gap and a reverse pass to STUART GRATTAN saw him score 15m from the posts, the conversion was missed. 33-22 (67 minutes). SAM BROADBENT duly bandaged up came back on in place of DAN HARVEY. Back came Wirral and another break was created down the left with a 4 on 1 overlap but the pass was not made and the attack was thwarted. Harrogate then suffered the first of their yellow cards as they looked to slow down play. A further attack saw CRAIG HARVEY put ROB PEARL through a gap to run the 18m to crash over close to the posts, JAMES ANNETTS converted to set up an exciting finish- 33-29 (74 minutes).
It was all Wirral now as Harrogate had no answer to the onslaught, further good inter passing saw Wirral through the Harrogate defence only to be brought back for a forward pass. A deliberate knock –on by the Harrogate lock, Sam Brady saw Harrogate down to 13 men as he was sin binned. Much as Wirral tried to break through the defence a rear guard action by Harrogate kept Wirral at bay. A final line out was won by Harrogate and a relieving kick to touch ended the game.
Wirral were disappointed with their first half performance and if the play of the second half could have been sustained for the whole match then they could have come away with all 5 points rather than the 2 they collected. Overall an encouraging performance to build on for the season and for next week’s game against Sandal at home, kick off 3.00pm.