Wirral Win in Lengthy Battle

This was an epic match but only in terms of the length of the match, which did not finish until 5.20pm some 55 minutes after the scheduled finish due to a serious leg injury to one of the Dukinfield backs and then a lengthy wait for an ambulance, even though the ambulance station was only 800m away. The referee declined to move the game to the next pitch, which was larger than the one we were playing on.

There were various changes to last weeks game with Sherlock coming in for his debut at second row for Martin Bennett, who is now moving back to his old position at centre and was playing in the second team today. Stu Hughes was in for Matt Slater (hamstring twinge), Rod Pearl had suffered a slight knock on his knee and was a reserve with Page moving to openside and Doneo to blindside. An interesting fact was that 15 of the squad of 18 had come through the Mini and Junior section.

The match started in sunny conditions but by the time the match finished it was much cooler, with Wirral kicking off with a slight wind behind them. From the first scrum after 2 mins, Phil Donaldson made a break through the centre to draw the fullback before putting in Adam Stevens from 30m out for a try under the posts, coverted by Sam Broadbent. 7-0.

From Dukinfield's first attack after 4 mins, a missed tackle on the left allowed Dukinfield to score in the corner, the conversion was missed. 7-5. Five minutes later, Wirral had a line out 15m from the Duk. line and called on one of their training ground moves, which left Ross Page at scrum half with Alistair Childs in the line out. A clean catch and pass to Ross left him running through a gap in the lineout to crash over with two tacklers in attention.Conversion was missed 12-5.

With Wirral continually attacking,,Duk. were giving away penalties which resulted in the Duk. wing forward being sin binned for a high tackle and at the same time their influential No 8 leaving the field injured. Sam converted the penalty 15-5.

After 15 mins. Wirral went further ahead when Sam made a half break and put in a grubber kick, where that old war horse, Stu Hughes outstripped the defence to touch down in the corner for the first of his 4 tries, not converted. 20-5. With continual pressure from Wirral it was good passing which created space on the right wing for Stu to squeze in for his 2nd.Sam converted from the touchline 27-5.

On 25mins. Wirral were awarded a free kick some 50m out and good inter passing between backs and forward ls,left Ben Marsh bursting over from 15m out with Sam converting making it 34-5. Wirral were playing excellent attacking rugby at this stage notwithstanding the physical tackling and general play from the opposition and on another attack which was halted some 10m from the Duk. line it transpired that two Duk. players collided, with one landing on the other, from which we learnt was a serious injury. Play was held up and an ambulance was called. There was a very lengthy delay (53 mins), with the game delayed until 4.30.

Immediately from the scrum 10m out, Alistair Childs went blind from the scrum to feed Stu Hughes for him to score 10m from the post for a first half hat trick. The try was converted 41-5. With such a score after 40mins, we were expecting more of the same after scoring at more than a point a minute.

A quick turn round, with Duk. playing with a stronger wind behind them kicked off and within 5 mins. they had scored 2 tries both scored in a similar fashion. Free kicks had been awared against Wirral which resulted in line outs some 5/10m from our line. They won the line outs given it was their throw in and with the forwards controlling the ball forced their way over in the corner, one of these tries was converted and after 45 mins the score was 41-17. Duk. sustained pressure with Wirral getting little of the ball and incurring the wrath of the referee with a succession of baffling decisions.

Gradually, Wirral got back into the game by cooling Duk. new found enthusiam and after 60 mins, it was left to Stu Hughes to work his way in from the left hand wing and score under the posts for a vintage try and his 4th. Sam duly converted 48-17. Wirral were now back in control and continuous pressure but the final passes were not finding their man as Wirral were looking to improve their points difference, which may prove to be important at the end of the season.

After 28mins. good play down the blind side allowed Ollie Atkinson to get the ball with some space but 2/3 defenders infront of him but managed to pirouette over in the left corner, the conversion was missed. 53-17. The final score came from a Duk attack in our half of the field and on the rare occasion they passed the ball down the back line, the pass was intercepted by Atkinson some 65m out and outsprinted their defence to score under the posts. Sam duly converted 60-17.

The match finished at 5.20 with Wirral still attacking. Whilst a good result and substantial points difference it was marred by the injury to the Duk. player and feel this injury meant Wirral took their foot off the pedal at the beginning of the second half, when they could have won by a bigger margin.

Sherlock had an impressive debut and will be a welcome addition to the team and made some foraging runs as well as being secure in defence. Overall their were some good tries scored and the team played well to score 9 ties in but it could have been more. After the week end results Wirral remain in 3rd place but now have the largest points difference.

They now look forward to the division leaders, Ormskirk at home next Saturday, which should prove an interesting contest.