Wirral Denied Victory by Waterloo

Wirral were looking forward to this “derby” match against Waterloo having been denied victory in the reverse fixture earlier in the season. The game did not disappoint as the lead changed hands 6 times before Wirral were denied an epic win at Blundellsands.
Wirral one change to the starting XV from their last match with STEVE PENDERGAST starting in place of CHRIS HUGHES (unavailable) and GARETH BURKES and MIKE LUDBROOK coming on to the substitutes bench in place of JOE ADNAMS (ruled out for the rest of the season) and Steve having moved up to start.
In ideal running rugby conditions and in front of a large crowd, including many who had made the journey from Wirral, Wirral played against the slight wind in the first half.
From the start Waterloo were looking to get the ball out wide to their backs/wings and in the first minutes almost scored but for a forward pass and last ditch tackle by JAMES ANNETTS prevented a score. Gradually Wirral worked their way back into the game and found that sustained possession bought them territory.
It was Waterloo who took the lead in bizarre circumstances, a speculative kick downfield was allowed to bounce, as the sun was in the eyes of the Wirral players, an attempt to collect the ball ended with the ball ricocheting of them into the hands of John Cunningham who had a clear run to the try line from some 50m to score under the posts, this was converted by Liam Reeve, 7-0 (11 minutes).Two minutes later, Wirral had levelled the score when the backs advanced play into the home 20m area and a break by DAN HARVEY and a clever pass put brother, CRAIG HARVEY in at the corner. From the touchline against the breeze, JAMES ANNETTS converted. 7-7 (13 minutes).
Further pressure was being exerted on Wirral as Waterloo enjoyed the majority of possession and territory but the stubborn Wirral defence held out the forwards until Waterloo released their backs with long passes saw fullback James O’Brien cross wide out, the conversion was missed, 12-7 (19 minutes). A couple of minutes later, WIRRAL made a couple of changes with SAM BROADBENT and PAUL LEWIS being substituted by TOM PARRY and MIKE LUDBROOK, Sam had an elbow injury. This meant ROB PEARL moving into the backs to maintain their numbers.
Wirral when in possession were trying to disrupt the Waterloo backs defence by putting in short grubber kicks and to some extent this paid off as they had a period of containing Waterloo in their own half but without threatening the line. Towards the end of the half, Waterloo were in the Wirral half and took a penalty to score through Reeve to increase the Waterloo lead to 15-7 at half time.
There was a sensational start to the second half, when from the kick off, Waterloo dropped the ball and from the resultant scrum the ball came down the Wirral backs to JAMES ANNETTS who ran in unopposed, his conversion from the touchline hit the upright. From the kick off, Wirral received the ball in their own 20 area and a high kick downfield from CRAIG HARVEY was allowed to bounce and then bounce at an awkward angle to allow the following ROB PEARL to collect and run the 50m to score under the posts, the try was converted by JAMES ANNETTS to give Wirral the lead for the first time at 15-19 (42 minutes). PAUL LEWIS came back on for MIKE LUDBROOK.
The next few minutes saw much pressure on the Wirral line as first, Stuart Brown was brought back for a forward pass and other Waterloo forwards pressed for the line. The ball was spread wide and Waterloo with a 4 man overlap failed to take advantage. This was a tremendous rear guard action by the Wirral defence which eventually succumbed to the pressure when Max Sofic crossed over from 1m out to score, the conversion was missed. 20-19 (54 mins). Three minutes later the lead was increased with a Reeve penalty- 23-19.
STEVE PENDERGAST who had put in a great stint came off for GARETH BURKES, who was making his first appearance of the season in the first team. SAM BROADBENT returned to the game in the place of MIKE WARREN.
With Wirral having a greater share of the ball in this half and threatening the Waterloo backs whenever they had the ball led to quick passing which allowed Dan HSARVEY the space to squeeze in at the corner and this was followed by another superb touchline conversion from JAMES ANNETTS. 23-26 (64 mins). This gave Wirral their try bonus point.
Back came Waterloo and again they were being held out by the Wirral defence, TOM PARRY was caught at the bottom of the ruck with no chance of removing himself, only to find that the exchange referee was ordering him to the sin bin- this was Tom’s first sin bin of his short career- 67 mins. With 14 men Wirral held out for another 5 mins before ex temporary teacher at Wirral Grammar, Dan King forced his way over to allow Waterloo to regain the lead, 28-26 (72 mins). The conversion was missed.
It was apparent that Waterloo could not deal with the kicks downfield effectively and from another such kick, Waterloo gave away a penalty and the reliable, JAMES ANNETTS scored to give Wirral the lead again at 28-29. Back came Waterloo who were awarded another dubious penalty some 22m out and Reeve, after a number of misses managed to slot over the penalty to bring the score line to 31-29.
Another long kick downfield in the dying moments of the game again gave Wirral possession in the Waterloo 20m area and a number of thrusts brought them to within metres of the whitewash but could not find that vital score. With injury time being played a drop kick attempt from Wirral was charged down and that was the end of this exciting game.
Wirral came away with 2 bonus points but this was not enough to ensure safety as Morley won at Burnage and thus mathematically they could still overhaul our points total, although they play Sheffield Tigers next week who are still vying for one of the top two places. We will be travelling to second placed Sandal next Saturday and again there will be a coach available for anyone wishing to travel to support the team.
Richard McNeil