Cheshire Cup First Round victory in the mud, wind and rain

More good news on the injury front as Joe Murray and Sam Edgar returned to the side. As an added bonus, Chris Speed was home from University for the weekend and able to play. On the debit side, Joe Laddle, Craig Dolan and Ollie Whorton were all unavailable. Despite the loss of Joe Laddle, we were still able to put out a very strong pack. The loss of Craig and Ollie, however, meant that we once again had to rearrange the backs.......last week Tom Bills and Tom Routly played at scrum half and fly half respectively, this week they formed the centre partnership.
We effectively won this game in the first fifteen minutes. Strong forward play coupled with good running and slick handling from the backs belied the terrible conditions and enabled us to run in three tries courtesy of Ryan Horton, Tom Bills and Jack Quinn. Conversions were landed by Tom Bills and Tom Routly to open up a 19-nil lead. Given the conditions, it was perhaps unsurprising that we were unable to maintain this scoring rate. Cold and wet hands coupled with a ball that was like a bar of soap made running rugby very difficult. At the same time, however, huge credit must also be given to Ashton. At 19-nil down on a cold and wet day, it would have been very easy for them to throw in the proverbial towel. In fact they fought back very well. As a result the remainder of the game was a much more even contest. Although we held the territorial advantage, Ashton defended very well. There was no more scoring until just before half time when Joe Murray scored a fine individual try to extend the lead to 24-nil. Ashton then hit back in the 2nd half with a well deserved try of their own. It was then left to Jack Quinn to score the final try of the game. Both sets of players and spectators were then relieved to hear the final whistle so that they could retreat to the warmth of the clubhouse.

Both sides can be congratulated for putting on an exciting game of rugby in atrocious conditions. Ashton certainly did not play like a side from League D and they can go into the draw for the plate competition with confidence. We now eagerly await the draw for the second round of the main competition.

Photo: Fran Cotton doing a very good impression of Danny Furlong after the game against Ashton on Mersey