Stellar Tournament - Yeah, but no, but yeah, but no, but…

Organising a tournament is a tricky business and was only achieved with the help and advice of many people to whom I owe a huge Thank You, not least Stellar Group who sponsored the event, sent along Will Addison and Andy “Foggy” Forsyth from Sale Sharks for the presentations and provided the raffle prize of a pair of signed boots from Mako & Billy Vunipola’s Friday game against Toulouse.

It’s the unexpected things that catch you out on the day. Due to players rather inconveniently going on holiday at half term several teams were struggling for numbers, including Wirral who had 6 players on holiday, one no show and The Niallator was in A&E after a footy incident. But we did have enough for a squad with a couple of subs.

None were struggling more than Ansmellmians and so I had agreed with Jamie Kimpton (or Vicky Pollards as he will be known from now on) that they could field an invitational Barbarians side with players from other squads. So on the day we wheeled him round and he pointed at the players he selected and said “Want that one.” It was all a bit of a kerfuffle and we checked he was happy with his selection. Lads from several teams including Chester and Bowdon offered their services and we passed on their offers to which Vicky Pollards responded “Yeah, I know!” He then set about brainwashing them “Look into to my eyes, not around my eyes….and now you’re under.”

I’m pleased to say that the matches kicked off on time and Wirral played Winnington Park first winning 21-14 with tries from Woodsy, Jamie and Donny all converted by Will. Next up was Sandbach who we hadn’t played since the Cheshire Plate Final in May 2012. This turned out to be a tough game with Wirral coming out on top 5-0 but the game was interrupted by several injuries, the most severe being Skips’ shoulder which was our first intervention from the Red Cross who had a very busy day all round. The final game of the group stages was against the Barbarians which Wirral also won 14-7 with scores from Jamie and Will both converted by Woodsy.

This meant that we had a semi final against Caldy which, again, was a tough encounter, Caldy coming out the victors 28-14. Both Wirral tries coming from Jamie and converted by Woodsy. Caldy went on to contest the Cup against Chester in the main Final, Chester coming out the winners whilst Wirral had a re-match against Barbarians for the Plate final which Wirral won 10-7 again sustaining even more injuries. The tries came from Jamie and Will as they had done in the first encounter with the BaBas. After narrowly losing the plate final I’m sure I heard Vicky Pollards say “Don’t like it.”

Given the shortage of numbers and injuries the whole of the Wirral squad put in some fantastic performances. All the players were shattered by the end having given their all but I have to say that both Donny and Greggo had a great day on the field. Well done to all the lads.

As I said, it’s the unexpected things that catch you out on the day. I’d left the two Sale players in the capable hands of Vando as their host. I was so embarrassed when he announced “I’m a lady you know, that’s what I am.” they didn't stay for a drink afterwards....wonder why?

So, hopefully everyone enjoyed the day, apart from the numerous injuries. I’ve got more thank yous to make than Michael Le Vell but first and foremost I’d like to thank the visiting teams for coming down and making the day such a pleasant atmosphere with some great rugby. Thanks to Vicky Pollards for keeping the faith, thanks to all the parents and other club members that helped in the preparation and on the day itself and finally thanks to the refs Phil Stokes, Brian Harris, Dave Sixsmith, Moggy and Sam Edgar.

That leaves me with only one more thing to say …………………MMmmmmmm, Bitty!