You lovely boys!

so meet the gang cos the boys are here, the boys to entertain you!

It had been two seasons ago that we last played Stockport and much has changed since then. Not least the size of the Stockport players. I think some of the Wirral players thought there was a fire drill during the warm up because I’m pretty sure some of them evacuated when they saw the size of the Stockport guys!

With fewer players than usual (Stockport is a bit of a trek!?) we ran through the warm up with intrepidation. Move yourselves, Move yourselves! By kick off we still had no idea what to expect from the oppo.

Shortly after KO it became apparent that Wirral had travelled well and that they could dominate the breakdown, protecting George to allow him to distribute to the backs who were ready and waiting despite the fact that they were playing up the hill. Very soon the ball came out to Jamie on the wing and he ran one in with ease. This pattern continued throughout the first half with some excellent kicking for territory and some fantastic work from the forwards. Stockport did manage to score from a kick which didn’t bounce in Conman’s favour, hacked on by Stockport who won the race to drop on it in the in-goal area – a good try.

At half time there were a number of changes and Stockport seemed to have benefitted from their team talk as they appeared to have stiffer resolve playing up the hill. Whilst there were a number of tries there were two that stuck out. The first was Reece’s try which was fantastic to see given that this was only his second game for us and his second half ever playing on the wing – I knew he’d like it! The second was the one that went through a number of hands started by some quick thinking from Cam, drawing his man and offloading setting the pattern for Sean and Tom to do the same, the ball eventually ending up with Woodsy 5 yards out who forced his way over to score - a real demonstration of team work and skill, very much representative of the Wirral performance as a whole.

So the team should be proud of creating the opportunities for scorers Jamie 2, Will 2, Joe 2, Woodsy 1, Reece 1 with four conversions from Will. A true team effort in circumstances where the players pulled together in the face of adversity. An experience to draw upon in future.

Old Indian proverb says “teams that defend well and retain possession win games.”

Land of Hope & Glory, mother of the free……

Shuuuuuuttt Uuuuuppp!