Nip and tuck at Hoylake

The home side fielded two teams so we organised our years 1 and 2 kids into two squads of seven players each comprising a mix of ages and experience with rolling substitutes to try to give everyone as much time on the pitch as possible while a group of eight trained.

Wirral Wasps

The team consisted of Haigh, David, Alfie, Dylan J, Ben L, Owen and James and played three matches. In the first match a reluctance to go forward and lapses in concentration meant that Hoylake saw more of the ball than we would have liked. Despite the errors Wirral still scored well with Haigh and Ben notching hat-tricks but the game ended with a score of 14-10 to Hoylake who played some good, positive rugby.

The second game saw a transformation in both concentration and positive approach and the boys worked well together. Good tagging and support from Alfie and Owen and scoring from David, Dylan J and Haigh ensured the scores remained close with Wasps trailing by a single try deep into stoppage time. Haigh scored his fifth try of the game with the final play as referee Chris checked his special "Fergie time" watch and blew his whistle at 12-12.

Time was running out so the last game was shortened but the boys continued where they left off and James still found time for a hat-trick. The lead changed hands a couple of times and honours were even right up until the last minute but a Hoylake solo effort and a breakaway try from a lost ball meant that Wasps lost 5-7.

Two losses and a draw for the day but after a slow start the boys showed real progress and could just have easily won their last match and should be proud of themselves.

Wirral Wizards

Wizards comprised Paddy, Jack, Ethan, Harry W, Laurence, Fraser and Christopher and also played three matches. Wizards started strongly posting a 13-9 victory with Ethan and Paddy scoring heavily, contributions from Jack and Harry W, and Christopher marking his debut with a try.

The second match was tighter but a hat-trick and some acrobatic tagging from Harry W and a try apiece for Ethan, Christopher, Jack and Laurence helped secure a 7-6 win.

The final match was harder still as persistent offside marking made it difficult for the referee to keep the game going and almost impossible for Wizards to play the ball cleanly to their own team. Despite losing early tries to offside breakaways the boys played positively as Ethan and Harry continued their hot streaks while Fraser got off the mark for the day. At times the boys let their frustration show, not least when Jack (5 going on 50, and clearly still smarting from the injustice of having a perfectly good “one-step try” chalked off by his own coach last week) took it upon himself to remind the referee that Hoylake had kicked-off the first half as they prepared to start the second half too.

In the end the Wizards couldn’t quite recover from being three early tries down and lost 11-12 but ended the day with a 2-1 winning record.

Wirral Warriors

Coach Sarah took the training session with the Warriors and commented:

Thanks to the team who travelled to Hoylake and joined in the training session. The enthusiasm was good as ever and most pleasing was the concentration and skills on display. Jamie and Bailey showed fantastic running speed when both receiving a pass and carrying the ball in two hands. As the group moved into some tag play, Ben M and William utilised patience and smart thinking to look for space and score tries. We have a group of fantastic 5 year olds (and Max, who at only
4 has hands to shame many his senior) and want to continue their development with a mixture of training and integration with the under 7 teams as the season goes on.

Taken as a whole it was another successful and enjoyable day. Thanks to everyone who came and particularly to Ally and the Hoylake team for making us welcome and some great rugby.