Unusual to report that correspondents this week took to a very literary tone with comments such as "The pale November sunshine seemingly merging with the golden autumn plumage of the Styal woods". From elsewhere the "Autumn sun was going down over the Solway Firth" with accompanying notes that almost paralleled those of Wordsworth. Perhaps Wordsworth will have his day when the Spring daffodils flower.
Down on the Costa del Weaver, Northwich just about registered a victory over Liverpool St Helens 13-12 in an uncompromising match with very few errors, no nonsense and a lot of effort. The visitors edged the first half and the home side left it very late to score their winner.
Up near the aforesaid Solway Firth, Aspatria were putting up a good first half show against high flying Sandbach but succumbed to good rugby by the Cheshire lads who ended 10-40 victors. Over on the Wirral, Anselmians had a must-win home match against visitors Wigton. Win they did, and by a margin of 39-17 as well. At nearby Widnes, the new boys just about got across the finishing line by 12-7 against visitors Rochdale in a hard, uncompromising contest. Another good weather report from Manchester where Broughton Park resisted a late charge by visitors Wirral to win 29-25. A further close match at Leigh where The home side won 28-24 against an improving Carlisle outfit. Finally back to the Styal woodlands and an excellent win for Wilmslow 35-27 against Vale of Lune who's form is variable to say the least.
So, Sandbach go top again and Aspatria, Wigton and Carlisle are filling the bottom 3 places. Leigh and Rochdale continue to pile up those important bonus points with 9 each.

Northwich 13-12 Liverpool St Helens
It was a splendid advert for rugby down at Moss Farm Northwich where a big crowd assembled for the clash with Liverpool St Helens. LSH went ahead with a very good interception by Ian Stanley to race away from 60m. Barber for Northwich reeled Stanley in but not before the LSH try machine crossed near the posts. Matt Cunliffe converted. LSH possibly edged the half overall but sustained more penalties than the home side who seemingly had "do not infringe" branded onto their foreheads before the game. There were no more 1st half scores despite good running rugby from both sides. HT 0-7. The second half continued in the same mode with the two sets of back rows putting in a really hard day at the coalface. Cass Wilding, the Northwich stand-off, fielded a clearance, evaded a couple of tackles before interchanging passes with winger Courtnedge and running in well to get the home side on the score sheet. The kick was wide. After very good play by the LSH back row, Matt Cunliffe broke away, straightened up the defence, drew his man and sent Ian Stanley away for a second try wide out. Classic stuff and excellent rugby. Hallam at the other end got 3 points back when he kicked a long penalty to make the score 8-12. It stayed at 8-12 for almost the rest of the half. Walding then kicked into space at the corner with a couple of minutes or so to go. A Northwich maul formed and rolled and writhed into the LSH 5m area. The home side committed a centre and a winger to the maul. LSH countered similarly, but the maul moved inexorably towards the LSH line. 50 or so LSH supporters willed the defence to hold. 250 or so Northwich souls pressed forward as if to lend a shoulder to the cause. Inevitably, hooker Chris James administered the final "coup de gras" and buttocks were unclenched around the ground in what was to be virtually the last play of the match. A crunching game with no cards and a very good sporting contest to watch. 2 tries each and two kicks each. There is never much between these sides but LSH look to have all of the necessary mix of power, style and speed to go up this season while Northwich need to find some away form if they are to challenge for honours.

Broughton Park 29-25 Wirral
Another closely contested match where visitors Wirral started better and went 7-0 ahead after Danny Harvey scored from brother Craig's good work. The conversion was kicked and shortly afterwards Craig Harvey converted his own try following a 60m break by Annetts 0-14 to Wirral and less than 20 minutes gone. Broughton Park had kept their shape and were rewarded when Duffy was left alone on the left wing to cross wide out. 5-14 and Park were taking much more interest in the game. A long break by Park's centre and a good continuation saw Ronan O' Brien go in and then convert to make it 12-14. Andy Wilson took Park ahead for the first time with a smart touch down after a line out misunderstanding but Harvey kicked another penalty to bring the half time scores level at 17-17.

Duffy for Park once again found space to cross and then Andy Wilson got his second after a Park push-over and the home side had stretched their lead to 29-17. Neutrals could be forgiven for expecting Park to run away with the game at that stage but Wirral have plenty of guts and a lot of talent. From a quick Murray tap penalty, Broadbent cut loose for Wirral and ran 40m before being caught by the Park defence, a clever popped pass by Broadbent however saw Edgar go over and with an hour gone Wirral were 29-22 behind but getting back on the front foot. Harvey kicked another penalty for the visitors and at 29-25 it was still anybody's game. To their credit the Park defence held out well in a tense final 10 minutes and there was no more scores.

Leigh 28-24 Carlisle.
For long periods of the second half Carlisle looked unlikely winners of this tight match with their forwards taking advantage of good half back kicking. Leigh were to win because, after an early Dyson try, Paul Wilcox scored the rest of the 23 points. Wilcox has been playing for Rossendale and Sedgley Park until Leigh signed him together with Chris Houlton (ex LSH front row) for this season. Looks a good piece of business on this, and early match results. After Dyson's early try for Leigh and a Wilcox penalty put them 10-0 ahead Carlisle woke up and Josh Holmes crossed and then Weightman kicked a penalty. Wilcox responded with a 3 pointer but then Carlisle scored a try through Simon Little and Weightman took Carlisle to an 18-13 half time lead. With the match not going quite to the Leigh script the half time oranges were no doubt accompanied by plenty of "tongue pie" by the coaching staff. Wilcox responded with a try to draw level but a couple of Carlisle penalties saw the visitors go ahead and at 18-24 they looked in control albeit that their dominance at this stage might have resulted in even more points.

Forshaw broke for Leigh after their pack was freshened up by the bench and the forwards took the game onward until the ball was finally channelled out to the ever present Wilcox who had no trouble converting his own try. 28-24 the final score and both sets of coaches will find plenty to work upon mid week.

Widnes 12-7 Rochdale
Yet another tight match. A first half Rochdale try by Tom Andrews was converted by Ollie Coldman and was probably against the run of play at that stage. A Kevin Leadbetter score was as an indirect result of the Rochdale forwards deciding to try to run the ball from out of their in-goal area. The sides turned around 5-7. The second half was much of the same with the Widnes defence holding out against the improving Rochdale pack and their fast running backs. Rochdale had a lot of territorial advantage for long periods of this match but there were missed penalties as well, and it was to prove costly. As so often the case, and against the run of play, Widnes broke through Matty Smith after a 20m drop out with Smith going the distance to score and Leadbetter converted FT 12-7. On the day the injury hit Widnes will be happy with the 4 points but Rochdale will regret not turning good possession and territorial advantages into points.

Wilmslow 35-27 Vale of Lune
Which Vale will turn up today is the perennial question. After Wilmslow's Bob MacCallum kicked a field goal to get the scoreboard ticking over and Woodward replied with a penalty the Vale team that plays brilliant rugby certainly turned up. In one of those purple patches of 20 mins or so, Vale ran amok. They scored from a mid field line out when lock Lee Acton peeled off to run in almost unopposed. Tom Ball was next on the score sheet for Vale after a Moore kick to the corner was collected by the Wilmslow cover but then turned over for Vale to capitalise. More pain was to follow for the home side when the energy charged Jimmy Moore turned inside instead of passing wide and after a loop found himself with 50m of wide open Wilmslow countryside between him and the line. Great piece of individual play from the Vale half back. MacCallum kicked a penalty to take a little heat off the shell shocked Wilmslow team. That heat was to return just before the break when war broke out and handbags were flying across the park. The ref Simon Murray, who has experience in the field of bad boys, awarded a Vale penalty before bringing the half to a close. HT 6-24

Wilmslow appeared to be inspired after the break and Tom Raynor scored well allowing MacCallum to improve the score. Hodder kicked an easy penalty for Vale but Wilmslow found some good form and a trundling forwards drive saw prop Sam Rodman rise beaming from the try line. Again the trusty boot of MacCallum added 2 more. Rodman was next onto the sheet after a splendid Wilmslow backs move where Ben Day provided the space for Rodman to cross and MacCallum brought the home side to within two points. MacCallum took Wilmslow ahead with a penalty as Vale were suddenly all fingers and thumbs. The last rites were performed when Wilmslow's Raynor crossed and the reverent MacCallum brought the game to a close. Exciting stuff and yet another tight match in a tight week. The Wilmslow faithful can go back to their hedge-funds and futures-trading knowing that the lads have moved a little further away from trouble.

Anselmians 39-17 Wigton
Not quite as tight as previous matches but a vital win for The Saints against a Wigton side that flatter to deceive again this season. Anselmians had a couple of injured players returning and started much more confidently. Petterson made good ground before looping a pass for Mahe Pepe to cross wide out. Paul Kay increased the home lead and Simon Mason converted 12-0. Pepe once again crossed for The Saints and at 19-0 they were cruising. Wigton started to get into the match and scored well before Pennington for Anselmians crossed once again. Mason improved the score and the home side changed ends 26-5 ahead.

A couple of early Mason penalties took the home side out of range but Wigton came back with a converted try of their own and then scored another 32-17. Petterson had the last word for the home side and with the Mason conversion sailing between the posts the 39-17 full time score was probably a fair reflection of the match.

Aspatria 10-40 Sandbach
And so to the beautiful Cumbrian countryside near to the Solway Firth where Sandbach made the long trip from junction 17 of the M6 northwards. At half time they were 11-10 ahead but in a scintillating second period they scored a further 29 unanswered point. Jack Clegg kicked a good early penalty from distance for the home side but Murray crossed the Aspatria line to touch down for Sandbach to lead 3-5. After 30 minutes Aspatria hacked ahead a loose ruck ball and Askew and Tinnion combined for Tinnion to score and Clegg added the extras. With the home side ahead and looking dangerous Sandbach chose to kick two penalties before the end of the half to bring the score to 10-11. A hitherto strangly quiet Sandbach pack seemed to wake up in the second period and firstly a classic Number 8 try by Seddon and then a couple of strikes against the head for Sandbach gave them a sense of purpose. 3 more tries followed through Leech, Murray and Massey to get to 10-35. In a final flourish Richard Murray scored a great 6th try for the visitors and his third, FT 10-40.

Events elsewhere were duly relayed to the Aspatria bar and Sandbach travelled back to Junction 17 as worthy league leaders.