Tuesday 6th - Club night, all members, and non-members welcome, bar open for
refreshments from 6.00pm.
7.00pm-Wirral Tigers @ Caldy RUFC (LCTL League)
8.00pm-Senior rugby training @ Chester RUFC

Wednesday 7th - club open from 6.30pm
8.00pm-Wirral Tigers Training
7.30pm-Wirral Senior rugby meeting (Geoff Dean Lounge)
7.00pm-PSW meeting (clubhouse)

Thursday 8th - Club open from 6.00pm
6.00pm-7.15pm-Girl’s rugby training
7.00pm-Senior Rugby training

Friday 9th - Private Function
7.00pm-18th birthday party

Saturday 10th - club open from 11.00am
2.15pm-Wirral RFC 2 nd XV @ home to Fylde RUFC

On TV @ 2.15pm Scotland v France (Six Nations)
On TV @ 4.45pm England v Wales (Six Nations)
7.00pm-Private Function
18th birthday party (Izzy`s)

Sunday 11th - Club open from 9.00am for food and refreshments
9.00am-M&J`s v Winnington Park
12.30pm-Wirral Gulls JC`s @ Free week
2.00pm-Wirral SC`s @ Home to Sale RFC
2.00pm-Wirral Warriors @ Aspull RUFC

On TV @ 3.00pm Ireland v Italy (Six Nations)

Rugby Update
WOW!! What a weekend, what a club, what support and we really showed how every club should be run. A massive shout out to everybody involved, way too many to mention, but you know who you are. The rest says it all:

Wirral 18 Anselmians 10
I was really pleased with all 3 results from the weekend. We always knew it was going
to be a tough game with it being a local derby and we had to be on top of our game to
get a result. We started the game well and stuck to the plan. Mark Williams took his try
well and we were comfortable. But then 10 minutes to the half Ansies had a bit of a
purple patch and they capitalised on our ill-discipline and somehow, we went in drawing
at the break. The half time chat was calm, and we knew that if we out kicked them, we
would win the game. I asked us to just start going up the gears a little bit in the second
half and try to expose Ansies on the short side where we identified a weakness
throughout the game. Chris Crowley did that and as always “the poacher” Tom Akehurst
finished it well to keep his try scoring hot streak going. Then it was a smart play
from Sparky to knock the drop goal over. We finished the game with a back row on the
wing, a backrow at 9 and players shuffled round all over the place due to injuries, so the
result is even more impressive if you look at that. We’ve set a target to finish 4th which
would be a huge achievement for the club so fingers crossed we can keep picking up
points for the rest of the season. Going unbeaten from now isn’t an unrealistic target in
my opinion.
Craig Harvey-1 st team coach.

Wirral 26 Anselmians 14
Wirral 2nd team picked up their third win of the season with a tough derby day win over
their counterparts at Anselmians.
The game started edgy with both teams trying t find territory, but it was Anselmians that
took a deserved 7-0 lead after a lacklustre Wirral start.
Wirral gradually worked their way into the game and levelled with a well taken try from
Will Spriggs’s who dummied from the base of the scrum to score under the posts, 7-7.
Wirral then went ahead when a penalty kick was put deep into the Annies 22, and after
a well-constructed driving maul, Chris Dermo touched downed to give Wirral a 12-5
lead.
Wirral would have been disappointed not to have extended their lead with a few missed
chances, but credit must go to Annies who stayed in the fight and made it difficult for
Wirral to get any real control on the game.
HT Score: 12-5 to Wirral
The second half started well for Wirral, when a change of direction in the play saw
George Burrows break through their defence and score under the posts to extend
Wirral’s lead to 19-5.
However, Anselmians rallied again and some poor discipline from Wirral saw them
pinned back in their own half defending the big ball carrying forwards from the home
side, eventually the pressure told with Annnies crossing for a well worked try.
Conversion out wide was good and Wirral’s lead was reduced to 19-14.

The game was on a knife edge, and with ten minutes to go, Wirral hit the post with a
penalty kick effort to keep them within reach, and soon after, the game looked like it
turned again in home favour, when an incident in the their 22 saw Wirral reduced to 13
men and Anselmians reduced to 14. This gave them the momentum and they began to
throw the ball around looking to stretch the Wirral defence.
It was then from an Annies lineout that the game was sealed for Wirral, when Tom Cole,
returning from an 18-month injury lay off, read their attack, to intercept, and race away
to score Wirral’s bonus point try and seal a 26-14 derby day win.
A brilliant derby game, played in the right spirit, that could have swung either way in the
last 10 minutes.
Thanks to Anselmians for their hospitality and we look forward to the return fixture in a
few months’ time.
Josh Connolly 2nd team captain

Wirral 22 Anselmians 10
Wirral 3s won a keenly contested local derby against Annies 22-10. A strong
performance by another large squad saw a comfortable victory for the maroons, with the
final scoreline flattering the hosts. With everyone performing well, it would be wrong to
pick out individual performances, but it was great to welcome back Col Hughes for his
first game this season and Freddie Avis for his first ever senior game for Wirral, having
come through the junior pathways. They become the 67th and 68th players to have
played for the 3s this season - and incredible stat!
Mike Ludbrook 3 rd team Captain

Massive shout out to all the coaches, players, and supporters. It was also fantastic to
see many of our injured players helping and supporting the teams.
Sunday sees our Lady Warriors travel to Aspull; they have been training hard and hopefully will benefit with a victory to bring home to the Memorial Ground. The senior
colts are entertaining Sale RFC on Sunday so please get down and support the club
and the lads.

M&J`s Update
A quiet week for the M&J`s but some good training sessions and Winnington Park to
look forward to next week.

Club Update
The club was at its glorious best this weekend all started off on Friday evening with a Kizomba Gala Night, another successful event ran by our own Sal Green, saw people dancing until the early hours. There are more events scheduled, so if you would like to
know more or know people who would be interested, please contact Sal.
With the pitch looking immaculate, the food excellently prepared, an outside bar, we were ready to give everybody attending the club a wonderful rugby experience.
Everything went according to plan and showed that with all the preparation from so many people, how a local derby can really excite the taste buds.
Massive thank you to all involved.

Friday was also the start of the Six Nations tournament, concluded after our game with
Scotland v Wales. Thank you to all who entered the Fantasy League to try and win some cash, but also to get more interest. The timing for England’s game v Italy was pure RFU, exactly the same time as every League game in the country!!
With over 30 members joining the fantasy event, I was looking forward to seeing the
table at the end of round 1.
Just to let you know I am currently in 22nd position, clearly using all my years of rugby
experience and knowledge.
1 st position- Mel Carroll 392 points
2 nd position- Aled Vickers 376 points
3 rd position- John Gregory 360 points
Good luck to all competitors this week and look forward to seeing the table next week.

Kind regards
Andy “skinny” McKinney
Wirral Club Manager
amckinneywrufc@yahoo.co.uk