This game against Stockport was played for the whole time (in fact all day) in continuous heavy rain
which drenched all those spectators who advanced outside.
Wirral made changes to last week’s game with GRUFF ROBERTS starting at open side wing forward,
CHRIS SPEED’S start was delayed due to work commitment and he came on at half time. ADAM DON
was injured and at the last moment Wirral brought in JACK YARKER, on leave from New Zealand to
be a sub with DON CARROL standing in for ADAM DON who was injured. The other sub was CONNOR
MOORE back after injury.
The start of the match was delayed until 3.30pm due to the referee being delayed in his journey
from Northumberland. Wirral played towards the main road in the first half.
The match report will be brief given it was difficult writing down notes given the level of rain which
was falling.
The first few minutes of the game showed SP with the territory and possession in the Wirral half but
the home team tackled well to stem the larger SP forwards. On 8 minutes a short break left one of
their forwards progressing to the line: just short of the line he dropped the ball substantially
forward, it rolled over the line which he touched down. The referee did not see the infringement the
only person in the crowd who did not see the error, even SP players and supporters were shocked at
the decision. We understand that players were in his sight of viewing and thus did not see the
obvious error, Stockport converted from in front of the posts. 0-7 (8 mins).
On 11 mins, Wirral missed a penalty goal but on 18mins SP extended their lead with a penalty, 0-10.
At this stage SP had made much progress with making ground with kicking down field to gain
ground. On 32 mins CONNOR MOORE came on for HARRY CROPPER-JOYCE. After half time, CHRIS
SPEED joined the team in place of DAN HARVEY.
On 54 mins, Wirral applied pressure on SP some 35m out, the ball was dropped and a kick through
by GRUFF ROBERTS was stopped by SP full back just short of the line, the Wirral players following up
arranged the release of the ball and CONNOR MOORE was on hand to collect and touchdown, close
to the corner flag. The try was converted from the touchline by RHYS JAMES to reduce the SP lead to
7-10.
The emphasis was now on Wirral with the wind behind them but too many to kicks were going
straight into touch instead of bouncing in field. For their part SP kicked long and kept the Wirral
attacks in check. This pressure enabled SP to seal off the game with 2 long range penalties, to extend
the lead to 7-16. In the final minutes of the game, Wirral applied pressure on SP but could not break
through the SP defence. In the final minute of the game a penalty chance was given but
unfortunately this was missed and the chance of a losing bonus point. This score leaves Wirral joint
bottom on points with 5 pts. Next match is in a fortnight away at Derby on 4 th October.
Richard McNeil