BackSat 17 Jan 2026 ·  Regional 1 North West
Huddersfield
1st XV
33
22
Wirral lose out to heavier Huddersfield pack
Dan Carrol19 Jan - 20:35
Strong first-half display undone by second-half pressure
Wirral made changes to the team that played Derby last week. GRUFF ROBERTS came in at centre as BEN BROOKS was not available. MARK RINGER was out injured so DAN CARROL was hooking alongside props ADAM DON and JOHN RALPH. The back row was JIM LEVENE, TOM PARRY and NICK HEARN. The subs were JACK BRUCE, CONNOR MOORE and HARRY CROPPER-JOYCE. Joining the coaching team is ex Chester and Tynedale player JOSH BATES followed by a period as a Level 5 referee, before retiring from that work.
Hudd could not play last week at Rochdale due to the pitch being frozen. The pitch at Hudd was in ideal condition for rugby with no wind apparent.
The first minutes were a kicking contest which eventually led to a scrum to Hudd some 15m away from the try line, which they won and worked forward to score 15m from the corner flag, duly converted to give Hudd a 7-0 lead. Three minutes later a penalty against Hudd allowed RHYS JAMES to convert from 38m to reduce the Hudd lead to 7-3. Again pressure from Wirral resulted in a 5m line out which Wirral lost unfortunately. From the next set of possession a subtle kick downfield and a kick from Hudd left Wirral with a 15m line out, which was taken to the front of the line and a pass to ADAM DON enabled Adam to press forward and take tackles before crashing over the line 5m from the corner flag. The conversion was just missed but it gave Wirral a 7-8 lead.
The match was being closely contested and one line out then led to a chat between the two captains.
On 26 minutes, Wirral made 2 changes with JIM LEVENE, JOHN RALPH and DAN CARROL being replaced by HARRY CROPPER-JOYCE , JACK BRUCE and CONNOR MOORE. Wirral played out the half and missed the opportunity to increase the lead when a penalty hit the posts. Another scrum close to the line was lost giving HUDD the ability to clear to leave the score 7-8 at half time.
At the start of the second half, Wirral won a scrum some 40m out and went down the blindside, ZACH PRETORIOUS to MARK WILLIAMS who drew the full back before passing inside to NICK HEARN who had a clear 30m run to score, duly converted by RHYS JAMES to give Wirral a 7-15 lead. HUDD had chance to reduce the deficit but missed a 38m penalty.
Wirral continued to attack and weak tackling in the centre enabled GRUFF ROBERTS to break through a couple of tackles giving him a clear 30m run to the line, duly converted by RHYS JAMES to give Wirral a 7-22 lead. Even with this lead Wirral were aware of the Hudd forward power.
A further high kick downfield was well followed by WILL MORRIS whose presence forced Hudd player to drop the ball but even from here we could not force any real advantage. On 50 mins, Jim Levene came on for Connor Moore, it was thought that Jim was OK to carry on with his hand injury but this proved not to be the case and a couple of minutes later he had to come off the field.
On 58 mins we saw the start of the Hudd comeback when from possession close to the Wirral line their powerful forwards forced their way over the whitewash for a try close to the posts, duly converted to reduce the deficit to 14-22. At this stage there appears to be an unusual number of penalties being suddenly awarded by the referee to Hudd which turned the game. Another penalty to Hudd gave them possession in the 20m area and pushing forward, scored another try duly converted to make the score 21-22 (67 mins). A further attempt by Hudd to score was declined by the referee as not being touched down. Another penalty to Hudd gave them a scrum a few metres from the Wirral line and with other heavily built players coming into the scrum, enabled Hudd to score and take the lead, 26-22.
At this stage, Wirral worked hard to possibly get another score and prevent any further scoring by Hudd in the hope of Wirral claiming a losing bonus point. In the closing minutes of the game, a long kick downfield from the Hudd half, just crossed over the 20m line to give the home side a 50/20 line out. A home player grabbed the ball which had been touched by someone else, run 10m down field from where the linesman was indicating the touch position, threw the ball to the Hudd player who went through unopposed to score, the try was converted, 22-33 thus preventing Wirral from scoring any losing bonus point.
Comments can be made about the defeat but it is an aspect that can be discussed at a later stage now that the match is over.
Richard McNeil
Hudd could not play last week at Rochdale due to the pitch being frozen. The pitch at Hudd was in ideal condition for rugby with no wind apparent.
The first minutes were a kicking contest which eventually led to a scrum to Hudd some 15m away from the try line, which they won and worked forward to score 15m from the corner flag, duly converted to give Hudd a 7-0 lead. Three minutes later a penalty against Hudd allowed RHYS JAMES to convert from 38m to reduce the Hudd lead to 7-3. Again pressure from Wirral resulted in a 5m line out which Wirral lost unfortunately. From the next set of possession a subtle kick downfield and a kick from Hudd left Wirral with a 15m line out, which was taken to the front of the line and a pass to ADAM DON enabled Adam to press forward and take tackles before crashing over the line 5m from the corner flag. The conversion was just missed but it gave Wirral a 7-8 lead.
The match was being closely contested and one line out then led to a chat between the two captains.
On 26 minutes, Wirral made 2 changes with JIM LEVENE, JOHN RALPH and DAN CARROL being replaced by HARRY CROPPER-JOYCE , JACK BRUCE and CONNOR MOORE. Wirral played out the half and missed the opportunity to increase the lead when a penalty hit the posts. Another scrum close to the line was lost giving HUDD the ability to clear to leave the score 7-8 at half time.
At the start of the second half, Wirral won a scrum some 40m out and went down the blindside, ZACH PRETORIOUS to MARK WILLIAMS who drew the full back before passing inside to NICK HEARN who had a clear 30m run to score, duly converted by RHYS JAMES to give Wirral a 7-15 lead. HUDD had chance to reduce the deficit but missed a 38m penalty.
Wirral continued to attack and weak tackling in the centre enabled GRUFF ROBERTS to break through a couple of tackles giving him a clear 30m run to the line, duly converted by RHYS JAMES to give Wirral a 7-22 lead. Even with this lead Wirral were aware of the Hudd forward power.
A further high kick downfield was well followed by WILL MORRIS whose presence forced Hudd player to drop the ball but even from here we could not force any real advantage. On 50 mins, Jim Levene came on for Connor Moore, it was thought that Jim was OK to carry on with his hand injury but this proved not to be the case and a couple of minutes later he had to come off the field.
On 58 mins we saw the start of the Hudd comeback when from possession close to the Wirral line their powerful forwards forced their way over the whitewash for a try close to the posts, duly converted to reduce the deficit to 14-22. At this stage there appears to be an unusual number of penalties being suddenly awarded by the referee to Hudd which turned the game. Another penalty to Hudd gave them possession in the 20m area and pushing forward, scored another try duly converted to make the score 21-22 (67 mins). A further attempt by Hudd to score was declined by the referee as not being touched down. Another penalty to Hudd gave them a scrum a few metres from the Wirral line and with other heavily built players coming into the scrum, enabled Hudd to score and take the lead, 26-22.
At this stage, Wirral worked hard to possibly get another score and prevent any further scoring by Hudd in the hope of Wirral claiming a losing bonus point. In the closing minutes of the game, a long kick downfield from the Hudd half, just crossed over the 20m line to give the home side a 50/20 line out. A home player grabbed the ball which had been touched by someone else, run 10m down field from where the linesman was indicating the touch position, threw the ball to the Hudd player who went through unopposed to score, the try was converted, 22-33 thus preventing Wirral from scoring any losing bonus point.
Comments can be made about the defeat but it is an aspect that can be discussed at a later stage now that the match is over.
Richard McNeil
Further reading