Despite the rain we have had this week, the pitch at Manchester was in excellent order, even the
sun was out at the start of the game and there was no wind to affect the game. This was a match
Wirral needed to win to stay out of the bottom 4 relegation fight and at the start of the game Wirral
were ahead of MCR.
Wirral had a number of changes to their team, second row, HAYDEN LONG was not available due to
family circumstances and ALFIE KIMPTON, TOM CROFT and CONNOR MOORE were all non-available
following injuries in the Leek game a fortnight ago. Wirral brought back JAMES ANNETTS into the
team at full back, JOE FURY (prop) played in the second row, on the subs bench were DAN HARVEY
back after injury, HAYDEN BROWN (making his debut) and DON CARROL.
The match started with Wirral making a break through TOM COLE been tackled 15m short but the
away team could not capitalise on this position. A few minutes later, Wirral were back on the MCR
line and from the line out could not force their way over the whitewash against a far bigger MCR
pack- 6 mins.
It was apparent at this stage when MCR had the ball their bigger pack were able to make progress up
the field and on 10 minutes, scored their first converted try when they mauled their way over the
line, 10m from corner flag, 7-0, this was followed 6 minutes by a second try scored in the same
nature as the first, 14-0 (16 minutes). Further pressure came from MCR but on this occasion they
dropped the ball to deny scoring a third try. On 23 minutes, DAN CARROL came on for JOHN RALPH.
The third try for MCR came when possession close to the Wirral line enabled the MCR team to pass
the ball wide to the right winger who had a walk in for the third try, which was not converted , 19-0
(29 minutes).
Finally, Wirral made progress up the field with good runs from MARK WILLIAMS and BEN BROOKS
only for the latter to be tackled just short of the line. Wirral continued to press but a knock-on
curtailed Wirral’s hopes, but eventually pressure led to RHYS JAMES scoring close to the posts and
duly converted to reduce the lead to 19-7 at half time.
At the start of the second half, HAYDEN BROWN came on for JOE FURY. In the first attack of the half,
MCR had a penalty and again their forwards pressured Wirral’s team and scored close to the posts,
giving MCR their try bonus point, 26-7 (43 mins). On 48 mins, errors by Wirral enabled MCR to put in
cross kick collected by the right winger who had a run in for another try to extend their lead to 31-7.
DAN HARVEY and JOHN RALPH came on for BEN BROOKS and DAN CARROL.
MARK WILLIAMS made another 50m break but no one was in support to take the run further. This
was followed by further pressure from Wirral but did not have the forward power to get over the
MCR try line and MCR again clear (54 mins). Four minutes later, good play by MCR enabled their
winger to cross for another try, again converted, 38 -7 (57 mins).
In the final 10 minutes, Wirral made further changes with HAYDEN BROWN and BEN BROOKS on for
NICK HEARN and JIMMY ANNETTS. In the final period of the game, MCR continued to play
competitively and scored 3 further tries to extend their lead to 59-7 in what was one of Wirral’s
worst performances of the season. Just before the end of the game a further break by BEN BROOKS
enabled a pass to MARK WILLIAMS who scored close to the posts, which was converted by MARK
himself to give Wirral some compensation at the end of the game.l

Wirral do not have a game next week, their next game is against Bowden on the 28 th , where we are
hopeful that many of the Vice Presidents will be down for lunch and the game.