BackSat 10 Oct 2026 · Regional 1 North West
Blackburn
1st XV
12
24
"Phenomenal" First Half Leads to Wirral Win
Andrew Broadbent
Blackburn are always tough to beat on their own ground but the 1st team came away with the win.
Wirral travelled to Blackburn, a team that they find hard to beat on their own ground. The team had one change from last Saturday’s game at Dronfield with JAMES REEVE coming in for the unavailable JIM LEVENE. The substitutes were JOE FURY, JOSEF HEALY, CONNOR MOORE, WILL TOMLINSON and GARETH ROBERTS.
The ground was in ideal condition with a strong wind blowing down the field towards the right hand corner. Wirral won the toss and elected to play into the wind in the first half, the sky was overcast and there were periods of showers during the game.
From the kick off Wirral collected the ball and controlled play without resorting to any kicking and played well testing the Blackburn defence with strong runs from a number of players. Blackburn were giving away a number of penalties and after 6 mins a kick to touch from a penalty gave Wirral a 5m line out, where from pressure on the home line eventually led to ADAM DON forcing his way over for the first try- this was Adam’s 100th game for the club, although other records show it to be 103, the conversion was missed 0-5.
Wirral continued to play the same game with good control and slowly making progress up the field still retaining the ball at all times as they pressed the home whitewash again until the ball was passed wide and MATT RINGER was on hand to collect and drive over, again from wide of the posts the conversion was missed, 0-10 (13 mins).
It was only in the 15th minutes that Blackburn first had their hands on the ball which they used to make progress downfield with a long kick. They worked hard to break through the Wirral defence which stood firm until play in mid field allowed a back to slip a tackle and score under the posts, easily converted to reduce the Wirral lead, 7-10, 19 mins.
Wirral continued to play controlled rugby with the ball being difficult to handle in such wet conditions but progress was again made up-field and from the middle of the 22m area the ball came to TOM AKEHURST who made a darting run to score under the posts giving RHYS JAMES an easier conversion, 7-17 (24 mins). The away team continued to press up to half time and in the final minutes of the half had a chance to increase the lead with a penalty from 30m only for it to just miss the posts. A highly satisfactory first half finished with a lead of 7-17. Just before half time, Wirral made a number of changes, LEWIS HAYES, ADAM DON and JAMES REEVE were substituted for JOE FURY, JOSEF HEALY and CONNOR MOORE and quickly followed by GARETH BROOKS for BEN BROOKS. This first half was one of Wirral’s best performances given the weather conditions, their playmaking and the opposition on their home ground.
In the second half it was apparent that the Blackburn side had been spoken to strongly as they then adapted to the style of play that Wirral had applied in the first half but the Wirral tackling was strong and decisive not allowing Blackburn to make much progress. This was the situation until a grubber kick downfield enabled their right winger to claim a touchdown in the right hand corner although it was felt that the Wirral winger had beaten him to the ball, the conversion was missed but reduced the Wirral lead to 12-17. Wirral realising that they could have no further mishaps then used the ball well to make ground but kicks had to be angled to avoid going over the dead ball line. From such a play Wirral retained the ball and spun right to allow GARETH BROOKS to cross over and give RHYS JAMES an easier angle to convert and increase the lead to 12-24.
Play became disjointed as there were a number of changes and injuries to Blackburn players which held play up for some time. When the game started the Wirral defence held firm with particular reference to CONNOR MOORE, who was nominated by Wirral as the team man of the match. After 67 minutes of actual time ( we were to play a further 20minutes) TOM AKEHURST came off with a calf strain allowing BEN BROOKS to return and then a further change round in the backs to allow ZANE PRETORIUS back in at scrum half. This was quickly followed with an arm/shoulder injury to HAYDEN LONG who was replaced by JAMES REEVE. With all the time delays, CRAIG HARVEY switched the props bringing LEWIS HAYES and ADAM DON back on for JOE FURY and JOSEF HEALY, who had done a great job in containing the Blackburn props. Towards the end of the game, WILL TOMLINSON came on for GARTH ROBERTS.
Time dragged on as the referee played all of the lost time, as Blackburn were due to take off a prop but had used all their replacements so eventually the scrum was reset with Wirral winning the ball and again attacking the Blackburn half. After nearly 50 mins of play the game was over in what must be one of Wirral’s best performances away at Blackburn.
Wirral are now 3rd in the league as no match was played at Dronfield v Stockport and is shown as 0-0; however we have still got the best defensive record in the league. Next week we play Kendal at home, 3.00pm kick off. All 20 players should be commended for their performances and we trust that HAYDEN and TOM recover from their injuries.
Richard McNeil
The ground was in ideal condition with a strong wind blowing down the field towards the right hand corner. Wirral won the toss and elected to play into the wind in the first half, the sky was overcast and there were periods of showers during the game.
From the kick off Wirral collected the ball and controlled play without resorting to any kicking and played well testing the Blackburn defence with strong runs from a number of players. Blackburn were giving away a number of penalties and after 6 mins a kick to touch from a penalty gave Wirral a 5m line out, where from pressure on the home line eventually led to ADAM DON forcing his way over for the first try- this was Adam’s 100th game for the club, although other records show it to be 103, the conversion was missed 0-5.
Wirral continued to play the same game with good control and slowly making progress up the field still retaining the ball at all times as they pressed the home whitewash again until the ball was passed wide and MATT RINGER was on hand to collect and drive over, again from wide of the posts the conversion was missed, 0-10 (13 mins).
It was only in the 15th minutes that Blackburn first had their hands on the ball which they used to make progress downfield with a long kick. They worked hard to break through the Wirral defence which stood firm until play in mid field allowed a back to slip a tackle and score under the posts, easily converted to reduce the Wirral lead, 7-10, 19 mins.
Wirral continued to play controlled rugby with the ball being difficult to handle in such wet conditions but progress was again made up-field and from the middle of the 22m area the ball came to TOM AKEHURST who made a darting run to score under the posts giving RHYS JAMES an easier conversion, 7-17 (24 mins). The away team continued to press up to half time and in the final minutes of the half had a chance to increase the lead with a penalty from 30m only for it to just miss the posts. A highly satisfactory first half finished with a lead of 7-17. Just before half time, Wirral made a number of changes, LEWIS HAYES, ADAM DON and JAMES REEVE were substituted for JOE FURY, JOSEF HEALY and CONNOR MOORE and quickly followed by GARETH BROOKS for BEN BROOKS. This first half was one of Wirral’s best performances given the weather conditions, their playmaking and the opposition on their home ground.
In the second half it was apparent that the Blackburn side had been spoken to strongly as they then adapted to the style of play that Wirral had applied in the first half but the Wirral tackling was strong and decisive not allowing Blackburn to make much progress. This was the situation until a grubber kick downfield enabled their right winger to claim a touchdown in the right hand corner although it was felt that the Wirral winger had beaten him to the ball, the conversion was missed but reduced the Wirral lead to 12-17. Wirral realising that they could have no further mishaps then used the ball well to make ground but kicks had to be angled to avoid going over the dead ball line. From such a play Wirral retained the ball and spun right to allow GARETH BROOKS to cross over and give RHYS JAMES an easier angle to convert and increase the lead to 12-24.
Play became disjointed as there were a number of changes and injuries to Blackburn players which held play up for some time. When the game started the Wirral defence held firm with particular reference to CONNOR MOORE, who was nominated by Wirral as the team man of the match. After 67 minutes of actual time ( we were to play a further 20minutes) TOM AKEHURST came off with a calf strain allowing BEN BROOKS to return and then a further change round in the backs to allow ZANE PRETORIUS back in at scrum half. This was quickly followed with an arm/shoulder injury to HAYDEN LONG who was replaced by JAMES REEVE. With all the time delays, CRAIG HARVEY switched the props bringing LEWIS HAYES and ADAM DON back on for JOE FURY and JOSEF HEALY, who had done a great job in containing the Blackburn props. Towards the end of the game, WILL TOMLINSON came on for GARTH ROBERTS.
Time dragged on as the referee played all of the lost time, as Blackburn were due to take off a prop but had used all their replacements so eventually the scrum was reset with Wirral winning the ball and again attacking the Blackburn half. After nearly 50 mins of play the game was over in what must be one of Wirral’s best performances away at Blackburn.
Wirral are now 3rd in the league as no match was played at Dronfield v Stockport and is shown as 0-0; however we have still got the best defensive record in the league. Next week we play Kendal at home, 3.00pm kick off. All 20 players should be commended for their performances and we trust that HAYDEN and TOM recover from their injuries.
Richard McNeil
Further reading