Didn't they do well?

It’s always NICE TO SEE Ansies, TO SEE THEM NICE. When Jamie, Ansies’ evil kitten-strangling head coach, finally arrived he GAVE US A TWIRL and explained that his tardiness was due to picking up one of his Under 31’s on the way. (And no, that’s not a typo of Under 13’s!).

Even with Greggo off on a social engagement and Alex falling ill overnight Wirral had a full turn out in some pretty miserable weather. A match with Anselmians is always a challenge as many of the players know each other and a win means ownership of bragging rights. Today was even more important as the match was the Cheshire Plate Quarter Final. As the final scoreline suggests, the outcome was never a certainty as previous fixtures this season have afforded wins for both teams, it was all to play for.

Cam elected to play with the wind but Wirral failed to capitalise on this advantage by starting slowly and taking a while to get into gear. Before the Wirral players had got their game heads on Ansies’ winger had run one in, unconverted. Maybe this was the shock that Wirral needed to wake up. From the restart they were quick to turn possession over and Twiggy managed to get the ball away from the breakdown to George who made a break and then gave a brilliantly-timed pass out to Woodsy who broke a tackle and side-stepped to dive over and score.

Ansies returned the favour by getting one back and converting. Wirral maintained their spirit and it wasn’t long before the ball went through the hands and with some well-timed passing it made its way out to Conor on the wing who made a half-break but was just caught by his opponent as he chipped the ball ahead. From the resultant line-out The Niallator managed to catch the Ansies’ hooker’s throw cleanly and power his way over the line to score in the corner.

There were some fantastic phases of play and Wirral’s handling, particularly in the conditions, was exemplary with one particular phase seeing some offloads between Conor, Harv and Taylor that I think Stuart Lancaster would have been proud of.

In the second half Anselmians had the wind advantage but after seeing several kicks caught and run back at them they decided to run it and Wirral found this period of the game the most difficult to contend with, finding themselves 19-10 down shortly afterwards.

The spirit and resolve of the team shone through as they fought back, dominating up front and winning clean ball for Twigs and George to distribute eventually allowing Will to power through, using his legendary hand-off, to score twomore unconverted tries for Wirral taking the final score to 19-20 in Wirral’s favour.

On the rugby conveyor belt tonight:
- Fantastic rolling maul from our 22 to theirs – see what you can do if you bind & drive!
- Fab air kick from Woodsy
- No fear in tackling their big lads
- Conor becoming an honorary forward and being completely flattened under the rolling maul
- Branchy & Minty thinking we’d lost! Do try to pay attention in future!
- Cuddly Toy

So it’s onwards and upwards to the Cheshire Plate Semi. Thanks to Jamie & the Anselmian coaches for their hospitality, thanks to the ref and thanks to Moggy for “volunteering” to run touch. Thanks also go to the parents for their unwavering support in the weather but most of all I’d like to thank the players who made several breakthroughs today.

GOOD GAME, GOOD GAME! DIDN’T THEY DO WELL?