|
Lancashire 33 Staffordshire 5
The life of a Roving Reporter is sometimes not an uneasy one. Today’s trek up the M6 to the Tyldesley Rugby Club proved the very point. The dark satanic mills of Lowry’s painting may not have been readily visible the tough encounter that lay ahead would provide ample proof that the hard working ethic was still prevalent in the county. After the excellent performance against North Wales a fortnight earlier, the temptation to keep a winning side must have been a difficult issue for manager Barlow to resist, but resist he did, keeping to his ethos of ‘player development’, except that today would prove more of a baptism than a development opportunity. So Barlow and Edwards opted to experiment with a different line out in an attempt to give every player an opportunity to demonstrate their full range of skills. In the front row Blackwell and Churchill would provide the strength from which Sherlock could strike. In the boiler room were Beardsmore and Spencer with Kent, Twarden and Howley in the backrow. Spence started at scrum half with Josh Hawkins his half back partner in crime. In the centres were Evans and Cotterhill, who was more at home in the number 9 shirt. In the back three, Jack Sporcic made his first appearance with Alex Roberts and Alex Bird completing the line up. The TV forecast of a storm ahead appeared to be a little premature, and the sun was making occasional appearances, however, the action on the pitch would suggest otherwise.
As the starting Staffs side came together for one final squeeze before the game started, the Lancs side took to the field, all of the players appeared to be at least two stone heavier than Staffs. The post protectors provided the source of their superior stature as the team were sponsored by ‘Meat mart’ and ‘ACM Meats’. So meat really is cheap in these parts!
The first twenty minutes of the game saw the storm break big time, as Lancs soon got into their stride and made their weight advantage count with powerful hits and big yardage. Wave after wave of attack was mounted by the Lancs forwards, using the fly half as the pivot from which two pods of attacks waited to strike. The Staffs defence took an early pounding, and despite the hard work of Spencer, Howley and Sherlock in making many tackles, and the back row of Kent and Twarden getting in on balls on the floor, the superior power was all important in turning ball over for Lancashire. The defence was breached four times in this spell, and even when the opportunity to clear the ball arose, Spence and Hawkins found the elements conspiring against them the thwart their efforts.
The set pieces were a point of hard fought contact; scrums were rarely won as Churchill and Blackwell fought to prevent the scrum wheeling and Howley vainly attempted to control the ball at the back of a retreating scrum. At line outs, the Lancs tactic of getting the two jumper up early proved a difficult one to overcome, with the added issue of the wind to make things worse for Sherlock. On the occasions when Sherlock managed to hit Beardsmore, the Lancs guards managed to prevent any rolling maul from taking Staffs forward. Both centres worked hard, and tackled well, and on several occasions Evans made a covering tackle to prevent a certain try. In the final ten minutes of the half, a change in the game occurred as Staffs decided do as the opposition expected; that is they continued to fight and compete, and even mounted several attacks, the best when Spence put Sporcic away into space. Sporcic gave the crowd a glimpse of his pace, beating his man for pace, but found a wall of backrow players facing him.
At half time, Manager Rob Barlow instigated the changes bringing Turner, Jones, Marshall, and Brown immediately. If the rules had allowed it, he probably wouldn’t have taken anyone off! Cotterhill moved to scrum half and this had an immediate impact on the game and on the way Staffs played. His kick hoisted high into the greying skies of Lancashire was enthusiastically pursued by Sporcic, Marshall and Howley. The bounce caught the full back out and was gratefully gathered by Cotterhill. He moved play down the narrow side but his wayward pass caught Sporcic grasping the air and a certain try went begging. Unperturbed, Staffs mounted a second attack from a quick penalty; as first Hawkins, then Marshall and finally Jones made ground, a good pass enabled Sporcic to show his opposite number a clean pair of heals for the second time. He danced around the closing centre, but the full back tackled well. Again, glimpses of potential emerged without reward. However, this would change with the next drive which saw Turner and Sherlock combining well to set up a ruck on the 22 metre line. Quick ball was flashed wide left for Hawkins, then Marshall and finally Jones once more to gain ground through straighter lines. Meanwhile, Sporcic had looped around to create the extra man and put indecision in the mind of the full back, as Jones passed a miss move to release Roberts into open space and a well deserved try.
Further Staffs plays came on in the form of Titley and Thorne The try seemed to galvanise the Lancs forwards who immediate launched an attack from the kick off, and several phases of play saw Lancs move deep into Staffs territory, aided by poor clearances and indecision. As the Lancs loose head charged through, Cotterhill brought him to the ground and saved a certain try. Unfortunately his act of bravery would be his last as he left the field injured and to be replaced by Spence once more. The effort and determination exerted by Staffs was admirable; set piece line outs and scrums improved as stability was added by the flankers to prevent the wheeling of scrums, and as both Beardsmore and turner began to take ball from line outs. With minutes to the final whistle, Lancs managed to gain a line out on the Staffs five metre line. A solid jump by Lancs and a powerful rolling maul could not stop the inevitable try. However, as the whistle blew the signs of optimism were clearly visible as the second half squad managed to draw the half. In addition, some good individual performances of who Cotterhill was the pick, provided show continuity and stability. The coaching staff have some work to do in the set pieces where the stability lacked any consistency, and in the backs where a great deal of sideways running proved ineffective against a well-drilled and heavier set of backs.
After the game, the club proved an excellent host proving excellent food and some interesting after dinner speeches. The long journey back would provide little consolation but plenty of time for Rob Barlow to consider his next squad.
Roving Reporter
|
