Millom vs. Cockermouth RUFC
25th October2008
Millom 32 - 0 Cockermouth
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The heavy rain made the journey south to Millom rather more hazardous than normal, however, the conditions once the game started were no different to those experienced on many previous visits, windy, wet and cold! Cockermouth played with the advantage of the strong wind and slight rain in the first half. On many occasions they kicked for position deep into the Millom half in the hope that clearance kicks would be difficult against the wind and possession would be regained from the set piece. However, Cockermouth struggled to gain quality ball and Millom were able to contain their attacks by playing to their strength of forward drives, rucks and more forward drives to clear their lines. Whatever Cockermouth tried, Millom defended resolutely, retaining and driving forward. The half remained scoreless at 0-0.
Having turned around, the expectancy was that Millom, playing on their own turf, would use the elements to good effect through positional kicking toward the corners. This proved not to be the case, and they stuck to their game plan from the first half and only kicked when absolutely necessary. It was always going to be an uphill battle for Cockermouth against the deteriorating elements. Millom scored a converted try and a penalty just after the break and, with the earlier loss of fly half Ben Swift through injury, the writing was on the wall. Further tries and a conversion increased the lead to 22-0 and at this point, considering Millom’s dominance, it would have been easy for Cockermouth to capitulate and go under to a cricket score. But they didn’t and went on to play some extremely good rugby themselves, keeping the ball tight and posing problems for Millom by playing them at their own game, often gaining 40metres at a time through many phases of play. Unfortunately, once a breakdown occurred, Millom would regain possession and once again continue their relentless attacks. Superb defence kept the home side out until the last 5 minutes when 2 more tries were scored to give a final score line of 32-0. Not for the first time this season, it would be unfair to pick out individuals for praise; this was a resilient defensive performance by the whole team.
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