Lancashire remain on course for their second successive County Championship, and the Bill Beaumont Trophy, with another impressive display, their third in as many weeks, this time against a highly fancied Yorkshire outfit, writes John Williams.
They produced a blistering first half performance running in four tries whilst conceding a solitary penalty and left the visitors chasing the game throughout the second half. As in the previous encounters the red rose men looked and played like a well organised and composed team.
Lancashire had the perfect start in the 3rd minute when a well timed pass from Steve Nutt was taken on the burst by Chris Briers sending speedster Nick Royle on his way to the line for the opening try. The Fylde winger neatly rounded the Yorkshire defence to touchdown under the posts for Nutt to convert for a 7-0 lead.
Yorkshire responded with a number of strong drives down the middle all comfortably repelled by a strong Lancashire defence with Jan Crous and Chris Briers, in particular, putting in some big tackles. Eventually the visitors settled for a three pointer from Tom Rhodes in the 12th minute to reduce the arrears.
Three minute later Lancashire went further ahead with a moment of good fortune when a kick ahead from Royle bounced loose in the Yorkshire in-goal area. As the ball bounced first one way and then another and with the Yorkshire defence floundering, full back Neil Hunter narrowly beat Royle to claim the vital touchdown.
The next quarter saw even possession, some excellent clearance kicks from Hunter and in the 21st minute a superb try saving tackle from the hardworking Briers. Lancashire emerged from this period to go further ahead in the 30th minute with an opportunist try from flanker Glyn Dewhurst, once again continuing his fine form.
Centre Freeman Payne made an incisive break through the middle only to be stopped short 20 metres out. The ball seemed safe in Yorkshire hands until Dewhurst skipped clear to touch down between the posts, Nutt converting for a 19-3 scoreline.
Torrential rain in the 35th minute accompanied Lancashire’s fourth try. An enterprising cross field kick from Nutt found Royle ready in his starting blocks and the winger did the rest to score in the right hand corner. As the rain continued to pour down Nutt added a final penalty for Dave McCormack to lead his team off well satisfied with the first forty minutes and a 27-3 lead.
The visitors had not crossed the Pennines to make up the numbers and they began the second half with serious intent, centre Luther Burrell breaking through the Lancashire defence in the 45th minute, for a try converted by Rhodes.
As the rain continued, the visitors gradually had more of the game but crucially, the defence, with ever present prop Petrus du Plessis untiring in his efforts, held firm. Long raking kicks from both Nutt and Hunter continually sent the Yorkshire raiders backwards until the 67th minute when replacement Neil Spence crashed over for the Tykes after a successful catch and drive, Rhodes converted to make it 27-17.
Lancashire gradually unloaded the bench to bring on fresh legs as Yorkshire tried in vain to reduce the arrears. The home county had done enough in the first half to fully deserve a trip to Twickenham and were not going to be denied. The player’s celebrations as skipper McCormack booted the ball into the stand for the final whistle said it all!
Coach Mark Nelson was, once again, delighted with the team and the performance. “The team spirit has been magnificent throughout the campaign” he said, “today it really showed. We were outstanding in the first half and gave everything in the second. We asked the lads to be clinical and efficient and they were.”
TEAM
Hunter, Royle, Briers, Payne, Kerfoot, Nutt, McCormack; du Plessis, Ince, Flynn, Banks, Rawlings, Wilks, Dewhurst, Crous. Replacements: Clarke, Lourens, Livesey, Palmer, Bailey, Duffy, Aikman.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lancashire squad for the Roses match:
|
|
Neil Hunter |
Waterloo |
| 14 |
Neil Kerfoot |
Waterloo |
| 13 |
Freeman Payne |
Waterloo |
| 12 |
Chris Briers |
Sedgley Park |
| 11 |
Nick Royle |
Fylde |
| 10 |
Steve Nutt |
Waterloo |
| 9 |
Dave McCormack |
Bradford & Bingley |
| 1 |
Pietrus du Plessis |
Sedgley Park |
| 2 |
Peter Ince |
Waterloo |
| 3 |
Nick Flynn |
Manchester |
| 4 |
Roger Banks |
Fylde |
| 5 |
Glyn Rawlings |
Manchester |
| 6 |
Dave Wilks |
Nottingham |
| 7 |
Glyn Dewhurst |
Preston Grasshoppers |
| 8 |
Juan Crous |
Preston Grasshoppers |
| |
|
|
| 16 |
Darren Clark |
Fylde |
| 17 |
Tom Lavelle |
Fylde |
| 18 |
Dave Livesey |
Sedgley Park |
| 19 |
Dan Palmer |
Waterloo |
| 20 |
Paul Bailey |
Preston Grasshoppers |
| 21 |
Jason Duffy |
Sedgley Park |
| 22 |
Craig Aikman |
Halifax |
Last week....
Defending County
Champions Lancashire
had a tougher game
than they might have
expected at Moseley, where they beat North Midlands 20-10 after a keen tussle.
Preston Grasshoppers centre Paul Bailey gave the Red Rose men the lead with a penalty and although Craig McDonald leveled with a penalty for the home side, A try by Bailey, converted by Waterloo fly-half Steve Nutt, put the visitors back in the lead.
Hooker Dean Bick then crossed for North Midlands and McDonald converted to restore parity at 10-10 before a try by full-back Oliver Viney, converted by Nutt gave Lancashire a 17-10 interval lead.
With a stiff breeze at their backs, Lancashire might have expected to pull clear, but North Midlands refused to concede the struggle and their opponents were unable to use the elements to advantage.
They also missed three penalty shots, although they did earn themselves some breathing space when Bailey landed his second penalty.
Arch-rivals Yorkshire also had to work hard for their 21-20 win over Cheshire at Harrogate where both sides managed two tries.
Doncaster No 8 Oliver Cook had a debut to remember with a 50-yard gallop for a try after his brother, lock forward Dan, had opened the scoring with an early touchdown. Another debutant, Leeds Tykes fly-half Tom Whittaker, supplied the three penalties and a conversion that gave the home side the crucial edge, but less welcome news was that prop Tom Davies had broken his arm and full-back Ben Greaves may well be ruled out next weekend with concussion.
Bath University full-back Duncan Steel landed two penalties for Cheshire and converted tries by Manchester wingman Ben Coulbeck and Halifax fly-half Tom Eaton.
The RFU have appointed the following match officials...
Referee: Mr. R. Draper (RFU)
No 1 Touch Judge: Mr. A. Hartwell (RFU)
No 2 Touch Judge: Mr. J. Minards (RFU)
4th Official: Mr. C. Meadows (Manchester Society)
Referee Coach: Mr. A. Farmer (RFU)
For Tony Simpson, RFU Press Officer's preview of Saturday' games Click here...
Late changes to the Yorkshire squad...
Yorkshire re-shape line-up for key Roses clash
Yorkshire will field a side containing 10 changes to the starting line-up that beat Cheshire last weekend when they face Lancashire at Sedgley Park tomorrow (3pm) in the game that will decide who reaches the Twickenham final of the Bill Beaumont Cup on Monday, May 28.
The switch of Danny McGee from centre to full-back for Ben Greaves (concussion) is the only positional alteration. Elsewhere, Chris Malherbe and Luther Burrell form a new centre pairing, with Jon Feeley coming onto the wing for the unavailable Mark Kirkby (Bradford & Bingley).
Yorkshire have a new half-back pairing in Tom Rhodes and Dan Storey, Otley scrum-half Andy Brown being ruled out with tonsillitis, while up front, Simon Bunting covers for Doncaster club-mate Tom Davies, who has a broken arm, James Armitage keeps the propping berth after coming on as replacement last weekend and Richard Snowball resumes at lock. In the back-row, Richard Wigham returns after missing the Cheshire game. Adding to the new faces on duty on the replacement bench will be flanker Neil Spence, making his first appearance of the season after a foot injury, and centre Kyle Dench, who has been unavailable up to this point.
Yorkshire (v Lancashire at Sedgley Park, 3pm): Danny McGee (Halifax); Simon Horsfall (Wharfedale), Chris Malherbe (Wharfedale), Luther Burrell (Leeds Tykes), Jon Feeley (Earth Titans); Tom Rhodes (Bradford & Bingley), Dan Storey (Doncaster); Simon Bunting (Doncaster), Scott Plevey (Doncaster), James Armitage (Cambridge), Dan Cook (Doncaster) capt, Richard Snowball (Darlington), Richard Wigham (Hull Ionans), Gareth Lewis (Halifax), Oliver Cook (Doncaster)
Replacements: Richard List (Doncaster), Will Kay (Halifax), Rob Wilson (Bradford & Bingley), Matt Challinor (Morley), Neil Spence (Bradford & Bingley), Tom Whittaker (Leeds Tykes), Kyle Dench (Otley).
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