April 5th - Southport 12 - 20 Ruskin Park
This was a tough, bruising victory for Paul Unsworth's men against a side scrapping to get away from the relegation zone.Gary Smith registered first points for the visitors with his customary try converted by Hughes.The home side then began to enjoy a good spell of possession and territory and were rewarded with a converted try. Ruskin hit back, and after a tackle bust by Chris Pennington, Ben Mousley showed that age is no barrier finishing the move scoring under the posts, Hughes converted. The game then developed into a midfield affair, with neither side able to build any pressure. Southport did, however, have the final say of the first half with an converted try.
The second half continued in the same vein as the first with neither side gaining an upper hand, with the only points in the second forty coming from the boot of Hughes. As time began to tick away Southport threw everything at Ruskin but, coupled with some fierce tackling and excellent work from the forwards, Ruskin held their line intact and took two well earned points
29th March - Game at Leigh 5th cancelled unsurprisingly due to a waterlogged pitch
Ruskin Park 45 - 0 Vale of Lune
The last two times these two teams met Vale of Lune won 33-12. This time around Ruskin put in a good performance and some good running rugby despite the terrible conditions.
Both teams relied on their forwards to set up a platform and the ruskin pack commanded the scrums, carrying on the fine display they showed last week at BAE Warton. While ruskin had a good ability to offload in the tackle (which was especially true with the 8-9 link of Paul Fenny and Man Of the Match Jon Ridgeon who were constantly a thorn in the oppositions side) Vale of Lune did not and failed to make any real damage against a solid Ruskin Defence, this was reflected in the nil score and some fine work by ruskin on their own try line.
As usual Gary Smith was a constant threat in attack and the the outside centre Jon Murphy and wing Mario D'Cruz made good ground as well when given the chance and both of them picked up tries. Chris Hughes commanded well and kept out of place centre Tom Tindall in check and made use of him with a few decent crash balls. The front row performed well and bullied the opposition in the scrum, however the line-out for ruskin was messy and the conditions did not help.
Special mentions go to Unzy and Lou, who's uncanny resemblance extend to more than just appearances as they were always on the same wave length and were in support of each other all day. Ant Wall also managed to pick up a try, despite almost being caught by the prop!
BAE 6 - Ruskin Park 2ndXV 12
Another great win from the seconds, proving that if Captain Unsworth can call on a full squad the team can be a force to be reckoned with in this division.
Ruskin travelled to BAE on a very windy day with only 5 backs, the rest made up of forwards. Ruskin dominated the scrums even though possession around the pitch was even and,once ruskin had the wind with them in the second half they took advantage and gained valuble field position,with long periods in the opposition half,. This led to as usual smith crossing the line but failing to convert it in very windy conditions. Ruskin looked to gain a platform and helped by good work from Andy Kwasnicki around the field and in the scrum and accurate throwing to the line outs under harsh conditions did so. However another bae worton penalty put them ahead by one point with minutes to go.
Once again good work from the ruskin forwards took them close,and a good strong charge saw jon murphy squeeze in right on the corner flag, amazingly gary smith managed to convert!,
Nice to see Tom Tindall having a run out and doing a good job.
So late in the season going away with 19 players is excellent lets keep going lads only 5 more to go!
Ruskin Park 2ndXV 24 Preston Grasshoppers XV 7
Ruskin took the spoils but in reality could have posted alot more points missing several scoring chances. The barnstorming Chris Pennington set Ruskin on their way with a typical burst which Chris Hughes converted.
The game then developed into a midfield battle until Ben Mousley crossed just before half time to give Ruskin breathing space.
The second half started brightly with both wingers Danny Price and John Murphy going close before Chris Hughes showed some neat skill to score by the posts, he got to his feet and kicked the conversion.
Gary Smith later scythed through the Preston defence to complete Ruskin's scoring. Hoppers, who battled hard throughout, got their just rewards scoring a long range effort just before the full time whistle.
Man of the Match was winger Danny Price who ran bravely and tackled courageously throughout
Ruskin Park 0 - 31 Ormskirk
Ormskirk won the game, score and match report to follow
ECCLES 2ndXV 24 RUSKIN PARK 2nd XV 7 - 19th January 2008, Miller Homes League
Almost total domination up front by the big Eccles pack laid the foundations for this convincing win. They dominated the Ruskin eight to such an extent, that the visitors rarely gained a footing in the Eccles half. Ruskin, however, surprisingly took the lead in the twelfth minute when O'Keeffe broke clear deep inside his own half and fed Martin Birch whose pace took him under the posts. Smith converted. Had Martin Swift realised Birch was on his outside a few minutes later, when he barnstormed out of defence, another try may well have been scored, but the chance went begging, and for the rest of the half, Eccles laid siege to the visitors line.
Big Dave Faulkner, at centre, was a constant thorn in the visitors side, and following one of his runs, Simon Percy went in under the posts. Ince converted. A similar move a few minutes later, almost brought a try to Greenhalgh, but sheer weight of tacklers held him up over the line. So for all their superiority, Eccles found themselves level at the interval.
The second half brought little relief for the visitors, as the home pack stepped up a gear, and began to win an almost continuous supply of ball from line-out, scrum, ruck & maul. It came as no surprise, when after yet another charge theough the middle by Faulkner, Adam Taher was on hand to take the pass for the easiest of tries. This was followed by a Martin Ogden score, when he sold the cheekiest of dummies, to cross under the posts. Ince converted both tries, and also landed a late penalty to seal an emphatic victory. Ruskin might have narrowed the gap in the closing minutes, when Birch crossed the line, but was brought back for a forward pass.All in all, this was definitely not their day. - B Ball
Preston Grasshoppers XV 0 Ruskin Park 2XV 27
This was an impressive performance from Paul Unsworth's men who managed to keep their opposition scoreless for the second consecutive week. In what was a scrappy first half the scoreboard operator had to wait until just before half time before being called into action as centre Danny Price nipped in for an unconverted try.
The second half was all one way traffic, Ruskin's forwards led by the tireless Kwasnicki began to dominate thus giving Ruskin's backs opportunities to exploit.
Martin Birch crossed for his customary try after good work from Hughes, who converted. Next it was Farrelly who raced in from half way for an unconverted try before Gary Smith finished off
in the corner a lovely sweeping move. Hughes missed the conversion. In typical fashion it was Ruskin's very own chariots of fire, Martin Birch, who had the final say, intercepting and racing 70 metres for his second
try. Amazingly the conversion was missed.
A good performance in the end by Ruskin which has skipper Paul Unsworth looking forward to yet another promotion battle.
This weeks games: Ruskin Park vs Aspull, Eccles 2 vs Ruskin Park 2XV
