A game of three halfs!

Gareth and the team from Wilmslow are always good value both on and on the pitch. After a good chat mid week we ran 3 x 20min sessions to give everyone a game. Wilmslow travelled a bit light of their dev players which showed in the mid 20 min session but otherwise it was a great day with a very even contest between two teams that play rugby in the right spirit and for the right reasons.
We started with A team vs A team, well as much as you can with boys injured in the school games on Saturday and with family events getting in the way of rugby (lol). It was rumoured that one player event had the day off to do his homework, the OFTSED inspectors will be proud of you.
Not knowing what to expect the Sainst started brightly. Last season on half and pitch and with a number of game breaking players Wilmslow had been more than a handful for us. Today our front 5 held their own with good games from Matt, Matt, Conal and Ethan and Floyd. Our backrow was on top from the start with Dylan having a stormer and nicking all the ball. You have got to have a good game to get a mention b4 Alex – who played a blinder as well – but hes turning into a regular human dynamo around the park.
With some ball to play with Sam and Sean looked the part with Adam and Mike running some good lines in the middle of the park. Adam and Michael St John ruled the winds with Nathan at fullback. No one put a foot wrong. The ball moved up and down the pitch with the Wilmslow big forwards showing expert skills at the breakdown. Against the run of play Wilmslow broke from their 22 and put sever pressure on the Anselms line. Under great pressure Saints took a ball against the head and after a few teething issues in the scrum, Alex picked up from No 8 and ran the length of the pitch from beneath his posts to score a great try, set up by the tight 5 winning a ball they had no right to!
In recent weeks we have started slow and had to recover after letting a few tries, this week the boys had fronted up. Game on...well that was the idea. From a well taken KO Wilmslow moved the ball wide through the hands of their impressive and often inventive backs. We missed a couple of 1 on 1’s and Wilmslow scored. Must have taken a good 90seconds...funny game this rugby lark! The Saints guys were gutted and a few harsh words were exchanged by the players – they knew they were better than that but in all fairness Wilmslow had played some good rugby. It was nice to see that letting a try in really mattered to the lads.
The rest of the first 20 mins was a great contest. Both teams played well and if balls had gone to hand and a few players had released early then pressure could have turned into points rather than scrums and penalties. With 2 mins to go Wilmslow moved the ball around and their big pack went direct through a strong but stretched Saints defence. First session 7:12
As per the game plan Saints made lots of changes for the next session, a few positional but 8 or so were new blood. We also gave our Cheshire Dev lads a rest as the afternoon would require all their efforts. First I will tell you the score 0:24, now I will tell you how proud we were of the lads. Against a strong and mostly unchanged Wilmslow team the Saints really got stuck in. One or two of the Wilmslow fwds were a bit too hot for the new lads to handle but most of the time we kept them at bay. The Wilmslow backs not under pressure from our backrow as in the first half, moved the ball wide. Our lads were often a match for them. Where we did suffer was from long kicks over the top which put people out wide in a 3 or 4 on one situation. We worked hard, esp the Tom E, Peter and Daniel, but against such experienced players you were always going to have to work extra hard. A couple of good breaks could have seen us on the score sheet but Wilmslow defended well. You know the score, and I hope will have much respect for the Saints lads for what they did in this session. Ethan played out of his skin and should be proud of his contribution, Connal fronted up in the scrum like a pro and George on one wing took one of the biggest hits Ive seen this season. He set the ball back, got back to his feet and cleared out the next ruck, top work fella – he did look a little dazed after the encounter but his Dad says thats his normal weekend look these days. Will contributed all around the park and was unlucky not to stop at least one try when he tracked back in defence.
With time now running short – we only played 15 mins in the last session – and a 3rd set of players on the pitch (George keeps popping up in the fwds and Adam joined him this week and both looked impressive...dont worry lads you can revert to the backs next week!) the Saints now looked to have the upper hand. A few tired Wilmslow legs let the Saints in for 2 unconverted tries. We moved the ball around the park and built pressure which we then converted out wide, alas the conversations that mattered went wide. With 3 mins to go Wilmslow scored a good try from their strong and direct No8; their kicker chipped a nice drop goal – he kicked well out of hand and from the deck all day. Time up and Saints pipped the 3rd session 10:7.
With Cheshire duties I had to get off sharp so missed the best bit of the game in the bar chatting and reflecting on a good performance. I look fwd to a pint in the bar with Gareth and the Wilmslow coaches , nice people and well behaved players who are a credit to club and families, as Bruce says on Strictly (so my daughter tells me) – “your our favourites”. It was even sunny...pity England lost to France but a great weekend in community rugby circles at least!
Parkonians next week at home and a great opportunity for our development players to start and show us what they can do with some decent game time. Mikes dad John is going to help us out with our kick off positioning, we had better listen he knows what hes on about, you don’t play for your county for nothing...even if it was 5 or 6 seasons ago (maybe a little longer?!!!!!!!!!!!).