Saints Have Had Better Days

Thankfully, the Cheshire Cup Competition has little bearing on the season but it was a valuable pre-league "warm-up" from which we should have learned valuable lessons.

Wilmslow looked a much better team than the one that saw them relegated from level 5 last term. Former Premiership centre and new recruit, Jennings, marshalled the game for Wilmslow and is an outstanding acquisition for this Wolves team which will certainly be in the mix for a return to level 5 after this season.

They played at a pace which stretched Saints from the outset and which produced four unanswered tries within the first 17 minutes. Anselmians then responded with a superbly taken try by Ewan Nolan who broke free and sidestepped the full-back to touch-down under the sticks.

Saints then settled down a bit and kept the points difference the same for the next 20 minutes with the teams exchanging one try a-piece (Saints' try by Scott Southwell) before Wilmslow scored again two minutes into over-time.

The third quarter of the game was the best for Anselmians. Liam Sadler crossed after just two minutes but this was pegged back by Wolves just two minutes later. Then the away team applied pressure for 20 minutes, narrowly failing to score despite several strong attacks. But then, as Saints' fitness wilted, Wilmslow over-stretched the Anselmian defence and ran in another 3 unanswered tries in the last 15 minutes.

Anselmians player of the match - Ewan Nolan

There was plenty of endeavour in the Eastham team's efforts but it was clear where our shortcomings may lie, which is no bad thing as we can address them in training as we prepare for the new league season's inauguration, away at Manchester, next week.

In this game, we were stretched out of shape, running out of defensive numbers in the face of a Wilmslow attack which was direct, pacey and off-loaded cleanly. They were much quicker to the ball in the break-down contests where we often lacked support taking the ball into the rucks, resulting in being turned over. We often tended to hit at the opposition body mass rather than creating half-gaps or running at extended arms. And, it has to be said, Wilmslow were fitter!

And, when we are applying pressure in the red zone (as we often were in the second half) we have to come away with something!

All good stuff for the coaches to work on, and which can be improved, easily.

Some big positives, though:
The handling was better with far fewer passes dropped or balls spilled in tackles. (But, a couple of interception passes!)
Discipline was mostly good; only conceding 6 penalties to Wilmslow's 13 + 3 yellows. Just one aberration when we gave away a needless penalty on our host's line, during our best spell, and then a further 10 metres for upsetting the good referee - back to the issue of let-offs in the red zone!

Despite this result, the coaches and players will be looking forward to gauging our league strength against Manchester, 7 September, when, hopefully, we will have a few more players available and pushing for selection and a week's more conditioning under our belts. And, we should also have a bit more travelling support!