Sefton 33 - Mavericks 12

Sefton 33 – Mavericks 12

A cold but sunny Saturday, saw the Mavericks travel over the water to Sefton.
With a few familiar faces missing, and the welcome return of some others, the Mavericks were hoping to turn the result around from the previous week. Unfortunately, no-one had shared the script with Sefton, or the referee.
From the first whistle, the Mav’s wanted to impose pressure, which resulted in a knock-on & the first scrum of the game. From the SET, it was clear that Seftons pack would not cope with the power of the Mav’s forwards, & subsequent scrums resulted in dangerous collapses. Fourth scrum in, and only 10 minutes on the clock, Sefton asked for the scrum to go uncontested.
First half possession was quite even, but with some lax tackling, Sefton quickly built a 12 – 0 lead. The Mav’s re-grouped under the posts, and after some stern words, it was decided to play a less expansive game – up the jumper & up the park! The Mavericks utilised the rolling maul to good effect, resulting in Chris Wildman gathering he ball at the back, peeling off and being driven over the line to score his first senior try. Conversion added 12 – 7. Chris then started to come into his own at the line-out, disrupting much of Sefton’s ball.
Some ‘unusual’ interpretations of the laws by the ref, allowed Sefton to except more pressure on the Mavericks, leading to another converted score. Half time score 19 – 7.
The second half continued in much the same vein, but a rare foray into Sefton’s 22m, resulted in captain Tim going over in the corner. At 19-14, the Mav’s thought they were back in the game. However, the ref’s penalty count then went off the scale against the Mavericks, & Sefton eventually ran in a further 3 unanswered tries. Final score 33 – 12.

Man of the Match this week was easily decided – Chris Wildman for his outstanding efforts in the line & loose.
Thanks Sefton for the game, and we look forward with anticipation to your visit to Malone Fields later in the season.

Note to Mavericks: Don’t forget your commitments for next week!
Anyone who missed this weeks game & wants to know about this, contact Nev or Tim.