A season defining performance sees the Mavericks beat a strong Wallasey side…

With both sides pitches unavailable, the fixture between Wallasey & the Mavericks moved to Port Sunlight RFC.
Wallasey again turned up with a raft of first team players, whilst the Mavericks sported one or two new faces.
By the size of their pack, Wallasey meant business, but as the saying goes ‘size isn’t everything’!
The first half kicked off with the Mav’s playing with the slope. A neat kick off from Matt Moscrop forced Wallasey onto the back foot. Some excellent clearing out at the ruck gave swift possession to the Mavericks, who spread the ball wide to their speedy backs. After gaining 20 yrds the Mavs went to ground, recycled the ball & got it out to the backs to launch another attack. Wallasey’s defence held strong at the first wave, and a scrum was called. Now the test would start! First set piece, and Luke Williams, Captain Tim & Les Wildman called for an 8 man shove. On the squeeze, Willo called it & the pack responded. Wallasey fed the scrum & the Mavericks duly drove them off the ball, so it was for the rest of the afternoon. The old adage ‘youth & enthusiasm are no substitute for age & experience’ was never more salient. Craig Brookes at tight head had the better of Wallasey.
A No. 8 pick-up fed the backline, who broke several tackles & the centres sent the ball wide to Helmet on the wing. Helmet still had a lot of work to do, breaking several tackles, stepping inside & going over to open the scoring, conversion scored 7-0 after 5mins.
More pressure from the Mav’s saw knock-on’s galore from Wallasey, and more scrums, all playing into the hands of the Mavericks. Line speed & strong tackling from the Mavericks backline kept Wallasey at bay, and the extra pressure meant that a loose ball was picked up by Craig Brookes who broke the line & set off on a ‘once in a season dash’ towards the tryline, only to be felled by a tap-tackle. Jack Woolley, playing on the wing was first to the breakdown, ably supported by the forwards. The ball was recycled quickly and sent out to the backs, into the arms of Lee Jones who crashed through several Wallasey players to score after 15 minutes, 12-0.
The line-out was working well with Willo spoiling a lot of Wallasey ball, & great distribution from Neil Brookes allowing the backs to attack.
Shortly after, a deft piece of play from fly-half Matt Moscrop saw the ball moved out quickly. The ball came back to Matt who went over to score, then convert his try. 19 mins gone, scoreline 19-0. After a short spell of pressure from Wallasey, veteran back-rower Nev Pickard sustained an injury which required him to leave the pitch after 21 mins. Play stayed with the Mavericks, who put it to good use. Some fantastic tackling from the Mavericks including Nev, Del Alderson, Neil & Craig Brookes, Andy Smith & Helmet meant that Wallasey were kept at bay. Further pressure from the Mavericks forwards, with Craig Brookes & Willo tackling like demons meant that the ball went loose. Matt Moscrop pounced on the loose ball, passed out to Captain Tim, who ‘Sunny Bill Williams’ styley off-loaded the ball out the backdoor to Dan Jenner running in support. Dan then took on 3 players to crash over to score under the posts. Conversion scored 26-0 with 27 mins gone. Wallasey then woke up & exerted pressure for the remaining 13 minutes of the half, but failed to fully utilise their possession.
The second half started in much the same vein, Mavericks with ball in hand & Wallasey trying to put pressure on. But the superior fitness of the Mavericks showed, even playing up the considerable slope. On 50 minutes, Les Wildman sustained an injury which required him to leave the pitch. Cue the return of Super Nev. Wallasey were then coming into the game more & more, and to a man the Mavericks upped the tackle count. Great defence was the key to this game, & that’s just what the Mavericks gave, stopping numerous attacks from a Wallasey side growing in confidence. A further injury to Pete McArdle meant that Les Wildman returned to action on the 65 minute mark.
The game then entered a period of stalemate, with neither side gaining much. Ben made his customary appearance off the bench, and slotted straight into the game. The impetus was still with the Mavericks though, and as the game entered the final minute, a great clear out at the ruck gave possession to the Mavericks. The ball was passed out to Captain Tim, who showed that he can perform the same trick twice in a game, by off-loading ‘Sunny Bill Styley’ again to Willo running in support to go in under the posts. Taking a drop kick conversion, Willo rounded of the scoring. Final whistle 0-33 to the Mavericks.
Man of the Match this week could have gone to anyone who played the match. There were performances right across the park. The pack was awesome: Mike, Willo & Craig in the front row, Andy Barker & the back row combination of Les, Nev, Dan & Tim were outstanding. Neil, and the back line led manfully by Matt who was outstanding at 10 & Andy, and not forgetting the 2 Jacks. Del cleared anything up from full-back & joined the line in attack & defence.
But…
Man of the Match this week goes to Craig Brookes for his superb effort at the scrum & breakdown as well as his tireless effort in open play.
Thanks to Port Sunlight for allowing the fixture to be played at their ground.
Thanks to Wallasey for the game, and good luck for the remainder of the season.
Job done, ‘Nough said!