Sunlight at Sunlight

The Mavericks put distance between 5th and 6th position in the league this week with a gritty, hard fought victory at a resurgent Port Sunlight Team who’s performance does not reflect their league position.
It was always going to be a tough day on the pitch as we travel to our closest neighbours. The Gaffer was confident with the squad for today’s fixture with the welcome return to the pitch of two of the clubs stalwarts. Steve Pilgrim and Scott Tunna putting their boots on and returning to the melee. Both players bringing the benefit of both experience and skill to the team, together with Steve ‘spot’ Hearn and Nev Pickard the pack is developing a distinctive youthful appearance. Craig, Mike , Plum adding to the youth policy with the second row of stocky and Andy Parker only lowering the average age within the eight to about 44. A strange statistic to bring up however there is a reason for this. Proof that age brings real benefit as the forwards were dominant and skipper Andy Smith identified post match that it was the pack that won this game for us. Totally dominant in the scrum and line out winning all of our own ball and the majority of opposition ball, recycling the ball effectively and recycling first and second phase position quickly. Our backs attacked and defended in equal measure and the collective performance from the 15 shows a ready positive change from the lows of earlier in the season. Once again the key words appear to be ‘Performance, Performance, Performance’ when we perform as a team then we are capable of some great games and even better results.
So, bearing in mind the glowing account outlined above why was this not a 50 point win ? Well that was down to three factors.
Firstly, The Mavs continue to have patches were we forget how to tackle and attempt to fell 20 stone monsters by tackling at chest height.
Secondly, Port Sunlight who played to their strengths and have found some good new talent. Their ‘give the ball to the big guy’ approach is still prevalent and in the main worked for them however they produced a very effective back line that provided some real challenges to our wide out defence. The Sunlight team appear to save their best for the Annie’s fixture ( who said local rivalry was dead.)
Thirdly, our discipline let us down on a number of key occasions yesterday with penalties given away, arguing within the team and frustration with the decisions awarded against us.
If we are able to identify the areas of weakness in our game then we are able to do something about it . Onwards and upwards for next week.
The game itself was one of two and fro with the lead exchanging hands on a number of occasions. The eventual published result of 29-24 in favour of The Mavs was a fair reflection of the game.
Tries this week came from Andy Smith (2) Nev Pickard (2) and a penalty try awarded to Cal Thomas following a disgraceful high tackle that could have easily caused significant damage, however all it did result in was a yellow card for the Sunlight player. A further conversion from the boot of Gordon Rogers secured a solid determined win.
Noticeable performances this week came from Captain Marvel Andy Smith, The ever youthful Del Alderson who never stopped running all day and who constantly put the Sunlight full back under pressure with his kick chases. Cal Thomas continues to impress with his running skills. Great performances from the entire eight, who, as I said earlier dominated the set piece and great to see Pilly and Scotty putting the shirts on again (long may it continue), this weeks man of the match echoes the view of the Sunlight team and Nev Pickard gets the nod on the basis of two tries, an excellent defensive performance (despite the bollocking from the ref) and his tireless performance in the loose.
Overall another great team performance that we should all be proud of a great big fat W in the win column and great preparation for the tough fixture against Prenton next week.

Thanks guys,

Semel a Mavericus Semper a Mavericus

The Gaffer