Prenton 1s 57 - Mavs 10

With the gaffer and the team captain off shopping and at a wedding, the responsibility to select a rag tag team fell to Pat (god help us). Del was skipper for the day and the evergreen Leg-End of Saints rugby was made pack leader. Pats thinking was that Spot would be vocal with his mate Mr Sixsmith the Ref. So he might get away with the obligatory backchat!! ‪The Mavericks‬ were playing in positions they were not Akin to playing but every player did what was asked without objection. Prenton First team not having a game decided to crash there 3rd team, which allowed the regular half a dozen or so 3rd team starters to enjoy a Bier Morreti on the sidelines!! To the game itself Prenton kicked off and so the Mavs were the first to advance the ball. In the early stages of the game, both teams seemed to repel each others drives, but it wasn’t long for the Mavs to be on the wrong side of Mr Sixsmiths calls. The pack more than held their own against the bigger Prenton pack and Nev at 9 was quick to distribute the ball to Del at 10. This was also the case at our lineouts playing the ball off the top. The first score started with Prentons hooker throwing a banana ball lineout, which they capitalised from as we may have been guilty of expecting it to be called back! Prenton crashed over for the first of 4 unanswered converted tries. The Mavs had a good phase of play midway through the first half, some good running from Billy, Hasty, Nev, Del, Eddie, Pat and Brian who was making his first regular season start for the Mavs. The Mavericks were awarded a penalty square in front of the posts 15m out and after a discussion the standing gaffer asked the standing skipper to go for the 3 points. Del with his golden boot nailed the penalty kick and the Mavs were on the board. Prenton had 1 more score to add before the interval after a tenacious goal line stance Prenton were awarded a 5m penalty and elected to run it straight at us. Tired and weary limbs did not advance, and allowed the ball carrier with embarrassing ease. Half time score 33 – 3. The second half began with a quick score from Prenton before we stemmed the flow. Billy Alderson was influential as the last line of defence, preventing 2 line break tries, covering the ground from his fullback position. Mike Weatherstone had 2 good back to back run backs from deep. Billy continued to show Prenton some clean heels (dirtying his new white size 14 boots) as he took the ball into Prenton Territory. Prentons pack collapsed for the second time of the day giving the Mavs a penalty. Del kicked the ball within the 22 giving the Mavs good field position. Only for the referee to call 1 of Eddies better throws backwards, despite the fact there jumper was in the air for 20 minutes before the ball got thrown in. There ends another promising drive. Midway through the second half Mike Potter nursing a calf strain from the sunlight game was called into action, as Brian’s back slowly gave way on his impressive debut. At this point Ben Evans returning from Brighton took on the roll that Nev normally part takes in , picking on the child on the pitch and just like Nev the kid got the better of the Mav, until his own teammate took the kid out by stamping on the kids ankle!! Prenton hit us with 2 tries within a minute as we were now clearly feeling the pace of the ringers game. Big mention to Jez playing 7 who never gave up on the tackle count especially from kick offs. We rallied towards the end and advanced well into the Prenton 22, Nev looked about to go over from a penalty tap and go but Prenton did not retreat and interfered, giving the Ref no choice ( although it must have gutted him) to award the Mavs a penalty try. Stocky who came down to watch after being ruled out of the 2’s due to injury, pointed out that Prenton who he has a connection too, started at least 6 first team players. Whilst I appreciate the challenges faced by junior clubs in the Wirral in relation to playing numbers it is hugely disappointing (and potentially dangerous) to field so many first team players against a team far lower in both league position and physical ability. So whilst our boys battled hard and competed it would be nice to play on a ‘level playing field’ (s’cuse the pun).
In the meantime , apologies for the delay, onwards and upwards and let’s move forward to Ellesmere Port and our first home fixture of the season.
Semel a Mavericus Semper a Mavericus

Regards Pat and Eddie (the secretary)