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Junior Colts Match Reports 2011-12 The game ended up as a thrilling 36 points apiece draw, Northwich having come from behind to go into a healthy lead, but the loss of 2 players to injury and no available replacements let Bury back into the game. A great game to watch and one that gives the coaches lots to work on before next weekend. Return to fixtures Liverpool sported a heavy weight pack and it promised to be a forwards dominated game if Collegiate were allowed to play to their strengths. However, with coach Alan Jack in charge this week, that was not likely to happen. Northwich faced the strong breeze from the Weaverham end but made a good fist of the opening exchanges, much of which was played in Collegiates half. A long clearance kick was fielded by Wilson, who took it up and fed Price. The rangy Full Back opened up to full pace and was nicely rounding the outside of their defence with the line in site when he hobbled to a stop with a hamstring injury. Jacko rejigged his charges with Huw Lexis dropping from Flank to Full back to cover for the injured Price. Northwich competed well in all areas of the game and spread the ball wide as often as they could, the backs threatening to cut the defence. However, it was another long clearance kick from Collegiate that broke the dead lock, it was gathered by Lewis who fed Wilson, who took to his heels and outpaced the cover for the first of his scores. With such a breeze blowing down the park it was not surprising that the kick was missed. Stung by that Collegiate threw themselves at the Northwich defence, which held firm for a good while, but eventually gave way from a 5 metre scrum. Kicking with the wind Collegiate converted to take the lead into half time 5 – 7. Alan gave out several pointers as to what he wanted in the second half, and by and large the lads delivered. Wilson twice beating the outside cover to score from long range and one from Harry Fitzpatrick when he slipped a midfield tackle and went under the sticks. Sparkey couldn’t miss that one! Collegiate pushed the blacks defence hard and when Plant was harshly binned for going to ground over the ball in defence, it seemed that the score would be inevitable. However, the lads dug deep and kept a clean sheet. Collegiate eventually reverting to a sweetly hit drop goal for their only points of the half. Northwich travel to neighbours Crewe and Nantwich next Sunday. Return to fixtures Early on Northwich seemed to be dwelling on the one man disadvantage, rather than upping the intensity, as a result they spent a great deal of time defending in their own half. Vigorous encouragement was heard from the side lines as coaches and parents tried to spur their lads into the more dynamic play that they are capable of. It was not until the last 10 minutes of the half that Northwich finally seemed to awaken as team and actually got into the C&N side of the pitch. The fact that they had not conceded a single point in all that time was testament to some vigorous defending, especially from the three quarter line. Once in the C&N 22 they starter to exert pressure with some good handling down the backs and bagged the first try wide on the right wing. Sparkes dragged the turf with his studs as he attempted the conversion and the shot went wide. Stung by a score against them C&N redoubled their efforts to get on the scoreboard before half time, but it was Northwich that would stretch their lead as another fine passage of play took them back into the C&N half. The ball travelled down the backline, in a somewhat ragged fashion, but the lads showed great skills in keeping hold of some difficult passes, with the C&N defence scrambling to get wide, Northwich cut back against them and scored closed to the sticks. The kick should have been a formality, but unfortunately it went wide. Half time 0 – 10. Down wind and downhill in the second half, should have been an opportunity to take the game away from C&N completely, however, the home side had other ideas and applied plenty of pressure. Dogged determined defence from the Northwich lads snuffed out one attack after another, but you could tell they were tiring and several were carrying knocks. Eventually and almost inevitably C&N crossed the line to open their account, but their conversion attempt never threatened to go over so Northwich still held a 5 – 10 lead. C&N sensed the opportunity to gain their first win of the season and piled on the pressure, Northwich creaked and groaned, injury fell upon injury and it looked almost certain that the defence would crumble, but the lads stuck to their tasks, tackling for all they were worth, hitting rucks and pressurising until they forced the mistake. From one such turnover loose ball was hacked down field and Northwich scampered after it, determined to shut the game out. C&N’s defence just about got there, but in the process of stopping the attack, they were deemed to have infringed and a penalty was awarded in front of the sticks. Sparkes made no mistake with this one and Northwich had a 2 score lead (5 – 13). C&N did everything they could to bring themselves back into the game but the Northwich lads frustrated them at every opportunity and even when Huw Lewis was forced off with an injured ankle, they never gave way. The coaches were left to reflect on what might have been if they had even just had the luxury of playing 15 on 15, let alone having a few subs to work with. However, whilst not being the decisive, high scoring win they may have hoped for, the lads crossed another marker in showing the level of sheer determination in this side. Northwich welcome Marple to Moss Farm next Sunday, the coaches will be hoping that a few of their injured players will be able to make it back into the side as Marple have gone well so far this season. Return to fixtures The start was, in all honesty, a bit laboured. Folks were falling off tackles, passes were not going to hand and no surprise that we ended up defending for a good portion of the first quarter. Maybe we thought after winning with only 14 players last week, this week would be easy – how wrong could you be. Marple finally took advantage of their territory and possession advantage after they were awarded a 5 metre scrum in circumstances that baffled both sets of coaches. However they took their chance well and went 7 – 0 up. Northwich were slowly waking up to the job in hand and eventually opened up the defence for Wilson to score in the right hand corner. The kick didn’t trouble to posts (I don’t think it saw them!) and so we trailed 5 – 7. Marple kept up the pressure and although not looking like creating much, they managed to gain another position 5m from the Northwich line. With turn over ball in hand Northwich tried to break out of their own red zone only for Marple to intercept the pass and score, although the conversion was missed. 10 -12 at the half and Alan Jack drew the lads in and laid down what he wanted from them in the second half. This obviously had an effect as the Blacks went up through the gears in the second half, taking the lead and never looking like losing it. In fact it looked like being 26 unanswered points in the second half but some determined last ditch effort earned Marple their most deserving score of the game late in the second half. The game highlighted that this is a very capable side, when they are switched on, thinking and playing for each other. They have no room for complacency though as the better they get, the more the other sides will come looking for them. Birkenhead Park will be a different challenge for them this week, without the usual coaching team with them this week, they will need to heed new voices and take on board the lessons of the last few weeks. Predictably BP will want to try and rough them up a bit, how they keep their discipline and focus on playing their game will be a major part of whether we succeed or fail on the Wirral. Return to fixtures From a good start which saw the Northwich pack gain dominance straight away in the scrum and lineout the backs were able to launch a flowing attack right to left, Dalian Wilson rounded his man on the outside – which was to be a theme of the afternoon – and looked clear to score until he forgot to sidestep and ran straight at the BH fullback, a few more phases where Northwich kept good possession saw a repeat and this time Wilson crossed the line wide out for the first of his 3 in the match. Tom Sparkes missed the difficult conversion. It looked like Northwich might have the game all their own way from then on however a resilient BH pack and an off-side and intentional knock on missed by the ref resulted in BH hacking through from the half way line and scoring the second try of the match – conversion duly added and the good start seemed to be slipping away. A second try from BH when their fast wing man was put into space resulted in a 14 – 5 lead to the home team against the run of play. This did not deter the Northwich 15 whose response was admirable and also effective. The Northwich pack were giving away around a stone a man in the scrum but were solid all match and provided a good platform from which to attack, another move with good movement of the ball onto the left wing saw Dalian put into space and eat up 40 yards of space before offloading inside to the supporting Will Corradine who duly crossed the line – Sparkey stepped up and kick his first of 5 conversions. With the momentum behind them Northwich were soon back in the BH 22 and a 3 man over lap looked to have been wasted by Harry Fitzpatrick before he coolly stepped through the BH mid field and ground the ball under the posts. The first half finished with another try for Dalian who troubled the BH defence all afternoon. The story of the second half was similar with Northwich looking dangerous when attacking in the backs, Oliver Rogers having a great game for his return to the side. With no substitutes the Northwich pack became tired and sluggish around the park resulting in a number of lost rucks and turn over ball for BH. However the scrum was still strong and determined stealing a couple against the strike and allowing the free running backs to continue to attack. A third try for Dalian put the game out of reach for BH with a nicely timed pass from Will Corradine and good dummy running from the centres a massive hole opened up in the BH midfield into which Wilson crashed, crossing the line without being touched. A final try and second of the day for Harry Fitzpatrick gave Northwich the win and a good buffer of points to shore up their position near the top of the table. A good performance from the entire team with special mention to the front row of Buras-Stubbs, Plant and Goodfellow who worked hard all match and outmuscled a much larger set of opposition in the scrum. Stand in coach Rick Smith and Manager Dan Langston were impressed with the display and can report a job well done to usual coaches Clarke and Jack. Results elsewhere in the league saw Southport and Vale draw meaning that Northwich are elevated to top of the table – however with their next two matches against Vale and Southport respectively, the claim to the top needs to be cemented with good results in the next two matches – the league is hotting up nicely with the Northwich lads relishing the challenge. Return to fixtures Northwich were wondering what it was they had to do to open the scoring when eventually Tom Price ran a hard straight line through the middle and slapped the ball down on the line under the ref’s nose. Sparky’s kick drifted just wide of the upright and 5 – 0 was still the score when the half time whistle blew. The second half saw Northwich take control and extend their lead with Wilson on the end of a move which had pulled the Waterloo defence all the way across to the right before bringing the ball back to the left to find the space. Again a difficult conversion was missed as Sparky seemed to drag his studs on the grass, which robbed the on target kick of its power. A momentary lapse of concentration allowed the Waterloo 10 to slip the first tackle and he dodged and weaved to the try line close to the stick, 10 – 7, Northwich were looking a little less confident. However, they were soon smiling again when again the Northwich attack stretched the Waterloo defence in both directions. Tom Sparkes decided the 3 on one overlap wasn’t needed and went through the defence himself to score and give himself a similar kick to before, but again it was missed. Olly Rogers came on to the right wing for Ollie Cushion and before long he got the ball and an inch of space and scampered down the right wing and under the sticks to give Sparky and easy conversion kick. 22 – 7 with the clock winding down fast, Northwich looked comfortable. However, Waterloo were in no mood to capitulate and they continued to mount the pressure on the Blacks defence. Their lightning fast 10 broke the gain line and looked certain to score but Olly Rogers showed he is no slouch in a foot race and cut him down 5 meters short of the line. Waterloo kept up the pressure, using their big pack to rumble close to the line and then scored by coming through the middle of the ruck. Players and crowd alike were incensed that this was an illegal move, but the ref had made his decision. 22 – 14. With time almost out the Waterloo half backs again cut a hole in the blacks defence and again scored under the sticks. The conversion was the last play of the game and from looking comfortable at 22 - 7 Northwich came away feeling lucky to have kept the win at 22 - 21. So at the halfway stage in the league competition Northwich top the league by just 1 point from Southport and Vale of Lune. We commence the second half of the league next Sunday away to bottom spot Liverpool Collegiate. The lads need to beware the sort of complacency that has seen our senior teams go away to bottom placed opposition and loose. Our score differential is not the best in the league and a few good strong wins are now needed. Return to fixtures Northwich scored virtually from the kick off as prop George Goodfellow battered over from close range to open the scoring. Within just a few minutes Northwich were 17 – 0 up and the game had already gone for Marple. This week though the team kept its shape and focus and racked up the scores, there were hat tricks for Dalian Wilson and Tom Price and a host of scores for others, so many that I can’t remember them all. Marple, although out classed in many departments, do have a meaty pack and showed in the 2nd half that given half a chance, they would batter away until the defence finally cracked and they were able to score a couple of consolation tries. However the game finished with Northwich rampant just short of the opposition try line, with yet another score beckoning. Northwich keep top spot in the league and now have the best score difference. 2nd place Southport keep up the pressure, having come from 0 – 12 behind to beat Crewe and Nantwich 17 – 12. Next Sunday the lads are away to A league opposition Macclesfield in the first round of the Cheshire Cup. A chance to test themselves and see how far they have come this season and possibly discover what more they need to do. Return to fixtures Vale started the brighter, showing purposeful runs in attack and testing the Northwich defence. However, Northwich stood firm and after about 10 mins one parent was heard to remark that the team had put in more good tackles already this week than the whole of the games in previous weeks. However, Vale worked a good move and slipped through the defence to score by the posts and to open up the scoring 0 -7. Northwich responded with their own period of pressure but could not unlock the Vale defence. Vale won a penalty on the Northwich 10m and coolly slotted the kick to go 0 – 10. This seemed to sting Northwich and they went up through the gears and seemed to have scored a perfectly good try when Wilson skipped down the touchline and scored. However, the Vale linesman, who had been half a pitch away and was unsighted by the players coming to the edge of their technical area to watch the attack, suddenly ran down the touch with flag flying and stopped at a random point. The ref, having given the try, then reversed the decision and gave touch. Feeling hard done by – the lads turned the screws and soon got their first score on the board. Indeed for the whole middle section of the game it was Northwich and the score ticked up from 5 – 10 to 17 – 10 and it looked like the job was done. However, the ref seemed to find a further 15 minutes on the clock and Vale used this time well to mount the pressure. However, Vale infringed at a scrum in the middle of the pitch and Reilly took a quick tap to release the Northwich backs. However, the ref blew up called the teams back for a scrum to Vale, the reason impossible to discern from the touch line. From their Vale worked into the Northwich half and they mounted wave after wave of attacks on the line and eventually Northwich ran out of defenders. 17 – 17. On balance probably a fair result, however, Vale wanted to spoil the party and snuck a try in at the death take it away from the blacks. So a third loss on the bounce 17 – 24, but a greatly improved performance from the Northwich youngsters who, despite the losses, remain 2nd in the league. Return to fixtures In truth I am not sure of the final score, I think about 7 – 24, however, in such a fixture the result and score line was secondary, what was important was how the lads stood up to the bigger and more aggressive A league side from South Manchester and they acquitted themselves well. Hopefully learning a few things along the way. This week the colts travel to Rochdale to take on some B league opposition in their final warm up game before entering the National U17’s shield on the 4th March. |