Hoylake v Widnes - EDF Senior Vase - Report

Hoylake Crash out of the Vase

Hoylake 9
Widnes 18

For the second time in two weeks Hoylake welcomed form side, Widnes, to Melrose Avenue, this time in the 4th round of the EDF Senior Vase.

Both sides showed several changes to their starting line ups from the previous fixture but it was Widnes who settled first. Within 5 minutes of the kick off, left winger Leadbetter left the Hoylake defence in his wake before offloading to supporting fullback, Riley who rounded off a well worked try. Leadbetter missed the conversion but Widnes were clearly in confident mood.

Hoylake began to control some possession midway through the half, mostly thanks to the work in the lineout of returning skipper, Andy Fielding and 2nd rower, Tom Corkhill. However, the well organised Widnes defence marshalled Hoylake’s backs and kept a tight reign on danger man, Stephen Young.

Eventually, Young slotted a penalty before the Widnes number 8, Wilcox evaded two would be tacklers and showed a clean pair of heels to race 40 metres for a score under the posts. Leadbetter converted to give Widnes a 12-3 half time lead.

Although Hoylake upped their game in the second half, they couldn’t break the resolute Widnes defence and rarely looked like scoring a try. The forwards continued to work well, with props O’Neill and Collister (pictured) again at the forefront, ably backed up by veteran hooker, Butterworth, but unusually the backs just couldn’t get going in attack.

As it was, the scoring in the second half was limited to two penalties from each side, converted by Young for Hoylake and by Leadbetter for the visitors, making the final score 18-9 to Widnes.

With hindsight, the Hoylake players will feel that they missed an opportunity to progress into the next round against a slightly under strength Widnes side. With a bit more belief and confidence in their ability, it could have been the Melrose Avenue outfits name in the hat for the 5th round draw.

On a positive note, Jack Collister was again outstanding and is proving to be Hoylake’s most consistent player this campaign. He easily took the Man of the Match plaudits. Young flanker, Matt O’Hanlon, is also growing in stature each week and had another energetic match along with fellow flanker Jason Pell.

Next week, Hoylake welcome Ormskirk to Melrose in a return to league action. The players will be in determined mood to settle some scores after a woeful performance and heavy defeat at the hands of the league newcomers earlier in the season.