Hoylake v Crewe & Nantwich (Cheshire Plate)

Hoylake 57
Crewe & Nantwich 19

Hoylake cruised into the semi-finals of the Cheshire Plate competition with a 57-19 victory against Crewe and Nantwich. In a peculiar encounter, Hoylake raced to a 50 points to 7 half time lead as their visitors failed to settle and the hosts began the game in ferocious fashion.

Stephen Young began the scoring with a penalty before 19 year old Tom Lavin scored the opening try after a perfectly executed back row move involving veteran number 8, Eddie McCulloch. Next, it was the younger Lavin brother, Joe, who showed tremendous composure to round the fullback and score under the posts. At just 17 years old, he is looking like a great prospect.

As Crewe capitulated there were further tries for the Hoylake backs with Tom Lavin completing his brace, Dan Baldock (2), Dave Cuthill and Steve Young. Young was also enjoying a good day with the boot, hitting 6 out of 7 conversion attempts. A momentary lapse gave Crewe some hope when they scored a try midway through the half, but on the whole it was one way traffic.

With thoughts turning to the 100 points, Hoylake took their foot completely off the gas. Also, credit must go to the visitors who played like a completely different team in the second period and retained the ball for long periods of time. The penalties soon came and eventually, Guy Byatt was sin binned, soon followed by fellow back rower Andy Minks.

As Crewe continued to attack with the numerical advantage, they managed to outscore their hosts in the second period by 12 points to 7, as Hoylake were limited to just one try by pace man Matt McClaren and a conversion by Steve Young.

At 57-19, Hoylake were well satisfied with the result but left with some concerns after the poor display in the second half. Man of the Match went to Joe Lavin, closely followed by his brother Tom and by influential centre Chris Whiteley whose ferocious tackling was a feature of the match.

Next week Hoylake entertain Bowden in a return to league action. The Melrose Avenue outfit must contend with the continued absence of the Kearney brothers and defensive lynch pin Richard Young. To further compound things, they will now be without points machine Steve Young for 5 weeks, giving the Hoylake selectors a major headache over the coming matches.

On a positive note, front row dynamo, Jack Collister has now recovered from an ankle injury and will be available for selection. Also, Dave Cuthill performed well at fly half after stepping up from the second team and Joe Lavin looks like an able deputy for Dom Kearney at scrum half.