New Brighton 35 - 15 Hoylake

This week, saw the start of the league campaign, and what better way to start than with a trip to our good friends over at New Brighton. New Brighton, who have been recently relegated back into our league after one season in North West One. No doubt they will be looking to bounce back and will be there or there abouts come the end of the season.

Hoylake's starting line-up was not too dissimilar to last week, Tom Corkhill was back in his usual second row position, Ian Griffiths started instead of the absent Phil James, Debutant Steve Crone was on the blind side and Matt O'Hanlon was back at No.8. In the backs Conor Bradshaw was back on the wing and interestingly last week's blind side, Will Dow, was in the 12 position with Michael Webster moving out to 13.

Hoylake kicked off with the wind slightly favouring them. Retrieving the kick off they made steady progress through the forwards into Brighton's 22 only for a knock on to deprive them of any further progress. New Brighton took their scrum and cleared their lines well. A speculative kick bounced cruelly deceiving Hoylake's defence and was gathered for the opening New Brighton Try.. Hoylake worked hard again through the forwards to get back into Brighton's 22 but again a poor handling error saw their momentum lost. Although Hoylake's forwards were better in the tight Brighton's pack were far more inventive with ball in hand. Hoylake reverting to one out rugby which can be affective, but can also be easily defended, which seemed to be the case as New Brighton kept shutting out the Hoylake forward runner time and time again.. As the game entered the second quarter Hoylake were penalised for offside and New Brighton converted the penalty.

With the lion’s share of possession, Hoylake's ball retention through the forwards put New Brighton under pressure and conceding penalties numerous time. On another day these would have been easily converted but it seemed it was going to be one of those days as the first two straight forward attempts drifted wide. The third attempt did however split the uprights to put Hoylake on the board. At 10-3 and half time approaching, Hoylake needed to regroup, change tactics to get a grip on the game, however the half time whistle didn’t come quick enough and Hoylake conceded a try just before half-time. From a scrum that was going backwards New Brighton ran the ball and their full back, who was impressive in attack all day, entered the line and sliced through Hoylake's last line of defence all too easily. 3 -17 at half-time looked pretty ominous with the wind slightly in the home side's advantage to come.

New Brighton kicked off deep into Hoylake's 22. The ball secured Dan O'Neill hoisted his kick wide to the far touchline where winger Conor Bradshaw gratefully gathered only to be adjudged to be in front of the kicker. This was the first of many stupid penalties that took the game out of Hoylake’s reach. New Brighton converted the simple penalty to extend their lead. Within minutes Hoylake's cause was made all the more difficult when centre Will Dow was sin-binned for a tip tackle. There was no malice in the challenge but by the letter of the law, the ref made the correct decision. Matt O’Hanlon moved into the backline from 8. However this didn’t seem to affect the scrums as Hoylake continued to drive the New Brighton 8 at most scrums.

However, New Brighton were quick to take advantage of the extra man scoring another Try as the defence was breached all too easily again, as Hoylake uncharastically fell off tackles. 27 – 3 with over half an hour to go and things looked pretty bleak for the Hoylake supporters. To Hoylake's credit the pack took control and better retained possession giving the backs a platform to use, a lack of creativity meant no significant gains were made as every Hoylake attack was flat and predictable. Pressure did eventually tell as Hoylake took a lineout 5 metres out, Jake woods took the ball on and fell short of the line, Tom Corkhill was on hand to pick up quickly and power his way over with the help of Matt O’Neill. The conversion out wide was missed. Could this be the start of a late fightback, the answer was answered shortly as New Brighton recovered their lead. From the middle of the pitch New Brighton simply spread the ball wide to their winger who was tackled by his opposite number but managed to offload in the tackle, his pass away on the inside finding the New Brighton full back who gets through Hoylake's defence again.

Hoylake do have the last word though with a last play try. The only time Hoylake used their game plan all day and they came away with a score. The forwards took the ball several phrases across the pitch before pulling the ball back for the backs, Joe Lavin entered the line to create an easy 2 on 1 and releases the Hoylake Winger who dots the ball over the line, Dan O'Neill converts to make the score a more representative 15 – 34.

Despite losing a winnable game, There were many positives to take out the game, A good performance from debutant Ste Crone, who looks a good addition to the squad. Number of turnovers was heavily in Hoylake’s favour and Hoylake's forwards again take the honours in the set piece. However, plenty of areas to work on if they are to excel in this lead. Their pick and drive forward game is all too predictable and readily defended and when the ball is released it is just too slow to reach the fly half to enable the gain line to be reached let alone penetrated. With so much pace out wide Hoylake really need to think about how best to release them. New Brighton on the other hand had poorer possession but their forwards were far better with ball in hand, creating time and space for their three-quarters to exploit. A lesson learned from the men in green, plenty to work on in training and preparation for next week’s Game against Douglas.

Next week Hoylake host Douglas from the IOM and an early KO of 2 pm. Douglas beat Sefton away in their first game so another competitive game is to be expected,