Wirral gain a hollow win

Hoylake made the short journey to Clatterbridge with a first team squad decimated through the unavailability of a number of key players due to a wedding. Hoylake arrived hoping to complete another double over Wirral having beaten them earlier in the season at Melrose Avenue. In fact Wirral were without a win in the last three against their local rivals.

Wirral hosted their past players lunch and the home crowd were expectant. After a delayed start, Wirral started the strongest and kept their visitors pinned in their own 22. After barely 5 minutes the Hoylake line was breached following concerted pressure by the home pack. With the conversion made it looked as if Hoylake’s worst fears could happen. However from the restart Hoylake began to trouble the hosts as the visiting pack and some astute tactical kicking from young fly half Mike Kearney took Hoylake deep into the Wirral 22. As it seemed Hoylake were about to cross the line the ball was crucially knocked on at the base of a ruck. After this promising spell Hoylake somewhat gifted Wirral their next try. Following a lineout in their own 22 Wirral cleared the ball. With the ball not aimed for touch Hoylake made a complete hash of dealing with the kick allowing the hosts to gather and allow the back line to score under the sticks. This seemed to be the turning point in the first half as Hoylake continued to commit mistakes in the remainder of the game. Wirral then added two more tries before the half time whistle to lead 24-0 at the break.

The second half began in the best possible way as Hoylake crossed the white wash in bizarre fashion. A Wirral clearance was dealt with by winger Tom Lavin who launched a counter attack. Young Lavin kicked ahead and in flight the ball touched a Wirral hand. With some brilliant quick thinking Matt O’Neill realised he was now not offside and took the ball cleanly with the home players expecting the referee’s whistle O’Neill drew the home full back and fed winger Matt McClaren who used his pace to score under the posts. The conversion was then slotted by Joe Lavin. This was as good as it got for the visitors who were continually left frustrated by mistakes and Wirral added three more tries to wrap up a 48-7 victory.

With so many players missing it was always going to be a difficult day for Hoylake and it is a credit that we even managed to get a team out. Basic errors did cost Hoylake but Wirral were also guilty of making mistakes, however the difference was Hoylake failed to capitalise and Wirral punished their visitors. There were some promising displays with Ian Griffiths, playing out of position in the front row, a threat with ball in hand. Matt McClaren also looked dangerous with ball in hand whilst making a number of crucial tackles. Congratulations go to regular second team second row Gary Walberg who made his first team debut. Next week there are no weddings or holidays so Hoylake will have a number of key players back for the home game against Wigan.
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