Hoylake 1st XV v's Warrington

Hoylake 26
Warrington 21

Well, to coin a much over used phrase, 'a game of two halves'! Hoylake were outstanding in the first period despite still having four key forwards unavailable. So much so, thay dominated every aspect of the game in the opening 40 minutes and led 26-0 at halftime thanks to some tremendous team tries, rounded off by Jake Woods, Andy Fielding and Mike Kearney (2).

At half time, it seems that the minds were far too focussed on racking up a big score rather than continuing to work the phases, which had proved so fruitful in the first half. The intensity dropped from the Hoylake defence which allowed their opponents to eventually get a foothold in the game. In fact, once Hoylake's Joe Lavin had returned from a sin bin at the back end of the first period, Warrington played the rest of the game with at least a man disadvantage, following 2 yellow cards and a straight red issued to their fly half for head butt on Steve Young, right in front of the referee.

Strangely, the latter seemed to prompt the Warrington backs to take some chances and they proved themselves to be more than capable as they eventually ran in 3 unanswered tries. Disappointing as this was to the Hoylake faithful, credit should go to Warrington for upping their game immeasurably in the 2nd period.

Despite the disappointing end to the day after such a promising first half, Hoylake could take comfort in the fact that they took maximum points from the fixture, having secured the bonus point in the first half.

Man of the Match went to Matt Ross who had a fine day at number 8. This week, Hoylake travel to Bowden who command 2nd place in the league table. Hoylake have had the edge in recent fixtures but it seems that Bowden have strengthened, judging by their strong start to the season. A good game is anticipated.