Bowdon v Hoylake - 1st XV Match Report

Bowdon 19
Hoylake 35

Hoylake travelled to Bowdon, the 2nd placed team in the league with a team affected by injury and unavailability with the likes of Dan Baldock, Jack Lavin, Mark Wylie, Ian Griffiths and James Edwards all unable to make the trip. A tough encounter was expected and the words 'damage limitation' were even heard from some parts of the camp (no names mentioned of course.....).

As it was, Hoylake were fired up after the previous week's refereeing frustrations at Oswestry and threw everything at a subdued Bowdon side. It was one of those days for skipper Stephen Young (pictured). He finished the match with a hat-trick of tries and 30 points in total. An impressive haul at any level of rugby. The visitors also took advantage of a weaker than usual Bowdon back row and dominated in the loose despite being second best in the set piece.

Hoylake took the advantage with a well-worked backs move that allowed Steve Young to ghost through the gap between the centres to score under the sticks. Bowdon replied via their own fly half who spotted a gap and gathered his own chip to level the scores. The signs were ominous as Bowdon turned up the heat and began to dominate possession. Just as they looked to move the ball out wide, back row dynamo, Matt O'Hanlon, ntercepted the ball and sprinted up the field. He realised he didn't quite have the legs and unslefishly offloaded to Young, who was on hand to run the remaining 25 metres to restore the lead.

Again Bowdon came back and scored a try following the most blatant of knock-ons in the centre. In fairness, the referee must have been unsighted as both teams stopped expecting a whistle. The Bowdon outside centre tried his luck and dotted the ball down and was unbelievably awarded the try. In the referee's defence, he had an otherwise flawless game and the try didn't affect the eventual outcome.

Hoylake kept their heads up and rallied allowing Young to slot 2 penalties (having already missed two attempts) giving them a 20-12 half time lead.

The second period started in the worst possible fashion for the visitors when Bowdon registered the best try of the match, with their left winger eventually scoring close to the sticks after some slick handling. The conversion was kicked leaving Hoylake with a slender 1 point lead.

Yet again though, the visitors didn't lose faith and the forwards continued to battle their way up the pitch, with the whole team tackling like their lives depended on it.

Young emulated his opposite man after 15 minutes to chip and gather his own kick to score under the sticks and not long after, Gary Hummerston pounced after poor handling from the Bowdon backs gave him a clear run to the line to give Hoylake a 13 point advantage with just 20 minutes remaining on the clock. Continued pressure resulted in a penalty which Young converted to give Hoylake a 15 point lead, leaving Bowdon the unlikely task of scoring 3 times in the closing minutes.

As it was, Hoylake finished the stronger and dominated territory until the final whistle. In fact, the visitors were able to make 3 precautionary substitutions in the last 15 minutes, bringing off seasoned campaigners Rob Kurton, Matt O'Neill and Rich Young for Andy Fielding, 17 year old Matty Ross and Sam Roberts.

An impressive performance from a supposedly weakened side. Coach 'Big G' must be wondering how on earth he gets this type of performance from the squad every week...However, Hoylake have a great opportunity to record back to back wins for the first time this season when Winnington Park visit Melrose Avenue next week.

Man of the Match deservedly went to Stephen Young, although Hoylake's back row put in a tremendous shift with flankers Byatt and O'Hanlon proving to be a thorn in the side of their opponents all day. Vice Skipper, O'Neill, lead from the front and praise should also go to fellow front rowers Iain Stevenson and Darren Agnew who also gave creditable performances around the park. Second rowers, Will Selby-Milic and Tom Corkhill also put in gritty performances and punched above their weight in the loose.

Special mention should go to winger Gary Hummerston and fullback Tom Selby-Milic who bounced back from self confessed 'shockers' at Oswestry and showed the character to put in strong performances against stronger opposition.

All in all, an outstanding squad performance that will hopefully be emulated on many more occasions as the season draws to its conclusion.