you know, one that goes through you rather than around you (thanks Ian!) and despite the warm-up it didn't take long for hypothermia to set into the young players' fingers.

The first game started with a well-drilled Wirral side taking the free-pass on at pace, a tactic that reaped rewards for Wirral all morning. Although it rarely caught the Hoylake boys unawares they found it tricky to defend and Wirral went into an immediate lead. By contrast, Hoylake laboured to their attack but it wasn't ineffective. George struck an early blow for Hoylake, running like the gazelle the Hoylake supporters know and love. However he was tagged just short of the line but the supporting play from Archie was terrific and ended with him scoring Hoylake's first try of the day which was turning more wintery by the minute. A quick try by Wirral was replied by Charlie who collected the free-pass from the kick off and ran at the heart of the Wirral defence. Although it was his first game back after an operation it didn't show as Charlie evaded all the Wirralian taggers to score. Young fingers were suffering at this point and tagging was difficult meaning it was a tit-for-tat first half. After Wirral scored their third try some good strong running by Karl and Jacob allowed “Lightning Logan” to score in the corner. Karl then turned from supplier to scorer as Charlie went on a trademark kamikaze run before passing to Karl who ensured Hoylake stayed in the game. As half time approached with the chance of some welcome respite from the freezing conditions, Archie scored his second of the game after Wirral had previously sliced through Hoylake's defenders.

The second half started just like the first with Wirral using their significant pace to menace Hoylake's determined tagging. Good organising by General Archie meant that Wirral found it slightly harder to score thanks to some outstanding tagging by Rudi and Charlie with John buzzing round the pitch to prevent Wirral running away with the game. After Wirral scored the opening try of the half, Archie scored his hatrick try after a well worked team move that nearly saw Wirral collecting all six Hoylake tags. Wirral were playing with the slope in the second half which was an advantage similar to a team of Usain Bolt's wearing jet packs. What looked like a certain Wirral try was thwarted by a knock on and from the resulting free-pass Patrick, looking for all the world like an american footballer (how many layers?!), galloped up the hill. He was tagged not far from the try line but thankfully Archie has the stamina of a duracel bunny and his support was rewarded with a try – his fourth of the game. Sadly it was to be the team's last and as Wirral scored two more tries than Hoylake in the second half it was the home team that finished the match winners by 9 tries to 7.

Although the sun had made an appearance, it was a bit like having a light in a freezer – it brightened things up a bit but it was still freezing and your fearless correspondent was in danger of writing illegible scrawl that jeopardised your weekly “entertainment”. Nevertheless, like a happy bunch of winter tulips, six hardy young Hoylake Under 8s swaggered onto the pitch to have another tilt at Wirral. However despite a different set of boys to play against, the Wirral pattern was identical – running at pace onto the ball. Speaking of pace, whilst Wirral managed to score at will, Patrick turned into a one-boy try scoring machine! The Hoylake Express managed to score not one but five tries in a half that saw Logan as the only other Hoylake scorer. Although Wirral touched down seven times in the half it would be easy to think that Patrick saved the day single-handed. However it takes teamwork and commitment to ensure that anybody scores and it was certainly commitment in attack that was in evidence from all the Hoylake players this morning. Unfortunately, collecting tags seemed difficult in the first half and so it continued into the second half as Wirral started to get a grip on the game scoring every time they had the ball. Hoylake stuck at it though thanks to Rudi who scored his first try of the game which was just reward for all the super tags he collected. George looked a dead-cert to score his first of the game as well but was stopped right on the line and passed to Logan who had the speed of thought as well as of foot to be in support to score a great try. Wirral managed to find time to score a couple of tries without reply by Hoylake as time ticked away and feeling was being lost in little (and big) fingers. Another Wirral score was followed up with Logan bursting onto the free-pass from the kick-off and leaping like a gazelle (isn't that George's job?!) through the Wirral defence to dot down for his hatrick try and fourth of the morning. Inevitably Wirral scored also straight from their kick off but a great Hoylake charge for the line by John and Liam gave the shivering Hoylake supporters heart. However a slow restart from a tag was enough for the referee who closed the game before Hoylake could score. It wouldn't have affected the result though as Wirral ran out winners by 12 tries to Hoylake's 9.

It is ironic that today's match was being played towards the end of March and it was probably the coldest day of the season – anyone for beach rugby? Well done to all the players and the travelling Hoylake faithful who watched a couple of smashing games full of attacking, free-flowing rugby with huge commitment from both teams. Thanks to Wirral for their hospitality and not least their deliciously warming sausage and pasta post-match meals which went down a treat.