it was with trepidation that Hoylake Under 10s and a strong travelling contingent arrived at Wirral’s ground. Past encounters have found Wirral to be strong, skilful and very well organised - as if they’d spent all summer at a rugby boot camp. Following the referee’s early morning briefing, the Hoylake coaches were confident of a game that would be refereed to a high standard. Only the first expectation came to pass however.
With another 4 games of 10 minutes format, Hoylake started brightly despite playing up a slope that would have unnerved a battalion of Marine’s. Both sides defended strongly and the spectators were treated to a “game for rugby purists” (not much free flowing rugby!). However, despite some great resistance from Leon, Luca and George it was Wirral who broke the deadlock. As the game rumbled on and Hoylake’s defence became ever more stretched, Wirral’s intelligent attackers exploited the spaces out wide scoring two more unanswered tries before the referee blew for full time. First blood to Wirral 3-0.
The interval allowed James, Kev and Si to point out that as a team game, the boys needed to trust each other to do the work in their own area of the pitch rather than group together leaving acres of space for Wirral’s speedsters to enjoy. That and the next bunch of lads had the slope in their favour! The second game was almost a carbon copy of the first except it was much closer. Rudi and Reece saw plenty of action and John was relishing the clearing-out duties. It was Wirral who scored first as their reactions to loose passes were quicker than Hoylake’s which allowed their swift running and accurate passing to punish Hoylake. Conversely Hoylake’s passing was ponderous and pressure was built up by their own errors which played straight into Wirral’s hands who pounced on any loose passes. Another score and they went two tries ahead. This was the cue for the Hoylake faithful to up the volume and get behind the boys. It worked. Liam, who had been great in defence turned attacker and encouraged by the travelling supporters decided to pin his ears back and sprint down the line for almost the full length of the pitch. Sadly for him and his teammates the Wirral cover was just fast enough to tackle him into touch. Nevertheless, from the resulting free pass deep in Wirral territory Hoylake kept the pressure on and turned over the ball. James was the grateful recipient of the pass at the base of the ruck and he powered over to finally put Hoylake on the scoreboard. The referee however ended the game before Hoylake had time to score again but a much closer match this time gave all concerned some encouragement for the third game.
With the slope in Wirral’s favour it was put to good use as Hoylake could not get out of first gear. Six tries scored by Wirral in the third game without reply from Hoylake was as bad as it sounds despite the defensive heroics by Sam and Jacob and an outstanding tackle by Joe that prevented a seventh try.
And so on to the final game and a battered and bruised Hoylake took to the pitch to restore some pride after the previous mauling by Wirral. Unfortunately, despite having the slope in their favour, Hoylake were unable to use the space on the vast pitch as all eight boys bunched together like nervous wildebeest surrounded by hungry looking lions. Coupled with handling errors galore, the ingredients were there for another rugby lesson by Wirral. They duly obliged despite the sidestepping Charlie and commitment by Chaz. Too often the ball carrier took the ball into contact rather than pass to a team mate and the Wirral defence turned the ball over time and again to run it back at the shell-shocked and tiring Hoylake team. Archie was typically belligerent in both defence and attack but one lad cannot make a team although Joe did give the ever faithful Hoylake supporters a reason to cheer when he took one of the few decent passes on show to sprint almost the full length of the pitch to dot down for the only score by Hoylake in the final game.
The referee finally put Hoylake out of their misery who were given a rugby lesson this morning. The boys did not want for effort or commitment but the sooner they play like a team and play “head up” rugby the sooner they will close the gap on excellent teams like Wirral.
As the travelling support returned to the clubhouse, the Hoylake coaches were overheard muttering phrases like “thankfully it’s training next week, we’ve lots to do” and “can’t see Scotland doing well this afternoon”. Again, one correct expectation out of two ain’t bad?