Hoylake 2's -v- Widnes 3's

Match Report: Hoylake 2’s -v- Widnes 3’s
A glorious sunny but crisp afternoon saw the 2nd’s run out at home with an unusually experienced pack consisting of WYNNY, AGGY & BUTTY in the front row, Danny ANDREWS & Neil HARVEY in the 2nd row, Matty ROSS at No.8 with Andy MINX & Adam RAFFERTY as Flankers. This was a pleasure to behold when seeing the sizeable and obviously very seasoned pack that tumbled out onto the pitch for WIDNES.
Shortly after kick off and the first of many lengthy hold-ups to allow a Widnes forward to receive treatment took place, and shortly thereafter the first of Hoylake’s tries was run in from a well won scrum and the ball being quickly passed out to the backs, unfortunately not converted. (5 – 0). This was the pattern for the first half, a number of scrums usually resulting in a high percentage of ball being won by Hoylake ‘against the head’, the pack running off after the backs and leaving a Widnes player on the floor requiring the ‘magic water’! Unfortunately after some 35 minutes of ‘play’, which included some 10-15minutes of injury stoppages, one of the Widnes props had to leave the field with a neck injury (too many clashes WITH ‘Butty’) resulting in the scrums having to become uncontested. This to be fair did give the Widnes side the opportunity to now actually get the ball cleanly away to their backs as Will Dow was continually ordered by the Referee to leave the Widnes scrum-half and No.8 alone!
After 40 minutes Hoylake (26 – 00up) were passing the ball around between the backs inside the Widnes 22 looking for the fifth try when the ball was intercepted by a Widnes player who ran for his life up the field breaking through two tackles, he made it upto the Hoylake 10m line when Will DOW chased him down like a cheetah and tackled him cleanly around the legs bringing the poor chap crashing to the ground. The ball was quickly recycled back into another Hoylake attack. Now 5 minutes into 1st half extra time, the backs were once again encamped just outside the Widnes 22 looking for the next breakthrough, the ball came to Hoylake No.9 Will DOW who seized the opportunity to break through a high tackle and two mistimed tackles to score his first of this game. This was duly converted by Danny O’NEIL to bring the score to 33 – 00. The final try of the first half was scored by the substitute 2nd row Harry HARRISON (on for Neil HARVEY) and converted.
HALF TIME SCORE : Hoylake 40 – 00 Widnes
One minute into the second half and Hoylake started off where they’d finished the first half with another well worked try, the ball being carried by Gary ‘Ghandi’ HUMMERSTON and being fed inside to Danny O’NEIL to cross the line, unfortunately with the excitement of scoring the try he failed to convert this one! (45 – 00). The excitement for this hald came when after weeks of suffering with blisters from wearing his new boots, Tom STARKEY found himself in possession of the ball and breaking through the Widnes defensive line, he managed to trot quite fast in the direction of the Widnes try line with the cheers of the Hoylake crowd ringing in his ears, but Tom being the magnanimous person that he is decided to feed the ball to new buy Aaron WOODS to run the last 10 meters and score. It was nothing to do with the fact that he was unsure of what to do with the ball!
Widnes finally scored a consolation try from a penalty given inside the Hoylake 22, this was as a result of a quick tap and running through a retreating Hoylake back line who failed to make any attempt to put in a tackle.
The second half then continued in much the same manner as the first with the Hoylake team passing the ball around between themselves, but on occasion making stupid handling errors due to ‘over confidence’. However, after the second half was cut short to 30 minutes (as agreed by the Captains at half time) the Hoylake side ran out winners by 74 – 05, Danny O’NEIL managing to hit the post 3 times when attempting to convert tries! (Not sure if he a bet on that!)
Try Scorers:- Phil JONES (2 tries), Matty ROSS (2 tries), Will DOW (2 tries), Harry HARRISON, Danny O’NEILL (+7 conversions), Aaron WOODS (2 tries), Connor BRADSHAW & Harry SAINT
This afternoon we had the delightful pleasure of having the club President Chris ROBERTS (and his dog) watching the game. Having been asked to nominate the Hoylake Man of the Match he stated that “Overall this was a good performance by each and every member of the Hoylake squad, including those who came on as subs. However, three people stood out, the two new boys Harry HARRISON, Aaron WOODS and Will DOW”
MAN OF THE MATCH : Harry HARRISON, Aaron WOODS and Will DOW