As the first match in what seems ages, both teams were anxious to perform, and a few silly mistakes were in evidence from both sides as they tried to come to terms with the pace of the game. It was Hoylake who started much the brighter of the teams, and playing towards the trees soon had Wirral back against their own line. The first couple of scrummages were competitive, with Hoylake winning their own ball cleanly.

It was after another good scrummage on the right that Ross at loose head took the attacking option off the back and powered round two tackles to score the first try of the match. Conversion 7-0

This encourages Hoylake, but also served to wake up Wirral who came back with some more aggressive rucking to win much of the second phase ball. Hoylake started to stand off the rucks and mauls, and quickly lost their initial momentum.

Tracking backwards is always going to make defending difficult against a team of Wirrals calibre, and this was evident in their score,
with some good handling, but some poor defensive play from Hoylake.

Wirral came out strongly again at the start of the second half, and Hoylake struggled to rebuild their momentum.
With thanks to Tom the Wirral player who helped out played a great game at tight head, with some fantastic bullocking runs, and some aggressive tackling.

Harry featured well with a strong run down the midfield, and was again a useful weapon in the line outs.

Sustained pressure from Hoylake brought them further reward with their second try midway through the second half. Scored by the outstanding Joe Ellis on his first game back after being out for so long welcome back young man

All in all a good result for Hoylake,. The scrummage held up well, and the line out was pretty reliable, despite Themes to work on - Momentum around the ruck and maul, running off the ball and getting to the breakdown quicker.
Mom Joe Ellis