Sefton RUFC

Sat 11 Nov 2023

Sefton 2nd XV

15 - 43

Liverpool Medical School

Sefton 2nd XV

Liverpool Medical School

Surprisingly Sefton were League leaders this week, with Liverpool Medics close behind in second. However, the second team is a very fragile ship, and with some key players missing this week, it wasn’t going to be an easy game.

With captain sHambling back from an injury, they at least had a rudder to steer in the right direction.

It started with one of his 2 hour warm-ups, insisting that the lads had to prepare properly for the game. A key factor would be the pitch, go on the first team pitch and give the young, fit, and fast Medics space to run at Sefton. Or choose the smaller bottom pitch, more suited to our heavy, more experienced pack. sHambling chose the first team pitch.

- The Game -

The first ten minutes looked bleak, with the Medics having plenty of ball, and able to shift the ball out wide. Some solid tackling, kept them out for a while, but with Sefton unable to escape their half the inevitable was coming. The Medics eventually found a gap and went over for a converted try.

A period of possession helped Sefton push deep into the opposition’s half, and Luke Griffiths was able to crash over for an unconverted try.

A period of napping then ensued, where Sefton forgot their defensive duties. JJ went crazy at his backs for allowing the Medics to easily glide through their defence to score. Some how missing the point that it was his gap they slipped through.

The Medics then pushed the ball wide for another well orchestrated try.

Sefton eventually got some stability, and started to play the sort of game they were good at. Slowly grinding down the opposition’s defence, and pushing them back onto their five metre line. A lively Ali Telfer controlled the ball at scrum half, and fed a continuous barrage of ball to our waiting forwards. With their defence all packed to the open side, Wayne Osborne was able to sneak through on the blind side for an unconverted try.

In the second half, Sefton continued their pursuit and looked the stronger of the two sides. Another siege within the Medics twenty-two took place, and this time it was Kyle Noon who broke through to score. With the conversion missed, this left Sefton only two points behind.

The ’should’ve played on the smaller pitch’ realisation

The dream of a glorious victory slowly seeped away at this point. A limping off JJ didn’t help, potentially a strong contender for ‘Man of Glass’ this season, or was he faking it? These young, quick lads would surely put doubts in his mind as to whether the old goat has still got it. No one could really blame him for his reoccurring hamstring injury could they? (although I’m sure it was his other leg last week).

A breakaway try by the Medics started the collapse, and Sefton never really recovered after that. Although Sefton competed well, they never managed to convert this to points when they got into the opposition’s half. Whereas the Medics were very clinical, and managed to score three more tries to take the game well away from Sefton.

A lesson learnt by Sefton, and their captain. It was winnable, but we just gave them too much space. I suspect sHambling will use the smaller pitch next time.

Player of the match went to Jack Crone, immense in the scrum, and took responsibility when taking the ball forward.