Sefton RUFC

Sat 17 Feb 2024

Sefton 2nd XV

66 - 0

Liverpool Collegiate 2nd XV

Sefton 2nd XV

Liverpool Collegiate 2nd XV

The second team had their local derby match against Collegiate this week, determined to put on another solid performance against them.

A large amount of availabilities came in for this much anticipated home game, which produced a very strong team, including four scrum-halves, a statistic that Campo in the 3rd team wasn’t happy about.

A Jack Crones late cry-off Saturday morning brought mild panic to sHamling. Jack's reason was very sketchy, saying someone very special was having surgery. We were all flummoxed by this explanation for missing such an important game, after all who could be that important that it requires a 24 hour vigil? Was it his mum, partner, maybe a child? It later conspires that it was his dog, all is forgiven. Everyone loves their pet more.

This inconvenience meant that Andy Sterry had to move into prop, and Lancaster had to come off the bench to hook, something that none of them were happy about.

This bad news was balanced though, by the return of two step Pete Johnson, on one stipulation from Pete, his son Danny had to play too. We weighed up the positives and negatives and decided we could afford to carry someone, as long as Pete was playing.

- The Game -

Collegiate’s initial runs looked confident, with the opposition pushing deep into Sefton’s half, however once Sefton got their hands on the ball they started to give away penalties. This eventually resulted in a Collegiate scrum on their 5 metre line. To be precise, three scrums, all driven back by Sefton. On the third scrum Sefton win the ball and Kyle Noon picks up at the back and goes over for the fist try. Gorgeous converts.

This finishes off the inexperienced Collegiate front row, who struggled to halt Sefton drive, asking for uncontested scrums after that. The props job was done, although that brought its own problems. Mainly Sterry now had enough energy to backchat to the ref.

Receiving at the restart wasn’t great for Sefton, who just manage to keep hold of the ball. Several phases Later, and Collegiate are again pushed back into their half. Tom Rainey seizes the opportunity when he finds himself in space on the wing. Going into the corner, he has no one around him, and could have gone through under the posts, but couldn’t be bothered, placing the ball down in the corner. Despite this, Gorgeous kicks a challenging conversion from out wide to add the two points, no thanks to Rainey’s laziness.

Sefton continue their onslaught with a combination of forward carries, and sending the ball out wide. This got Sefton into Collegiate’s twenty-two, but no further with a solid defence rebuffing any more progress. After several attempts by the forwards to barrel themselves over, it was Gorgeous who finally targeted a gap and broke through to score, converting his own try.

- Two Step Pete rides again -

Pete Johnson finally comes on and has an immediate impact. A catch from Sterry at the restart sets up a ruck on the halfway line, and Gorgeous executes a box kick deep into Collegiate’s undefended half. The chase by Isaac Lancaster is gathered up, only for him to be half tackled as he heads for the line. The contact takes him off his feet but he is able to off-load to Danny Johnson, who charitably passes to his dad practically on the try line. Characteristically, Pete was good for his epic two metre lunge for the try line. Gorgeous converts.

- Props with too much energy -

With no pushing in the scrums to do, Sterry spent a considerable amount of time advising the ref on what he was doing wrong. This finally came to a head with Sterry receiving a yellow card, and ten minutes rest.

A final try of the half came from a crash ball by Kyle Noon who was unstoppable from five metres out. Converted by Gorgeous.

- Barbarian Rugby -

The second half was a feast of entertainment, with some of the ball handling skills exceptional. It was led by Danny Johnson at stand-off who has the extraordinary ability to hold the ball till the very last second, before deciding where and whether to pass it. This allowed JJ and Paddy McCleary in the centres to choose a variety of running lines.

With no idea where the ball was going, the opposition were at times chasing ghosts, and led to some sumptuous tries. The fist one coming to Jack O’Duffy on the wing, who scored in the corner.

A combination of backs and forwards produced the next try, firstly with Jack O’Duffy kicking through, and chasing his own kick. With the defence in disarray Danny Johnson receives the ball and pops it back inside for Kyle Noon to go through for his third try. After missing the last two conversions, Gorgeous was replaced in shame.

With Collegiate now seemingly deflated, the tries started to come at will now. With Paddy McCleary finding a great running line and dissecting their defence to score under the posts. sHamling converted.

However, the last two tries were the best. The ball starts on the left hand side, and is passed effortlessly through various sets of hands, with the try eventually scored in the opposite corner. SHamling misses the conversion.

The crowd is now baying for blood, cheering every action, including Dan Harrington and Isaac Lancaster who both got totally obliterated with the ball in hand.

Just as you think it couldn’t get any better, another scintillating try is created. Again starting on the left, and passing through several hands, including forwards Tom Rainey and Jacob Pickup, who both demonstrated exceptionally quick handling skills. The ball crosses the width of the pitch onto the opposite wing, and a second try is scored in the corner. sHamling misses the conversion.

Another fantastic performance from the second team. A hard choice for Man of the Match, but for once sHamling resisted giving it to Kyle Noon. He still couldn’t pick one though, with both Tom Rainer, and Jacob Pickup receiving the plaudits.

I’m off now to try and remember who scored those last two tries. Who was it? Oh well, if it’s not written down, it never happened.

Lanky