Sefton RUFC

Sat 31 Oct 2026, 15:00

Caldy 3rd XV

34 - 19

(HT 0-0)

Sefton 2nd XV

Caldy 3rd XV

Sefton 2nd XV

Sefton needed a bounce back from a result as miserable as the weather, unfortunately despite a much better performance, one man cost us the win…

Pre game:

Unfortunately, numbers have taken a dip and we were only able to get two teams out, but this would allow us to have the pick of the available 25 players. The captain was unavailable moving house presumably between 1pm to 5pm on Saturday, giving Louis Baker his first taste of captaincy. I imagine Lanky is fuming he didn’t think of this when he was desperately trying to give away the captaincy for 8 years.

The first to arrive was James Wilson with a hoodie advertising his mortgage consultancy business, trying to get some of that posh Caldy second house business. What a filthy whore, unlucky for him, I can’t be bought that easily. The game was played on the first team pitch, which was almost as good as ours. After a warm up, which everyone took part in this week, we were ready to go.

The match:

Well that started badly barely two minutes in and Caldy are crashing it in the corner bodies strewn everywhere and it's probably time to discuss him:

An interlude: that guy

Okay, so it wasn’t all Blandies fault we lost.. Caldy being a club that has a team in the Championship, and a second team that hasn’t lost a game in several years, have serious ringers at their disposal. We met one today. He was a rapid moustachioed tank, with giant thighs. Rumours are he floats between Warrington Wolves and Caldy 1s bench and this was his return from league warm up game. He made very reliable skilled tacklers look like they’ve never played rugby; Wilson, Harrington, Stott, Farlie reduced to the Campo air tackles. He was the best ball carrier I’ve seen while at this club, he was who Ste Alcock describes when he talks about his own game. They scored 5 tries and at least 3 of them were 90 per cent him being a freakish machine the other 2, 50 per cent.

After the initial barrage and finding themselves in a two try hole, Sefton finally get hold of the ball, the forwards pod there way up the field. The backs find a lot of joy with Wilson (who as an experienced mortgage broker can provide a level of service that cannot be obtained directly from the lender or comparison site), getting it to our wingers with the dangerous new boy Luke and Danny Harrington. The new moves still bedding in at the two's level, a simple block was all we needed to create the overlap, where we're unlucky not to get a few more tries.

With a mixture of penalties; advantages and really expansive play, Sefton find themselves with advantage pelting their line. Tom Donnally is the first that gets it to the line, running into the post, the silly goose, before the one man wrecking crew Wayne Banthorpe smashing it over the line to get Sefton back into the game. Heroic stuff, this man can’t stop scoring.

After a few more solo efforts from their 15, Sefton drove back down their half with some sublime interplay, with a few near chances squandered. Eventually, Harry Gribbin smashed it over from close distance.

The Second half was unfortunately a lot more chaotic, a constant rollercoaster of injuries lead to chopping and changing. The lose of our fly half (who can offer mortgage advice from a comprehensive panel of lenders and has access to some exclusive and semi exclusive mortgage deals), as well as both wingers to injuries. By the end of the game, we had Ste Alcock and Brendo on the wings. Speaking of Ste Alcock, I will reluctantly toot his horn. His ball carrying once entering the field was brilliant, making big gains whenever he touched the ball.

With my majestic dump tackle not getting a mention by Lanky last week, it's time to discuss the biggest moment of the game / my life, after a 50-22 attempt by Andy stayed in play, Caldy returned the ball with the semi pro 15 breaking several tackles and breaking into a completely empty back field I was covering. I’d like to say my teammates had faith in me but some of them started jogging back to the half way line.. to get ready for the restart. He had a 3 on 1, but having not been tackled all afternoon he decided to run over me. But little did he know I’ve mastered getting run over successfully, and not only tackled him but forced a knock on. The only time he was tackled today, the tide was turning.

He scored two minutes later.

One final well-earned score from Kyle Noon brought the end of a very fun day of rugby. Special shouts have to go to Harry Mawdsley who was his usual industrious brilliant self. Louis Baker did not look out of place at all as captain, and his choice to give Harry Gribbon man of the match was a strategic piece of genius.. ‘Looks like you’re not needed any more, Kev, I guess I’ll stay captain’. Unfortunately promising newbie Luke Stott didn’t get the ball he would of liked before the injury, but always beat at least one player with those dancing feet.

Remembering old friend

On Sunday I saw my Second team ‘friend’ Seb Hannibal with his girlfriend I waved constantly at him for about a minute, shouting ‘SEB, SEB, it’s me Hamling ‘Do you know that guy’ his girlfriend said ‘Never seen him before’ he replied Unfortunately, now he’s the first team star player, he’s forgotten the little guys who brought him to the showtime, but I still love you, Seb.

Princess