Sefton RUFC

Sat 7 Mar 2020, 14:15

St Edward's O.B.

46 - 21

Sefton 2nd XV

St Edward's O.B.

Sefton 2nd XV

After the last game against St Edwards Old Boys, Sefton showed a bit more heart, in this close contested match.

Cry-offs were expected, despite St Eddies only being around the corner, practically a home game, this is a big psychological barrier for our players, who are unable leave the comfort of their own ground. Another factor was the opposition’s league position, sitting at the top of the table. Aaron Gore was the first to cry-off, withdrawing Saturday morning. Rumours were rife about him suffering from the Coronavirus, a blessing for Aaron who has been struggling with an effective weight loss program for years.

Pistol Pete was also a late cry-off, surprisingly forgetting he was traveling to America that weekend. An easy thing to forget at his age.

There was also confusion as to who Rhodri Hughes would be playing for, eagerly chased by the first team until they heard that he’d been out all night and incapable of doing anything. The second team however had no problem in recruiting Rhodri, who was still managing to retain his high level of alcohol to blood ratio.

With our fifteen we were directed to the girls changing rooms on arrival, a cunning move by St Eddies we think, this definitely got inside Sean Muirhead’s head. However, Sefton uncharacteristically started the game at a furious pace, possibly catching St Eddies off guard, as they worked their way up the pitch, and into the oppositions twenty-two. So dominant, that within five minutes Sefton were on their try line, looking for their first try.

Rhodri Hughes finally secured the points with a drive into the corner, and although stopped short, was able to use his momentum to take him over the try line. Precious completed the score by slotting over the conversion from wide out.

A lack of concentration cost Sefton soon after though, when they were again pressing the opposition’s line. A miss tackle in the centre allowed St Eddies to break through, and they raced away with Sefton pursuing, but unable to catch up.

A blow to Sefton at being outplayed so easily, but St Eddies joy was short lived. A jackled ball by Matty Cunningham caught St Eddies out of position, and the ball was quickly flung out wide, stretching their defence. The ball reaches Jonathon Tebbs out on the wing, who was able to go over for Sefton’s second try. Again, expertly converted by Precious from out wide.

Things were going far too well for Sefton, with Chris Tebbs at stand-off able direct the ball into the right areas, clearly the most talented of the Tebbs brothers, and the input of Toby Staggs and Ben Ped at back row helping secure vital ball. So, it was a big blow when Ped went down with an injury. In the proceeding minutes Sefton were caught short of numbers in defence, and St Eddies were able get a try. With Ped suffering a suspected hamstring injury (unheard of in forward circles), Sefton were suddenly down to fourteen.

Though unaffected in the backs, the forwards had been making easy work of the scrum, and putting the opposition under pressure. Now only able to hold it steady, they had lost a vital edge in the game.

St Eddies recorded two more tries after that, both from breaks in the backs, which saw the game in danger of slipping away from Sefton. However, with an Ian Ross there to give encouragement, rather than Campo’s usual defeatism attitude, Sefton stayed positive.

 A spell of possession at the end of the half, allowed Sefton to advance up the pitch. St Eddies back line was the focus of Sefton’s attack with the centre partnership of Kev McCombie and Oliver Brown causing all sorts of problems for the opposition. Eventually, Brown finds the space and is able to go through and score left of the posts, for a much needed try. Precious converts.

With the second half starting, Sefton find themselves only three points behind, and the game enters a period of stalemate, with neither side able to push further ahead. Twenty minutes in, and with still no backward steps from both sides, a key moment changed the game. Sefton were on the attack, and were awarded a penalty. Precious takes it quickly, but was pulled down illegally by their scrum-half, injuring his shoulder in the process. Unfortunately, ‘the until now’ injury free Precious, would take no further part in the game, and although St Eddies generously took one of their players off, that still left Sefton a player down. Chris Tebbs had to move to scrum-half and Ali Telfer into stand-off to compensate.

St Eddies finally got the break they were looking for when they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, which they kicked to take them six points ahead and end the deadlock.

Despite Sefton’s best efforts to wind-up the St Eddies young scrum-half half, he never quite got to breaking point, although he was on the edge a number of times. Eventually, Sefton’s tired legs started to show and St Eddies were able to finish with a flourish by registering two late tries, to slightly taint the evenly contested game.

The players can’t be faulted, with even, dare I saw it, Sean Muirhead having a 'good game'. There was a good balance between the big forwards and the agile, skilful backs, it’s just a shame Sefton could only muster up the fifteen players. A busy Matty Cunningham received Man of the Match, with plenty of runs with the ball, and numerous ball steels, at vital times in the match.

More importantly though, by the end of the match we were concerned for Rhodri’s health. He’d been dry for two hours, emergency alcohol had to be intravenously pumped into him.