Pre-Match
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After a number of recently uncontested games, Sefton 3s welcomed back some old props with very wide spread arms.
Brian finally recovering from hurting his back in work (in an office??), and Gez, who has been running all these marathons in an effort to fit into his wedding suit. No doubt this running thing will stop when he gets married.
With Grant’s Tuesday announcement of his availability, I ran an hourly “Health Check” hotline, until 18:00 on Friday, when the inevitable, “sorry mate, hurt my back in work”, came through. I guess when you’ve no young children, you are a bit restricted in acceptable excuses.
The Journey
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I have read that some serious organisations have specific travel stipulations, whereby their top execs are not allowed to travel together, to avoid multiple losses in the event of any accidents.
Like, Apple’s Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak have never caught the same plane together.
Today, with Blandie taking Goulding, Brendo, McCleary and Muirhead, I actually did stop and wonder, “what if?”….
Actually, it was more of a hopeful “what if”, but Blandie, as you all know, is a pretty slow and cautious bloke, and Sefton’s core of (backup) wingers arrived safely, admittedly 15 minutes late.
I had the honour of driving Adam Hunter to Widnes, and was astonished to discover his deep insight and broad analysis of the game.
With his youth, good nature and skill set, I got to thinking that we may actually have a Third Team leader amoungst us.
A leader who would last more than 2 games.
A leader who wouldn’t desert his team for higher aspirations.
Looks like I have some legitimate grooming to do.
The Warm Up
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With a pretty decent scrum, Sefton were feeling pretty confident in maybe getting an edge in the set piece.
Hooking Captain Campo had practiced 3 or 4 lineout throws in the warm up, and so we were hoping to at least secure our lineout ball too.
The backs did their usual run through of their sexy backline moves. Scissors and Cut Outs.
(Brendo managed to make something that resembled a cloud whilst sitting on the touchline).
The Match
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Sefton’s Scrum Demolition strategy was firmly kicked in the balls with Widnes unable to find a second prop, so the game started with uncontested scrums.
As with any team that has to carry 2 props, Sefton suffered from the outset.
Not to be outdone, the Sefton backs threw the scissors and cardboard straight out the window, with Hamling rigidly deciding not to pass the ball to his faster, more incisive outside backs.
Amazingly, even after the Widnes number 8 put Hamling on his head, he still didn’t waver in his determination to break through on his own.
Widnes scored a lot of powerful tries, with a number of very strong running players that the high tackling Sefton couldn’t contain.
Only the 2 tries for Sefton.
The usual short range one from the fit looking “2 Steps Pete”.
And a rewarding charge down 5 points from the tireless Steve Teale.
Tries must be rare for second rower Steve, which had his generous daughter Abby depleting Sefton’s jagermeister supplies well into the evening.
A New Record?
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Today’s game was probably the first every played with not a word spoken from the kick off till the final whistle.
For some reason, the referee insisted that neither team were allowed to talk, and after an even spatter of penalties and 10 metre marches, both teams got the point.
It was actually quite nice to listen to the birdsong and the trains passing.
Unfortunately, the imposed silence deprived Goulding of his main asset and, although he had a quiet game, he made up for it afterwards.
The Turning Point
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The match was very one sided, with Widnes racking up their 36 points in fine style.
At this point in the second half, calculations were made, and their brains trust deemed 36 points ‘safe’ enough to allow their 72 year old talismatic scrum half (Graham?) to join the game.
Indeed, Sefton went on to score their 17 points, but the final whistle denied them the chance of a miraculous comeback.
Kicking
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Today Sefton got the opportunity to practice their restarts.
Hamling was very keen to show his prowess and consistency.
Each of his 7 restarts went to exactly the same spot in the Widnes forward area.
Unfortunaly, Widnes weren’t born yesterday, and quickly decided to place their best runner in that exact same spot.
Pascoe’s Kick and Chase.
After being out of action for a little while, and keeping a very low profile in the early stages of the game, Colin finally decides to make his statement on the game.
In a slight deviation to the well practiced “kick and chase” move, Colin improvised with a “kick and ghost chase”, which involved a chip over the top, then laying flat on your back!
Strangely, this new play didn’t go well for Sefton, with half of us wondering where Colin’s chase was, and the Widnes fullback gaily sprinting into the sunset.
Injuries
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These bloody Inghams.
With his injured dad sitting on the side lines (Back. Work. You know the script), young Phil wasted no time in joining him, claiming hurty shoulder and insisting on going to the hospital for a lollipop and a plaster cast.
Turns out it was a dislocation, which will probably involve more than 6 days rest.
Take it easy Phil, hopefully there will be a place for you when you return mate.
As for Colin Pascoe.
A smart cookie him. He’s watched a lot of that soccer.
When he saw what happened to his wasteful kick, he fell like there was a sniper in the crowd, staying silent until he thought of something.
At first we thought he said, ‘back’ and ‘work’, but eventually he came up with ‘hamstring’, and was carried off to his embarrassed offspring.
That boy is running out of broken body parts.
Man of the Match
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Today, there were a number of good players.
And there was McCleary on his birthday.
It was a difficult decision, but Jon at fullback was a rock (who knew that fullbacks could be like that?).
Each week, we are seeing improvements from the guy who turned up 2 years ago with no idea. In defence, no one got past him, and you cannot fault his catching and returning of opposition kicks.
Again, with Jon’s skill set, I got to thinking that we may actually have a Third Team fullback amoungst us.
Poor JP McDonald is going to have look up Queen and “Fat Bottom Girls” before he even has a sniff at leading the 3s in song after the game!
Summation
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Pretty happy with how things went today, Sefton 3s did ok with their new “No Pay, No Play” ethic to encourage Membership.
Its just a wonder why only the crap and crocked players are so keen to pay their Membership???
Campo xx
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