Lancashire Trophy
ORMSKIRK 25-21 BIRCHFIELD
(Half time 13-8)
A nail-biter of a quarter-final at Green Lane on Saturday saw a jubilant Ormskirk qualify for the semi-finals of the Lancashire Trophy. Birchfield, a strong, tough outfit, had knocked Ormskirk out of the previous season’s cup so it was with relish that Kirk entered into this fixture, eager to put right was they got wrong 12 months before.
It was Ormskirk who took the early lead. Captain Cliff Kirby, fresh after a week’s break, finished off a move set up from a scrum. Entering his 30th year of first team rugby, local legend Paul Blackwood did his bit by controlling the set piece which then saw the ball passing through most player’s hands, ruck ball won by the backs, and recycling from the flankers before being touched down in the right corner.
Every kick-off by Birchfield went to Kirk’s man mountain Ben Davis and he was happy to run it back with interest, always supported by big hitting youngster Mark Webster, Kirk managed to turn Birchfield ball over, largely due to the tackling of Mark Hutchings. The home team struck another blow to the visitors aspirations of silverware, when this ball was spun out wide, Curley went on one of his gallops and off-loaded to winger Wroe to score a beauty.
Birchfield answered back with a penalty kick at goal and after going blind from a scrum on 30 minutes, Ormskirk’s defence was left open, a score for the visitors in the corner drew the tie closer but before the half time whistle Barry Whalley slotted a penalty to keep Ormskirk’s noses in front by 5 points.
The following 40 minutes was perhaps the most tense seen at Green Lane this season. Kirk seemed to lapse concentration, a dangerous habit against Birchfield and under pressure from the start they leaked a try in the opening 5 minutes from a rolling maul.
Despite having the slight wind advantage Kirk found it difficult to clear their lines, after a few kicks to touch and not getting much further up the park Whalley elected to spin the ball out wide after another turn over in Kirk’s 22. Outside centre John Curley, put away by partner Matt Johnson, sprinted around his man. By the time he had reached the opposition 22 he had men on him but with options either side he slipped the ball inside for full-back Healey who shrugged off his tackler to score near the sticks. A conversion took the score to 20-13.
The game yo-yoed once more. Birchfield with their strong up-front game tuned lineout ball into 5 more points. Disaster struck 10 minutes from time when they were also added a penalty in front of the posts for talking back to the referee. With this taken Kirk were looking defeat in the eyes at 20-21.
This was until the last play of the game, a line out. Second Row Phil Davis fearlessly threw himself at the ball put in by Graham Bowling. Gregg spun to Whalley who sent it down the line, the crowd sense a revival and from Curley to Healy to Wroe the back line picked up pace. Wroe had a mammoth task to do, but running in from the 10 metre line is nothing new for Kirk’s top try scorer and as the crowd cheered he took it around two tacklers to score in the corner.
At 25-21 this was a hard fought victory and Ormskirk eagerly await to see who their challengers will be in the semi-final.
