Ormskirk 2nd XV 48 Sandbach 3rd XV 26
31st March 2007
It’s been a difficult season so far for the second team at Ormskirk Rugby Club – a combination of injuries and re-shuffling of personnel has resulted in some poor results. Effort has always been in abundance, but the quality of the opposition has often meant that ‘The Raiders’ have come out second best. This week the Second XV faced a fourth in the league Sandbach at Green Lane. Pundits, players and even spectators had made the visitors the favourites for the win. The Raiders, however, had other ideas and set about proving their doubters wrong. A strong Ormskirk squad combined uncompromising and hardworking forwards with rapid, skilful hard-tackling backs.
First blood went the way of Ormskirk in the form of a penalty that was awarded after Sandbach deliberately killed the ball in front of their posts. Fly Half Spence took the opportunity to slot over an early three point kick. This was closely followed by the birthday boy Jim McKeown crashing over the line for the first of his hat-trick of tries with an angled line of running that would be more at home in the Premiership - Guinness not Barclays! The backs - who were now starting to run the game - were supported by a pack that worked hard and played powerful rugby, especially Morgan, Crosse, Buxton and Povey who’s scrummaging and line out work helped Ormskirk stamp their quality on this game.
At this point it look that Ormskirk had found the performance that they had been looking for all season, with a plethora of Ormskirk tries being scored throughout the 80 minutes. Young Montrose showed his worth by putting in some try-saving last-ditch tackles at full-back, helping to keep the visitors at bay. Former Hungarian international Lukasck went bull-dozed his way over for a score, the young gas man Karne scuttled over for a try and powerful centre Keech smashed the ball home for a further 5 points. All but one of the 7 tries were masterfully converted by Spence, who also slotted over another penalty to take the home team’s tally to 48. The away side didn’t know what had happened, they had come to Ormskirk for an easy game, but found a team that has been underperforming all season and today with only one game remaining had found their form. Ormskirk did slip up a little in the last ten minutes, allowing Sandbach to run in three trys after lapses in concentration. If Ormskirk had played like this all season then they may not be staring relegation in the face. A win against Altrincham Kersal in a few weeks would mean that Lymm would have to win both their remaining fixtures to avoid the drop. The Raiders – if they stay up – will need to play with more consistency next season to deserve their place in this tough league – on today’s performance, this should not be a problem.
