2nd XV Match Summary – 19th January 2008
Ormskirk 17 Leigh 7
Green Lane remained one of the few venues in the Millers Home leagues to survive the appalling weather conditions this weekend. Thanks to some sterling early-morning remedial pitch maintenance by the 2nd XV’s hooker – Dave Jonsson – and the captain Ged Dawson, both pitches held out remarkably well despite the heavy mid-week rain.
The ‘Raiders’ consolidated their second place in the league table by turning over a competent but lack-lustre Leigh outfit, but made hard work of it - especially in a sterile and dull second half. Combining a blend of veterans and youngsters, this squad is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with at this level of Junior rugby. Big hits early on set the tone in the first half – the back row trio of Ged Dawson, Phil ‘The Enforcer’ Davis and Costas El Greco made sure their opposite numbers knew they were taking no prisoners with some awesome tackles around the park. This thwarted an early onslaught from the visitors. The pack out-muscled Leigh in the scrum, and did well in the line-out - despite the pre-game loss of one of the Club’s best line-out jumpers, Paul Doyle. The ‘kirk backs were quick to exploit enemy territory at every opportunity, and made good inroads as a result. A darting run from winger Andrew Montrose (the last ten yards of the run being hampered by the fact that one of his boots had been pulled off) resulted in the 30-something veteran off-loading ten yards out to the ever-present Costas for the Greek to go over after 20 minutes. Paul Keech’s 20 minute kicking practice before the game paid off as he slotted the extras – 7-0 to the home team.
Cheered on by a larger than usual crowd (both the First XV and the Fourth XV games had been called off), the Raiders continued to press into Leigh’s half with some great link-up play between forwards and backs. Mark Essex at 9 and Keech at 10 were able to bring in the midfield dynamic duo of Mark Hutching and Dickie Underwood at regular intervals. After several strong runs from the centres and a few darting efforts from winger Karne Green and full-back Nick Gordon, Ormskirk at last converted pressure into points. Another well-worked move down the line (after the pack had secured excellent ball again) eventually saw Montrose snipe in from his wing to beat a few tackles and score the second try of the afternoon. At 12-0, a win looked comfortably within ‘kirk’s reach, but they didn’t add to their points tally until after the half-time whistle. Against the run of play, a hacked ball through midfield was pounced on by Leigh’s on-running open-side, who touched down under the posts. Half-time: 12-7.
A bright start to the second period saw Ormskirk score within 5 minutes. The forwards mauled their way into the opponent’s ‘22’, relasing the ball to Keech, who slipped it inside to Montrose. Keech looped around the winger to receive the ball back and scamper into the corner for a well-deserved 5 points. And that’s about it for the second half – much endeavour and no lack of effort, but a fairly innocuous and uneventful 40 minutes for the thronging masses watching on. Alex Lambie, Scott Angel and Matt Johnson came on to reinforce the back division (and lower the average age of the team by about a decade!), and injected some pace into the proceedings. But a stale-mate ensued, ‘kirk thankful at the end that even though they’d not fired on all cylinders, they were still good enough to take the points on offer.
Graeme Bowling also came on as hooker in the second half, and galvanised Paul ‘The Rock’ Blackwood and James Morgan in the front row. The boiler-house of the 2nd row saw Jamie Church and Lenny Bennett work hard all afternoon. A creditable team performance – but nothing to write home about! Ruskin Park away next week is now the target for a big win for The Raiders as they make another assault on guaranteeing promotion.
