Ormskirk u13s 19pts - Wirral u13s 23pts
In the first fixture of the new year the u13s put in a great performance against a very good Wirral side. The margin of defeat being a try in the last 2 minutes of the game.
From the start Ormskirk began brightly and indecision in the visitors defence saw them panic to clear the ball straight from the kick off, a thumping tackle from Marc Tasker spilled the ball that was gathered by the forwards, Aidan Charlton showing good hands to release Liam Peate to score in the corner. Back came Wirral in a real end-to-end game, and they duely scored a well worked try by one of their centres. The home side re-gained the lead after some excellent handling by the backs with full back Jack O’Brien coming into the line and oustripping the defence to score, well converted by Jonny Dunn from wide out. Again Wirral came back and from a dubious penalty their tall second row forward stretched over to make the half time score 12-10 to Ormskirk.
As in the first half, the re-start caused problems, but this time it was at Ormskirk’s end and another harsh penalty was converted by Wirral - even at this level 3 point are valuable when on offer. Ormskirk re-took the lead in this seesaw game with a typical breakout try. Fly half Bailie released his backs and a perfectly timed pass from Jordan Dawson in the centre put Peate into the sort of gap that he relishes and he sprinted away to score under the posts, Dunn adding the extras. Back came Wirral again with another try to cut the Ormskirk lead to one point. The winning try came when Ormskirk failed to line up properly in defence and simple handling put the Wirral second row in for his second and decisive try. Ormskirk tried to win the game in the last two minutes with brilliant handling moves but the visitors defence held firm on two occasions.
A much better performance from Ormskirk, but next week’s training will concentrate on defensive alignment and the achilles heel of rucking with power. Great performances from all with Alex Fitzpatrick, Marc Tasker, Adian Charlton, Aaron Cheung and Eddie Webster standing out in the forwards - the rest of the pack must up their game though.
