After last week’s convincing win against Carrington the thirds arrived at Leigh in high spirits and full of confidence. Unfortunately this was soon tempered when they were informed that Leigh allegedly had no recognisable front row and therefore would have to ‘compete’ with uncontested scrums.
The old heads of Hesketh, Liversidge and Dolan were quick to speculate that this was a tactical ploy by the opposition, an observation which was soon to become a realisation. Kirk couldn’t have started any worse, within 5 minutes of the kick off Leigh hoisted a high ball which no one claimed and gifted Leigh their opening try under the posts. As the game ground on, refereed by Leigh’s ageing and inexperienced spare player, it became more and more frustrating for ‘kirk. Their inability to use their obvious forward advantage in any set plays due to uncontested scrums, a No.7 who was constantly offside and pulling down their rolling mauls, left a sour taste in the mouth of all. Credit to the Leigh backs who were a well drilled outfit, running some great lines in attack and equally as good in defence, but with a combined age of all 7 being less than that of Liversidge and Hesketh added together, they should be! To add insult to injury Critchley managed to cross the line only to lose control of the ball in the process of scoring. Highlights, not many as you can well imagine, were trys for Bruce Thomson and John Dann, and the two young ladies who watched the whole spectacle. Hopefully Leigh will be willing to compete on level terms when they come to Ormskirk later in the season. The thirds entertain Eagle 2nds this week and will be looking to turn in a much better performance then.
