Fleetwood u13 7pts - Ormskirk u13 10pts
Its a long way to Fleetwood, but a nice journey back knowing you’ve won.
A delayed departure without the only two subs available was not the best start, and as the 15 players travelled to Fleetwood it was the coaches’ job to try and formulate the best line up. Thankfully this squad possesses many players who are multi-skilled, and so it was that Ormskirk kicked off with four players in the starting XV in their first season of club rugby and three of them playing out of position! The rest of the team had three playing in different positions, but such is their versatility that you wouldn’t have known.Â
The home side started brightly and with the wind behind them, penned the visitors in their territory for much of the half. They did work a good try with one of the front row powering his way under the posts for a converted try. Back they came, looking for a second, but were thwarted on both occasions by wonderful try saving tackles from Jack O’Brien and Aaron Cheung. They weren’t the only one putting in crunching tackles in a defensive display that couldn’t have been more different than last week’s performance. A typical breakout from deep in their own half nearly created a try with the backs handling the ball beautifully to Jamie Gosling, who powered his way down the wing on a 50 metre dash. Unfortunately, he was tackled just outside the 22 and the lack of support allowed Fleetwood to clear their lines. At half time 0-7 wasn’t a bad position.
The saying “a game of two halves” has often been used, and it is again here. Ormskirk knew what their hosts had to offer but with the wind behind them, the plan was clear - play the game in the opponent’s half. The kicking of Dan Bailie and Liam Peate ensured this was the case and from one such Peate clearance, Jordan Dawson raced down the pitch and put the three defenders under so much pressure they passed forward and Ormskirk not only moved 60m down the pitch, but had the put in. The scrum was duely won, a miss move excellently completed and Liam Peate sprinted clear to score a great try. Fleetwood mounted a few committed attacks but every time came up against stern tackling and punishing clearance kicks. Deep in the Fleetwood 22, a rolling maul developed and Daniel Price showed great awareness to slip the ball to Steve Maloney. He committed two defenders and popped an inviting pass to Peate who scampered over for his second try.
This not only put Ormskirk ahead, but seemed to knock all desire out of the home side and the game finished soon after with the result in no doubt. This was a great team  performance with special mention of Aaron Cheung in his first game as hooker, Alex Finn and Alex Fitzpatrick. An interesting post script being a referee who seemed to let anything go and even started the game with the wrong sized ball - ah well at least he was consistently inconsistent . . . . .
