Yet again the Under 13s found themselves on the road, this time down to Liverpool to play Collegiate in what has always been a competitive fixture. Yet again ‘Kirk travelled with a large squad even though players were absent through injury and holidays. One of the early problems was ensuring the safe arrival of everyone through a blanket of freezing fog engulfing Merseyside.
Unfortunately, Collegiate were a couple of players short and we kindly leant them players to ensure the game went ahead. Straight away Ormskirk burst out of the traps and were quick to attack the Collegiate line. An early, excellent kick by fly-half Robbie Jones gave the lads good field position and from the resulting scrum Craig Ennis picked up the ball and drove over from a few yards out with barely five minutes on the clock, converted by Matt White. From the kick-off Ormskirk again drove the ball forward and a great attacking run by Jake Shinner set up another good attack. Another probing positional kick by Rob Jones set up a line-out near the opposition line and a great take by Marcus Rylance saw him in clear space and he muscled over to score. Omskirk were in complete control and solid work by the forwards, in particular Andrew Jones and Michael Quirk, meant that Collegiate were under the cosh for most of the half. It was no surprise to see another super try by Craig Ennis who ran half the length of the pitch to score under the posts. The half was finally brought to a close with the forwards again winning good ball for centre Tom Povey to sprint through a demoralised Collegiate defence to score the fourth try of the half.
Half-time: Collegiate 0  Ormskirk 22
It was no surprise to see Ormskirk start to dominate at the start of the second period. A good early drive by the forwards set up the ball for scrum-half Matt Jones to scamper over for his first try of the game. Soon after the forwards drove a maul forward and the ball was nicely presented to Tom Povey who sprinted through some lacklustre tackling to grab his second try of the game converted by Matt White. From the kick-off ‘Kirk again drove the ball deep from the boot of Robbie Jones and from the resulting scrum Matty Jones again picked up the ball to sprint over for his second try this time Graham Bishop adding the extras. With minutes left on the clock the ball was spun along the backs for winger Sam Elesedy to go in at the corner.
Full-time:  Collegiate 0  Ormskirk 46
At the end of the day you can only play against what is in front of you and Ormskirk did just that putting away a somewhat disappointing Collegiate side by eight, unanswered tries to nil. A big thank-you goes to Dale Cheetham,Mitchell Alty and Mohammed(Boo) Boutarfa who graciously volunteered to play for the opposition to ensure the game went ahead. In addition it would be fair to say that Boo was the man of the match for the Collegiate side constantly working hard for a well beaten team.
