After a succesful opening fixture against New Brighton last week, Ormskirk were looking forward to playing old rivals Waterloo in the first fixture of this season’s Lancashire Cup. As usual the coaching staff were forced into further changes this week due to an injury to last season’s player of the year Craig Ennis and the unavailability of flying winger Graham Bishop. However a bonus this year is a much larger and competitive squad and the coaches had real confidence in the lads picked for the match.
The game kicked off under grey,Merseyside skies with a light wind blowing down the pitch. The first quarter of the game was a tense,scrappy affair with neither side being able to find much of a rhythm and play was constantly disrupted by handling errors. The deadlock was however finally broken by a fine Ormskirk try. A great run by Tom Povey saw him slice through the Waterloo defence only to be caught ten yards short of the line. As he fell to the ground he had the presence of mind to flick the ball up to Pat Lloyd who had brilliantly backed up the run and ran under the posts for the first score. Matt White converted the try to put ‘Kirk seven points up.
Waterloo to their credit had no intention of giving up the fight and came tearing back into the game. The Waterloo forwards at this point were cleverly using their weight advantage to maul the Ormskirk pack all around the park. This forward onslaught was finally rewarded as the Waterloo pack powered over for a try from a penalty after an Ormskirk player was caught offside near the line. The try was easily converted leaving the match all square at seven apiece. Ormskirk were keen to get back into it and an excellent kick off fom Rob Jones led to a Waterloo knock on. From the resulting scrum the ball found its way to Tom Povey who chipped ahead and skillfully retrieved the ball to race under the posts for ‘Kirk’s second try converted again by Matt White. As the whistle went for half time it was clear that if Ormskirk were to repeat their opening day’s win they would have to work hard in the second half to keep hold of their slender lead.
 Waterloo 7  Ormskirk 14
The second half started very much like the first with much of the action in the middle of the park. However the strong Waterloo forwards were slowly getting a grip on the game but superb defence by the Ormskirk pack especially Robert Hall and Tom Travis constantly disrupted any move that was started. The only bright moment of the half from an Ormskirk perspective came from a strong run by winger Tom Anderson who was well tackled into touch by his opposing number. Again this allowed Waterloo to drive forward and after a poor Ormskirk clearance the ball was spun along the backs to the Waterloo fly-half who calmly put over a drop goal from just to the left of the posts to leave the game balanced on a Knife edge with Ormskirk just ahead. As the seconds ticked away Waterloo made one final effort to score the try which would win them the game. A lovely move along the backs found their fly-half, alone out on the wing, who cleverly chipped the ball ahead over the full back’s head. Fortunately Matt White won the race to the ball and managed to get to his feet and drive forward snuffing out the opposition’s last chance of the game. As the final whistle went both sides looked out on their feet. This was a game where defences were on top and chances to score were few and far beween.
Waterloo 10   Ormskirk 14
This was a vital game to win and sets up this year’s challenge for Lancashire Cup success on a positive note. This game showed the lads that winning games is not all about ’star’ individuals who may score more than their fair share of points but about working as a team with everyone being committed and being prepared to work hard and put in their fair share of tackling and hard graft. Â
