With Littleborough crying off from this week’s Lancashire Cup game it allowed a friendly fixture to be played against Broughton Park who were eager to wipe out the memory of their defeat to Ormskirk in last season’s Lancashire Cup semi-final. With Ormskirk having a large squad including several newcomers Broughton Park’s coaches graciously agreed to a match of 3 twenty minute periods obviously putting them at a disadvantage having only a couple of replacements of their own to call upon.
Period one
From the kick-off Broughton Park went straight into attack mode. For several minutes Broughton lay seige to the Ormskirk line but good tackling ensured the game stayed scoreless. It finally looked as if Broughton would end the deadlock but a fine tackle on the line led to a knock on and a chance for Ormskirk to get back into the match. A couple of good runs by Tom Povey and Tom Anderson showed that Ormskirk were keen to make a game of it but outstanding Broughton tackling meant good territorial position was squandered. Again Broughton took the initiative and only a fine tackle by Olly Hogan just metres from the line prevented them taking the lead. However Broughton pressure finally paid dividends. A scrum near the Ormskirk line lead to the ball coming out and being nicely picked up by a Broughton player who dived over the line from short range to record the first try, which was also converted.
Ormskirk 0  Broughton Park 7
Period 2
The second period started very much as the last had ended with Broughton Park playing some good rugby in Ormskirk’s half but frustrating their coaches and spectators by losing the ball in some good field positions. To be fair to Ormskirk some excellent tackling not least by Craig Ennis and Aaron Waggoner pressurised Broughton into losing the ball on several occasions. Ormskirk ended this period happy still to be holding onto Broughton’s coat tails.
Ormskirk 0  Broughton Park  7
Period 3
Ormskirk started this final period in a buoyant mood knowing that Broughton were tiring with little opportunity to make substitutions. Good early pressure almost led to Ormskirk’s first try but with the hard work done, Olly Hogan knocked the ball forward as he dived over the line. This was followed a couple of minutes later by an Ormskirk knock on with the line beckoning and a two man overlap. Just as it looked as if it wouldn’t be Ormskirk’s day they came up with the try of the day. Matt White at full back took a long clearance in his own half and cleverly attacked a now tiring Broughton team and ran nearly two-thirds the length of the field before drawing in their last two defenders and slipping the ball out wide for fly-half Robbie Jones, brilliantly supporting, to go in near the corner. Unfortunately the conversion was missed still leaving Ormskirk two points down. Ormskirk realised they could win the game if they could get some quality possession in the Broughton half.With only minutes to go a good drive near the Broughton line led the ball coming out to second-rower Marcus Rylance who powered over from a few yards out to put Ormskirk in the lead for the first time. With the game nearly over Ormskirk held firm to record their third victory of the season.
Ormskirk 10  Broughton Park  7
Although a good win the Ormskirk coaches will know that victory came against a tiring Broughton team in the last period of ” extra time” and that things will be very different in The Lancashire Cup fixture later in the year which will be played in a more conventional time frame of two halves. On a more positive note the extended game allowed all squad members a run out and a chance for the coaches to view one or two of the new lads in a proper match situation.
