This weekend saw the 2nd qualifying round of The Lancashire Cup with a visit from last season’s champions Preston Grasshoppers. With a full squad to pick from the coaches felt that there was enough strength in depth to give the visitors a close game and make up for their defeat by one point against Bury in round one.
Preston were quickly on the attack straight from the kick-off and an excellent move was only halted by some good tackling on the Ormskirk line. From the resulting scrum the ball was well cleared by scrum half Matt Jones. Preston countered but the attack was halted as ‘Kirk bundled the opposition into touch. However from the line-out Preston won the ball and a nicely angled run saw The Grasshoppers break through to score their first try. Ormskirk rallied and soon won an attacking scrum in the Preston half. Unfortunately the Hoppers won the ball against the head and again it was some brave Ormskirk tackling which kept Preston at bay. Eventually the pressure told and from a ruck near the ‘Kirk line a Preston player skillfully picked the ball up and dived over for their second try of the game. At this point Ormskirk were on the ropes and Preston finished off another good move by going over for their third try after winning a line-out near the ‘Kirk line and driving over from close quarters. As the half drew to a close Ormskirk appeared to be getting back into the game and a good maul on the Preston ‘22′ showed that things were not dead and buried and that the match was still there to be won.
Half-Time: Ormskirk 0  Preston Grasshoppers 15
From the kick-off Preston again drove forward but Ormskirk seemed up for the fight and were soon putting in some strong tackles. Soon Ormskirk were on the attack and an excellent break by James Woods put the Preston line under pressure. From a Preston clearance Ormskirk were penalised for a high tackle but re-grouped well and forced Preston into handling errors. With good possession ‘Kirk again elected to kick forward. Soon Ormskirk were attacking the line and Preston did well to hold them back before finally clearing with a kick to touch. As the game wore on Ormskirk were in control and another fine run by Craig Ennis reminded Preston that they needed to be switched on if they were to go home victorious. Another good run followed by Adam Selfe which led to a high tackle and the resultant Tom Povey penalty was pushed just wide of the posts. Harry James then burst through and again it was some desperate Preston tackling which eventually saw them clear their lines. With minutes to go ‘Kirks best attack of the day saw the ball whipped down the line to Tom Anderson who was held up just a yard from the line. As the final whistle went Preston came off knowing they had been in a match and had been pushed close for the first time in a while.
Full-Time: Ormskirk 0  Preston Grasshoppers 15
Even though beaten for the second time in this season’s Lancashire Cup the coaches were not too despondant as they had witnessed the lads push the best team in Lancashire all the way and perhaps with just a little bit of luck may have got something more out of the game. As always this is yet another notch on what is a steep learning curve for the Under 14’s but the talent and commitment is there and the coaches still firmly believe the lads can qualify from this tough group.
