The U15s started the new season in ruthless fashion as they totally destroyed a plucky Southport outfit. Things were a understandably a bit rusty to begin with, but after 5 minutes they crossed for the first of 10 tries after a good forward charge from a penalty saw the ball fed well to the backs.
Great handling put speedy winger Alex Morrell away and breezed over, Chris Nicholson adding the extras. Another penalty resulted in a quick tap to Eddie Webster who used his pace and strength to go over for another converted try. A 5m scrum gave the backs another opportunity and fly half Dan Bailie dummied his two centres, nipped through a gap and gave Morrell another run-in.
To their credit the home side did not give up and were rewarded when their powerful No.8 picked up from a 5m scrum and forced his way over. However, from the kick off, Ormskirk swept upfield as Aidan Charlton caught the ball set off and then fed Webster for a 40m dash to the line, converted by Nicholson. The backs were seeing plenty of ball and winger Simon Brazier was unlucky not to score a few tries after some strong running. A few crowd pleasing charges from Cecil Fairhurst continued to put the home side on the back foot. The half ended with a fine try as George Lightfoot scampered 50m down the pitch, great support from Webster re-cycled the ball for Bailie to set Gavin Griffiths up for a score under the posts, again improved by Nicholson.
Ormskirk 33-5 up at half time introduced a number of players for the second half, and the points continued to flow. The forwards took the ball deep into Southport territory and great work from Charlton and Lightfoot saw the ball moved to Griffiths who put debutant Michael Jones in for his first try, five minutes into his debut! Another sweeping backs move resulted in the forwards attacking one way then the other, when the ball came back to the open side a long pass from Lightfoot set up Griffiths who saw Sam Higgins loitering with intent on the wing. The saxaphone-paying prop strolled over for try that Brian Habana would have been proud of, well nearly.
The last quarter saw more interchanges as the heat took its toll. From a ruck outside the Southport 22, fly half Bailie decided to get in on the act and simply outpaced the whole home back line to score in the corner. A foray by Southport into the Ormskirk 22 backfired as they gave away a penalty and a quick tap saw Griffiths cut through the tiring forwards to sprint away and score under the posts. With the backs handling the ball so well, the forwards decided to get in on the act and an outrageous dummy from prop Matt Sloyan saw him break through a surprised defence. This set up the final score of the game. Michael Jones was given the ball just outside the Ormskirk 22; give this lad some space and he will destroy any defence and he did as he turned on the burners and disappeared down the pitch for a wonderful try, improved by Dunn.
The final score of 62-5 could have been much worse for the hoem side, but for their forwards who battled keenly throughout the game, their backs however, had little answer as Ormskirk put on a great show of speedy quality handling, running and support play.
Scorers: Alex Morrell (2T), Gavin Griffiths (2T), Eddie Webster (2T), Michael Jones (2T), Dan Bailie (T), Sam Higgins (T), Chris Nicholson (5C), Jonny Dunn (C)
