Saturday, October 25th, 2008
North Two West
SANDBACH 15 WILMSLOW 10
David Pike writes:
The margins between winning and losing can sometimes be very little and this was one of those occasions.
We saw a game with two evenly-matched sides both in early season difficulties, both inclined to error and misjudgement and both desperately needing a win.
In such circumstances, refereeing decisions which we all know can easily go one way or another can become critical. Mr Blackburn from Stockport had not had the easiest of journeys down to Sandbach.
He had to start the game fifteen minutes late and putting it politely found himself under intense scrutiny from the partisan spectators of both sides.
When Johnny Lee sped away from the Sandbach defence to score Wilmslow’s try with the whole of the last quarter to play, only two points separated the sides and the travelling support had good reason to think that the Wolves were at that stage in with a good chance.
Overall their performance had been much improved on recent displays with far fewer unforced errors. Cometh the hour though, cometh the man and in their substitute fly half, Sandbach ultimately had the answer.
Time and again in those last twenty minutes he used his left foot and the prevailing cross wind to kick his side deep into the Wolves’ twenty two and his forwards were content to run down the clock by holding onto possession.
Consequently, the Wolves were forced to start their attacks from very deep and they were just not able to establish sufficient decent field position to seriously threaten more than once.
The only score to come during that period was when referee Blackburn marched the Wolves fifty yards backwards for back chat giving Sandbach fullback Matt Smith an easy shot at goal.
The Wolves had started brightly but were unable to convert early pressure on the Sandbach line into points and then after ten minutes or so, Sandbach centre Jack Leech broke through a poor tackle in midfield and raced sixty yards to score in the corner. Another missed tackle in virtually the same position nearly led to a second score but Ben Day got back to make a try saving tackle.
And then Sandbach threw away a cast iron opportunity, when their second row Willie Stockdale spilled a pass with the unguarded try line yawning in front of him.
The start of the second half saw a badly misdirected pass from Josh Longmore seized upon and moments later Jack Leech had his second try of the afternoon.
The Wolves responded with their best period of the game. Johnny Lee and Ryan Parkinson stood out with determined incisive running all afternoon and the pack overall were in no way intimidated by their Sandbach opposites, who according to the match programme were all large well fed boys coming in at between sixteen and twenty one stone per man.
Ben Day and Luke Bennett both made the best of what came their way. Bob MacCallum got a penalty and then there was the Johnny Lee try but that it turned out was to be as close as they were to get.

Saturday, October 18th, 2008
EDF Intermediate Cup 1st Round
WILSMLOW 10 LIVERPOOL ST HELENS 23
WILMSLOW must shake off this cup defeat, learn a few lessons and get back to winning ways at Sandbach on Saturday.
The Wolves went down 23-10 against a hungry and well-drilled LSH side which they will face again in the league a week on Saturday.
It wasn’t just Wilmslow’s powerhouse second row pair that was missing at Pownall Park last week. And the proud Wolves are making no excuses in that department.
There was an edge – an edge that won this side promotion last year – that was missing.
Coach Darren Lucas and skipper Steve Braddock worked their squad hard on the training paddock this week, knowing a win for eighth-placed Wilmslow against seventh-placed Sandbach might just turn a corner.
Both sides have experienced the same mixed start to the season, having played five, won two and lost three. But while Wilmslow beat Lymm 33-0, Sandbach lost 28-17 to them. On the other hand, while Wilmslow lost heavily at Rochdale, Sandbach lost 27-34 in a closer game.
Fly half Bob MacCallum put the Lexus Stockport-sponsored Wolves ahead on 10 minutes with a well-taken penalty, but it all went pear-shaped seven minutes later when Wilmslow lost their own scrum ball.
Liverpool’s talented 10 Greg Smith danced through three tackles and offloaded to his winger, prompting a magnificent try-saving tackle from full back Ben Day in the corner. But LSH managed to recycle again for flanker Gareth Tudor to breach the stretched defence and Smith to convert. He added a penalty for the visitors to take a 3-10 half time lead.
Wilmslow infringed offside in a ruck to go further behind from a penalty on 43 minutes, but there was worse to follow. Full back Day burst out of defence and flanker Rich Williams emerged from the ruck on a typical midfield charge. But he was robbed in the tackle by Liverpool’s dynamo scrum half who darted 40 metres through a handful of tackles to touch down under the posts for a converted try and a 3-20 lead.
By the time Wilmslow managed to get their act together, it was too late. Approaching the hour, substitute flanker Ryan Parkinson made some hard midfield yards with a bullocking run, his pack quickly recycled the ball, full back Day appeared in the line to beat two tackles and score under the posts. MacCallum converted to give Wilmslow a glimmer of home at 10-20 and 20 minutes on the clock.
The home side were unfairly penalised for handling on the deck when their industrious flankers were mining for the ball with their feet firmly planted on the ground, giving Liverpool a 10-23 lead on 70 minutes.
Then Wilmslow enjoyed a typical, last-gasp effort, but failed frustratingly to convert pressure to points. Darren Lucas will welcome the return of lock forwards Al McLennan and vice captain Mike Clifford for Saturday’s match at Sandbach.
He said: “In this league, we know the majority of teams will play the same way…forward-based, big packs and fairly limited, which isn’t the way we want to play rugby. But we must learn to cope with it.
“The last few teams we have been up against, we have failed to bridge that gap. This is a young team. Not just in age, they have only come together for the first time this season. We need experience. We are coming up against teams that are very adept at playing at their pace, slowing the ball down.
“We need to be more street savvy in order to create opportunities and then put them away. Once we run the ball, we do look a different team. But when we allow teams to come at us up front, it makes it very difficult for us and it could be a long season.
“My philosophy is that you don’t measure yourself by success, you measure yourself by how you react to adversity, and we must react now. For skipper Steve Braddock and I, this is the first serious hiccup in our management and we are working very hard to get over it.”