Saturday, March 6th, 2010
North One West
TYLDESLEY 17 WILMSLOW 21
AN injury time touchdown by winger Jordan Kennedy spared Wilmslow’s blushes at lowly Tyldesley.
The Wolves tested their faithful following to edge of the envelope when they had this game by the scruff of the neck, then let it go.
They were staring at a 17-16 defeat with little or no time on the clock when full back Bob MacCallum missed a last ditch drop goal attempt.
But Tyldesley contrived to send the resulting 22 metre drop-out straight into touch. Scrum half Charlie Mulchrone broke left from the ensuing scrum, probing the Tyldesely defence and setting up Kennedy’s last gasp, match-saving score.
It was a different story 40 minute earlier, when Wilmslow were cruising at 3-16 ahead, thanks to two MacCallum penalties, another Kennedy try and a touchdown from centre-turned flanker and man-of-the match Max Scofic.
Coach Giles Heagerty confessed he thought at the break his side would either win by 60 or lose by a point, and they came perilously close to the latter.
“To say it was a game of two halves is an understatement. We took a while to get going, but once we settled, we played some good rugby and were well worth the lead we had.
“The lads are under no illusion that to lose that lead was not acceptable. To their credit, they stuck at it and their diligence and level heads paid off to nick it at the end.
“Bottom line, we’ll take the points, but these are games we have to learn to put away properly.”
An indication of man-of-the match Scofic’s influence on the game was that it all went pear-shaped for the Wolves when he went off at half time with a dead leg. Heagerty sent on winger/centre Elliott Brierley to replace him on the back row. It is no reflection on Brierly that the gamble didn’t pay off. He just couldn’t match mercurial Scofic’s tackle and steal rate, as well as his cohesion, linking forwards and backs to good effect.
Wilmslow started terribly, gifting Tyldesley penalty after penalty for indisciplined play. They were lucky to be only 3-0 down when MacCallum levelled the score from their  first penalty of the game on eight minutes.
Love them or hate them, you can’t afford to fall out with referees, and Wilmslow were guilty of not playing the match official properly, however bizarre his decisions may have appeared.
This was brought into sharp focus when Josh Longmore appeared to touch down for a perfectly good try on 15 minutes, yet it was ruled no downward pressure. Kennedy made amends three minutes later when scrum half Mulchrone broke blind from a five-metre scrum for the winger to score his first. (3-8).
As half time approached, Tyldesley were penalised for lying on the ball in midfield. Wilmslow tried a quick take, were impeded and awarded 10 metres. Another quick take saw the ball whipped along the short via centre Chris Lee and No.8 Danny Jons for flanker Scofic to crown his first half display with a try. MacCallum added a penalty in first half injury time to give the Wolves a seemingly unassailable 3-16 lead.
It all went horribly wrong for Wilmslow when Tyldesely broke from a scrum near their 22 just six minutes into the second half. Poor tackling contrived to gift fly half Tom Barker a try converted by winger Stuart Crampton. With 15 minutes to go, Tyldesley caught and drove from a lineout near Wilmslow’s line for flanker John Bishop to touch down and give the home side an unlikely 17-16 lead which they hung on to, almost to the death.

The victory keeps Wlmslow at sixth place in North One West. On Saturday they host 10th-placed Leigh at Pownall Park, kick-off 3pm, when the Wolves will be looking to avenge a 12-0 defeat at their place back in November.

Wilmslow’s 2nd XV, the Vikings, beat Sandbach 2nd XV 30-24, with half their points coming from the boot of fly half Tim Medwell, who slotted three penalties and thre conversions. Try scorers were Charlie Levings, Dave Piers-Jones and Matthew Potter.
The Hawks (3rd XV) game was called off and the 4th XV (Raptors) won 50-15 against Leigh, which included 25 points fro centre Jason New – AND he dropped a ball over the enemy’s try line.