Walsall 27 vs Whitchurch 10
Whitchurch always knew it was going to be a hard fixture against Walsall this weekend after they beat Droitwich 99 points to 12 last weekend and on a run of 4 straight wins. However, it was Whitchurch who set the early pace with good possession and pressure on the Walsall defence and were awarded a penalty within kicking range. With usual kicker Danny Nicholas not available this week Isaac Wilding stepped up but unfortunately the chance to go 3 points up was missed when it rebounded off the post and Walsall defence kicked clear. It was now Whitchurch’s turn to defend and with constant Walsall pressure the home backs defended gallantly until the 19th. minute when they broke through and scored the first try of the day to go 5 points up as the conversion was missed. Whitchurch were then reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes when a tackle by Nathan Horton was sin binned for what was deemed to be a dangerous high tackle. This meant more solid defending and some good defensive kicking from full back Tom Skone kept Walsall at bay. Just before half time Whitchurch were awarded a scrum thanks to a knock on by the Walsall winger. Walsall managed to get a good push on the usually competitive Whitchurch pack and took the advantage when their number 8 charged through and scored just before half time to make the score 0:12 at half time.
The second half could not have started any worse for Whitchurch as the backs dropped a pass for the Walsall winger to get to the ball first and kicked forward and chased to score in the first minute. More mistakes followed in the 63rd. minute when a pass was intercepted, and the Walsall scrum half ran through to score another try. Whitchurch battled hard and were rewarded in the 75th. minute as Tom Hale barged through close to the line and off loaded to Jack Rowley on the wing to score giving Whitchurch a bit of hope. This was short lived as Walsall broke through again and scored a try with only a minute to go. Tom Hale did have the last word though as the Whitchurch forwards drove towards the line and he scored a try that ended the match 10:27.
Jake Rees who played his 200th first team game last week said, “It was a tough game against a strong experienced forward team with well organised backs, but we just made a few mistakes that we paid heavily for, but on the whole the team is starting to get more competitive in this league.”
Whitchurch are away at Droitwich next week. The second team had a free weekend this week but have a home fixture against Warley.
