Whitchurch 35 vs Crewe and Nantwich 19
There is an old adage in rugby, “Forwards decide who wins matches; Backs decide by how many”. Never has this been truer than at Edgeley Park on Saturday. The power of the home forwards crushed the visitors over and over again to set up a victory for the reds and move them further up the table.
The game started disastrously for Whitchurch who were behind in the first minute when the Crewe winger caught a poor kick and shrugged off two missed tackles to score in the corner. The home side, buoyed by a large and vociferous crowd, ground their way forward inexorably and got the equalising try through the reliable hands of Steve Bloore.
More pressure from the red pack enabled the resurgent Jonathon Cope to force his way over the line and touch down. Skipper Nicholas converted to give the score a true reflection of the game. The Crewe backs were now asking questions of the youthful red backs and finally found a way through just before half time to score a converted try and draw the game level again. The half time score read 12 all, but Whitchurch started the second half with renewed vigour and were soon awarded a penalty which was kicked by Danny Nicholas. He was in fine kicking form and, when a penalty was awarded for another offside offence, he chose to cross kick to winger, Tom Skone. Who held on and scored in the corner. Nicholas missed the conversion but soon made up with a successful penalty to make the score 25 -12. A rare attack by the visitors brought the score closer when they scored a converted try but another Nicholas penalty saw the distance between the sides grow. As the final whistle approached, the Edgeley Park men hammered at the Crewe door and finally broke it down when Abe Spragg burst through to score under the posts. Nicholas converted with the last kick of the game. Coach Noel Speed, returning for a temporary spell, was delighted with the performance and result. He said, “We were much the better side today and things look good for the future as our youngsters get more experience and learn from the senior players.” The team are at home next weekend again playing Walsall kicking off at 2:15pm.
