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4TH XV
COLLEGIATE 0 - 65 ELLESMERE PORT 2 Collegiate 4s went to Ellesmere Port with a squad of just 9 players after losing their captain and vice captain to the 3rds as well as a few players crying off. I (Marc Ando) stepped in as captain for Sean Lenehan, it was the first time in all my years at the club that I have been asked to do this. Luckily when we arrived at Ellesmere Port they were willing to lend us a few of their players for the match. The game started badly as we went behind by two tries within the first 20 minutes. Our heads, however, were still held high. After a few defensive mishaps Port scored a few more before the half was up. This did not stop the Collegiate side from keeping their heads held high. The 2nd half started a lot better as we were gaining ground against a good outfit from Port. The tackles and breakdown play improved a lot as the game went on, but this was to no avail with port running 4 more tries. With 10 minutes to go we got a break down the left hand side with Leon Bown stealing from a ruck and playing it to myself. I went passed 2 players and was tackled well to prevent us scoring our only points. Every single player played with pride, including the ones we lent from Port, but two players stood out the most. Bob Ford's experience and awesome tackles were impressive. Joel Parkinson managed to run every ball back at Port from full back. Not only was his running outstanding, but his tracking and covering back was brilliant. This is why he earned his first man of the match. A big thank you to the 9 players we took away with us as they each played with all their hearts. A massive thank you must also go to Ellesmere Port for a great game and the loan of their players as well as their great discipline. For myself, it was a great experience, albeit on the end of a 65-0 defeat, but it could of been worse. Our lads defended really well and can take this as a positive from a hard game. COLLEGIATE 22 - 22 PRENTON 3 It was another hard fought game by the home side who’s determination throughout saw them come from behind to secure a well deserved draw at the end. The match started off with the home side receiving the ball
and having most of the early play but it was Prenton who struck first
with two quick tries, Collegiate responded with a try coming from the The rest of the half saw both
sides lamenting about missed opportunities and ended with the home Collegiate where starting
to get some momentum until a long kick up field wasn’t dealt with and The best try was left for last with
Hamish himself starting and finishing a try to level the scores, we Big thanks to Chairman Chris Jones, Dave Blair, COLLEGIATE 19 - 61 MOSSLEY HILL 3 It was another epic battle between these two teams with the usual cliché of it being a game of two halves. The first half started with the home side starting with 14 men and having the best of exchanges through a strong pack and taking a few against the head in the scrums, the break through came as from a rolling maul scrum half Chris McCartney (Tiffa) broke and dived over the line for the opening score for collegiate, this was converted by Paddy Breen who had another outstanding game at stand off. It was then end to end until a mistake by Mossley Hills’ full back forced a scrum on the 5 metre line which Tiffa again darted from the scrum and scored at the side of the post, Paddy to convert. Collegiate’s extra man turned up after the two tries and Collegiate eased off the gas, which Mossley hill capitalised on and scored 2 quick tries to leave them 2 points behind. With the inventive play of Paddy and full back Andrew Roberts MOM and will Goulden showing his strength and pace it was tiffa who ended up passing to Chris Austin who scored a well earned try to take the lead at half time. Second half and with 3 quick injuries the Collegiate team was down to 12 men losing the try scorers and centre after 5 minutes of play. Thanks to the Mossley Hill team for the loan of their player, the 13 man home side dug deep but the extra men for the away team caused the over lap time and again the score reflecting that. It was a very good performance by the home team with a lot of positives from this game as the team is starting to gel together and displaying the qualities of a team who will only be a matter of time before they get back on winning ways, but also a team who has some things that need to be improved on for the next match. COLLEGIATE 7 - 34 OLDERSHAW 3 It was a hard fought game for the away team this week, from the off the boys in blue and blue showed there intent to give a better account of themselves, with the wind in their favour Adam Kilcourse kept putting the Collegiate team into the corners but with the pack not functioning well in the lines it was wasted opportunities. The home team pressed through their big men in the forwards and Collegiate found themselves down by 2 quick tries. As in previous weeks the Collegiate team put their bodies on the line with Barry Rooke on several occasions stopping the opposition from scoring. The breakthrough for the collegiate team came after some excellent play from Killy and Rob Connolly feeding Adam Fry, Gareth Williams and MOM Geoff Campion which ended in a chip over which the full back was slow to deal with and was tackled just before the line and spilled the ball which left Geoff with the easiest of tries, converted by Kilcourse. The Collegiate team started the second half off only 5 points down and where starting to gel as a team and put some moves together, but it was the home team who hit back to score the first try of the half, there was several flashes of brilliance by the 4ths but near the end several players run out of steam as the home team kept bringing on fresh legs throughout the game it proved to be the telling factor, it was a vast improvement by Collegiate which saw the first game by Sebastian Helger who had a great debut in the forwards for his first ever rugby game. Collegiate have several things to work on but can also take a lot out of this game, and be proud of how much effort was put in during the game, it’s a much harder game next against the league leaders COLLEGIATE 5 - 73 PORT SUNLIGHT 2 It was a valiant effort by the Collegiate team who for the first half where able to match the quick backline of a big Sunlight team. The first half and the collegiate team started off well despite loosing our stand off 10 mins before the game started to another late cry off. We pressed towards the Sunlight backline on numerous occasions but where unable to penetrate their try line, and found ourselves behind several tries after 30 mins. We then where able to string several moves together from the fast pace of MOM Gareth Williams and Glyn Griffiths who stepped in at stand off and had a very good game, this lead to a lineout on the opposition 5 metre line, which was stolen by Ste Cahill and saw him score another try. In the second half it was much the same by the opposition who cut through the home teams defence at ease, the Collegiate boys played on to the final whistle but we where unable to score any additional points, several positives to be taken out of the game and a lot of things to be worked on before the next game against Oldershaw. COLLEGIATE 7 - 24 WIDNES 4 It was a very hard fought game which saw the widnes team having the better of the game through their rush defence leaving the collegiate backs with very little time on the ball. Despite this and the fact widnes could not field a front row it was an equally fought game. James Pearson had an outstanding game stealing most of the opposition ball in the line outs and around the park throughout the match. The first half saw collegiate camped in the opposition half but unable to break the widnes defence. John Jennings had another great game at scrum half with his quick ball and direct running linking up with standoff James Howarth and centre and MOM Mike Carson and Adam Fry who brought in full back Chris McCann into the line at every opportunity. With the untimely departure of Ross Crilly through injury (we wish him a speedy recovery) just before the end of the half, although we had the lion’s share of possession we were unable to score points and found ourselves down at half time. The second half started with a quick try by the opposition, we changed the back line formation with James Nottingham taking up the centre position and had another of his outstanding performances the Collegiate team started on the front foot with a series of penalties and with a quality kick. Mike put us in the corner and with a move right off the training park seeing Ste Cahill loop around at the tail of the line out to take the ball and score a superb try unchallenged converted by Mike Carson. The last 5 minutes saw Widnes score against the run of play off a spilt ball. We stuck at it to the end and could not ask any more of the lads and their effort shown. COLLEGIATE 12 - 37 MOLD 3 After having to hand walkovers due to unfortunately being able to field full sides for the last two weeks, Collegiate 4ths went to challenge Mold 3rds with a number of handicaps. - We finally travelled with 13 men, Recipe for a severe drubbing? Well 'No'. From the Kick off, the boys in blue showed true courage in adversity and took the game to Mold. Some good rucking play saw us camped out in the opposition half for the first 20 mins with impressive rucking from Despite this, they managed to finally break down and utilise the overlap to score 3 tries. This didn't dishearten the team, and after John Jennings marshalling the phases lead to Gerard O'Reilly making a stretching try to let us get some points on the board. Unfortunately 5 mins from the end of the half Paul Watt (Curly) was badly injured in a ruck which meant the half ending 5 mins early. The second half started with a more evenly balanced 14 vs 14 after being lent another Mold Forward and an advantage of playing away from the sun, however we had lost our only jumper which had given Mold an advantage in the line-outs. However some sneaky throwing to the back of the line caught Mold off guard, and lead to a few red faces as Jay Edgar managed to catch and run at their No.10 time after time. From that point on, play was contested evenly until Mold took advantage of inexperience on the wing and ran a few more tries past. Still heads didn't go down, and we played them at their own game with Matt Storey running half the pitch to put the ball between the sticks for our second try of the day. After another Mold player turned up to sub for their captain (on our side), Mold pressed again and in the dying 10 mins of the match, and managed to cross the line with a Maul, however Gerard did what was thought the impossible, and managed not only to steal the ball, but run 10 m before making a tremendous kick to their half and to safety. After a serious injury to the Mold latecomer on our side (broken arm and collar bone) again ended the half 5 mins early to allow treatment. We wish him well. As the players came off the pitch, not one had let their heads go down; all had shown pride in playing for the badge and each other for the whole game and the showings of a cohesive unit were already being made. Man of the match was Gerard, who shined at No.8 not only making a nuisance of himself in their rucks, but seeming to be all over the pitch when needed. Other players of note were Chris McCann at full-back; both in attack and in defence, and Marious, who considering it was his first match, made it look like he had been playing for years. Thanks go to Mold for their generosity and willingness to play as competitive game as possible. COLLEGIATE 40 - 0 SHOTTON 2 It was an outstanding performance by the home side in the first ever 4th team league match, it was one which saw an excellent display of running rugby and defensive work throughout a very hard fought game. The game started with Shotton on the offensive for the first quarter of the match, then half back pairing of Ben Mitchenson and Huw Griffiths got into their stride with quick ball from the scrums the pass was set up to put Tom Loftus over the try line, this was followed by tries from MOM Dave Fraser, Clinton Macaskill and stand-off Huw Griffiths. The second half was started the way the first half finished with a deserved try from scrum half Ben Mitchenson (who stepped into cover at the last minute and had a good all-round game), this was followed by scores from Dave Fraser to complete his brace as old boy Mark Williams cut through their defence at ease at centre with Dave Fox. The game was rounded off with tries from back rows Sam Cocksedge and Paul Bold. All conversions where missed by Huw, Clinton and Ben. It was a good team display that was given by the 4th team which saw Kevin Dunn and Stephen Crawford giving a good debut performance and Ste Cahill and Barry Rooke play their best game so far against a very good and well drilled team. All 4th XV information will be updated on a regular basis, please click on the applicable buttons to view results/league tables and player stats.
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