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COLLEGIATE 25 - 0 NEW BRIGHTON 3 Collegiate played a very good New Brighton side whose current league position doesn't do them justice! Collegiate eventually ran out 25 - 0 winners with tries from Ben Mitchinson 2, Dave Wareing & Gareth Burns with Mitchenson converting one and a penalty from skipper Paul Walsh. It shows the mark of a good side that despite not firing on all cylinders they can still get results. The performance will have to improve as the 2nd XV travel to Furness in the Halbro Plate COLLEGIATE 48 - 5 PARKONIANS You know when you get days when you wished you hadn't got out of bed? Well this almost proved to be one of them. With the captain for the day, Gareth Hodges, forgetting to bring the team kit until he reached the Wallasey Tunnel it didn't prove to be the best of starts. Just to make matters worse Leon “I know where I'm going” Bown and Jamie “fork in the road” Lowe decided that they didn't fancy playing Parkonians and therefore they would take themselves and their mates to Anselmians for a game instead. If there can be a plus side to this early debacle it was that Wallasey cried off criminally late against our thirds which meant five of the team kindly travelled over to act as substitutes for the match. The fact that they all got to the ground before us and that the first car load of second team players to arrive got a standing ovation is a matter of small embarrassment that will not be spoken of again. A big thank you must also go to Curly for bailing out the team by bringing the kit and water bottles with him as we didn't fancy playing in skins. Once everyone had arrived and we managed to locate the very foggy and muddy pitch the game got underway 5 to 10mins late. Credit must be given to Tim Lynch who, having come over to sub from the thirds kindly volunteered his services to the opposition as they were short of a hooker. With no warm up Collegiate took a while to get going however, once they did they began to play the brand of rugby they have been playing all season and that the rest of the senior section has been aspiring to. With the support runners coming from everywhere Parkonians found it hard to contain and it did not take long for second row John Shrimpton to cross the line, soon to be followed for his first of the afternoon by winger David Fox. Collegiate seemed to let off at this point and some indiscipline on the back foot of the tackle area allowed Parkonians to start playing rugby in our half. At this point, as the ground was so muddy, Number 8 Gareth Hodges seemed to blend into the pitch. This can be the only explanation for why the referee awarded a try to his opposite number who grounded the ball on his chest. This was the last time Parkonians really threatened the Collegiate line as the visitors picked up the pace of their game. A simple pick and pop from the back of the scrum allowed the scrumhalf, James Forshaw, to feed winger Fox who took a brilliant catch for his second try in the corner just before half time. 15-5 at half time. Even with the substitutions at half time the second half was one way traffic. Special mention must go to a couple of the collegiate players. Matt “MARK!” Swift readily changed sides swapping from fullback for Collegiate to wing for Parkonians and in what is possibly the shortest substitution ever, second row John “I'll beat him with this dummy” Shrimpton went from second row to flanker for Parks before he had even got his tracksuit bottoms on. He would later regret doing this but I promised him over a bottle of Tuborg that I would not report why. Suffice to say he and, thanks to his considerate team mates, everyone left in the Collegiate club house, knows why! Tries came regularly as the superior fitness of the young(ish) side showed. Prop Leon Bown stuck stedfastily to the front row code of travelling no further than 5 yards for his crashball try off the side of a goal line ruck but the rest all came from distance. It seemed everyone wanted to have a go at crossing the whitewash as the Collegiate players regularly herded forward supporting each other with some great interplay. This led to tries for substitutes Neil Gregg and Bob Meyers with both rounding off sweeping moves and a third of the afternoon (plus a jug) for David Fox. But for some sympathetic refereeing by Joe McGowan of Birkenhead Park (their number 8's words not mine) the score could've been a lot more. However Joe could do nothing about the last try of the afternoon as, from an uncontested scrum, scrumhalf James Forshaw picked up and showed a dirty pair of heels (well they were never going to be clean in those conditions) to everyone to go three quarters of the length of the pitch and under the post. James Bugeja managed to find the white posts on 4 occasions when the fog lifted for 5 minutes to make the final score Collegiate 48 Parkonians 5. COLLEGIATE 22 - 5 WIDNES 3 Collegiate faced Widnes in another top of the table encounter. The Widnes side were a good bunch of Vets with some young wipets. The Widnes side included ex Collegiate player Cy Bruce who was as vocal as always. The game was very physical and played in the right spirit Collegiate showed plenty of character, young guns JJ Calvert and Eddie Taylor were excellent and never took and backward step all afteternoon and left skipper Paul Walsh no choice but to award joint MOM awards. Collegiate came out deserved winners 22 - 5 with tries from Sean Lenehan 2, Tom Loftus and Ben Mitchenson with a conversion from Ryszard Chadwick The 2nd XV remain top of the league COLLEGIATE 36 - 0 ASHTON ON MERSEY The 2nd XV ran out comprehensive 36 - 0 winners against a good Ashton side. Collegiate showed great defence against Ashton's powerful centres. Collegiate's forwards took the game to Ashton but it was their backs who stole the show playing some exciting rugby. Eddie Taylor and JJ Calvert were excellent but it was back row counterpart Jon Shrimpton who picked up a well deserved MOM award. The 2nd XV look forward to the next round of the Plate. COLLEGIATE 27 - 12 CHESTER 3 The 2nd XV travelled to Chester expecting a hard fought top of the table encounter. Upon arrival Collegiate were informed Chester did not have enough men and kick off was delayed. Chester's stalling tactics worked, Collegiate didn't start well and Chester went ahead. Collegiate eventually woke up after 25 minutes with Ryszard Chadwick scoring. The 2nd XV went onto control the majority of the 2nd half with stand off James Bugeja running the show (Walla you're dropped). The try of the match was scored by stand in skipper Frankie Carroll finishing off in the corner after the whole back line touched the ball. The 2nd XV keep on getting better each week and showed great character to come back from behind against a good Chester side. Final Score 27 -12 COLLEGIATE 61 - 12 WATERLOO 4 Collegiate second's continued their fine form at Blundellsands on Saturday with a fine 61-12 victory. Having been banished to a portakabin to change Collegiate proceded to
prove that it will take more than "coarse rugby" changing facilities to We had a number of changes but this was not to be to the detriment of the squad. Waterloo were a big physical side but again Collegiate's young bucks stood toe to toe when necessary and again tackled like demons. Collegiate's strength lay in open play as evidenced by seven of the nine tries coming from the back line. Again all 17 members of the squad should be proud of themselves for a splendid performance. The team ethic is superb and getting better each week. We are in a very healthy position and have plenty to look forward to. COLLEGIATE 22 - 14 WALLASEY This was always going to hard fought encounter for 2nd XV after stuffing Wallasey 48 - 0 the week before. Collegiate controlled the majority of a scrappy game creating a 17 point lead with a Ryszard Chadwick penalty & 2 converted Tries from Chadwick and JJ Calvert respectively. COLLEGIATE 48 - 0 WALLASEY Collegiate seconds took to the field with a number of enforced changes due to unavailability of players. The defence stood up to the Wallasey attack and eventually started to take the game to Wallasey. The young Collegiate second row and back row can be very proud of their combined efforts as they tackled like demons all day. Collegiate had much greater prowess in the back line and this resulted in 8 excellent tries being scored. There was a hat trick of tries for Ryszard Chadwick at full back. The Miller Homes rules do not permit me to select all the players who deserve to be on the pitch. The outlook for the team is very bright! COLLEGIATE 12 - 15 BIRKENHEAD PARK 3 COLLEGIATE 66 - 12 BOWDON 3 Bowdon turned up with only 12 men and not enough experienced front row, so Collegiate started with 13 and uncontested scrums. Although having a man extra the 2nd XV didn't really capitalise in the first half, as some over complicated play and sloppy handling let several good chances go to waste. But MOM Paul Westhead scored the first of his two tries and new boy Dave Fox crossed the line along with two conversions from skipper Paul Walsh saw us go in 14-7 up at half-time. In the second half, the extra man and fitness proved too much for the plucky Bowdon side with Collegiate running in a further 8 tries with the pick of them coming via a length of pitch score from Tom Loftus. Ben Mitchenson converted 6 more of these, as skipper Walsh obtained a hamstring injury which is hopefully not too serious. Three from three in Miller Homes 5 West, but a tough test ahead next week versus Birkenhead Park 3 will keep us focussed. COLLEGIATE 39 - 0 SEFTON 4 The 2nd XV continued in winning ways with a good victory over local rivals Sefton. Collegiate dominated throughout the game and it was just a little unfortunate that "the last pass" was not going to hand early on as this kept the score down. Collegiate scored 6 unanswered tries all of which were well deserved. All 19 members of the squad played well with the man of the match award going to a new member for the second consecutive week in the form of winger David Fox. COLLEGIATE 17 - 12 WIGAN 4 2nd XV started our league season at Wigan with a well deserved win. Collegiate started lively and were looking dangerous everytime we ran the ball at Wigan. Our concentration was tested when there was a lengthy delay in the game following an injury to a Wigan player who required medical treatment and was eventually stretchered off to hospital. Fortunately the player returned to the clubhouse, whilst we were enjoying a well deserved drink, suffering only bruising. Collegiate scored our first try from a sustained forward assault with Andy Walsh stretching out to get the touchdown. The conversion was successful. Half Time Score 5-7 Wigan made a few changes and were rewarded with a long range try that was converted.
A hectic last ten minutes followed but following a high tackle we were able to score a penalty and run down the clock. All 2nd 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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