Sunday 18th January 2015
Lancashire Cup
Today’s home Lancashire Cup tie was to be a three-way contest between Collegiate, Waterloo and Southport. Unfortunately, Southport they were unable to compete and a 20-0 point’s win was awarded to Liverpool and Waterloo for their respective cancelled games.
Squad: Sonny, Mathew, Big Jack, Calum, Luke, Jack, L., Fintan, Leo, Chris, Finlay, Ruary, Oli, Harrison, Suneel, Nial and Leonardo.
Cup Tie Liverpool Collegiate RUFC 7 v Waterloo RUFC 7
This was the second home game against Waterloo in quick succession. In the last encounter, Waterloo recorded a narrow 19-21 victory over their South Liverpool counterparts. However, the desired settling of this score was not forthcoming and the Blues had to settle for a hard-fought draw. Kick off was brought forward to the earlier time of 10:30, compared to the usual 11:00 start, and appeared to have a negative effect on the Warriors who, for the first half at least, looked like they were still half asleep. Waterloo, on the other hand, were evidently still buoyed by their previous victory were determined, showed great intensity and moved the ball well to catch the home side off guard to score the opening try and conversion of the game.
This opening score provoked a response from Collegiate, who began to apply consistent pressure in their opponents half. Oli was replaced by Suneel, Finlay made way for Nial and the forwards Sonny, Calum, Mathew, Big Jack and Luke looked strong in the scrum. The overall support and rucking play from the entire team continuously improved as the game wore on. However, they still had to be mindful of the quick counter-attacking threat from Waterloo and defended accordingly to keep them at bay. Once again Harrison made some telling tackles and Luke, who is a relatively new squad addition, was without doubt the best player on show. Eventually all of the hard work began to pay off and the deficit was overturned with a fine try and conversion, by Jack Lewtas, to bring the sides level.
Friendly Liverpool Collegiate RUFC 5 v Waterloo RUFC 5
The second match was played as a friendly and due to time constraints, imposed by a senior fixture requiring the pitch, try conversions were excluded. This game was a big event for our most recent recruit, and his family, as Leonardo took to the pitch for his inaugural match. Replacing Matthew in the front row Leo II acquitted himself well for his first game adding strength and power o the scrum and was helped and encouraged throughout by his team mates notably Sonny and Luke. The game ended in the second draw of the day with Fintan scoring for Collegiate to which Waterloo duly replied.
However, it could have been all very different as Collegiate had two additional tries ruled out. The first was disallowed for an unlucky drop of the ball just as it was being placed down and the second was brought back for the previous knock-on. It is a positive characteristic of the boy's performances of late in that as the game progresses Collegiate seem to get stronger. However, if these draws and tight losses are to be turned into victories then the boys need to start the games in the same manner in which they have been finishing them.
Ste (Sonny’s Dad)