It was stated after last weeks disappointment that champions are not made by the 139 point wins, rather than the lessons learned from defeat.

With this in mind, the 1st XV had a point to prove against visiting Orrell on what was the first top pitch fixture of the season.

The game had an almost nervous feel to it at the start, with neither side able to take control with regards to territory and possession.
However, a Chris Lloyd penalty early on gave the home side the opening score, with them seeming the more dangrous on the occassions when they would attack.

Orrell leveled through a penalty of their own before more indiscipline gave Chris Lloyd another penalty, shortly followed by a brilliantly taken drop goal by Adam Anderson to create some breathing space.

Although there was some good periods, neither team looked like scoring, although the more expansivevplay was consistently coming from the home side.

This was always going to pay off in the end and, as the visitors were tiring before the end of the half, Si Crowder took full advantage of a gap, bursting through and gliding home for the games opening try right on the brink of half time.

This score proved costly for the away side, with this score giving the boys in blue the confidence to start playing.

With the forwards providing a destructive platform in the scrum, and another Ando drop goal over, a switch play gave Chris Lloyd a typically short run in for try number two.
With the conversion successful, this gave the home side too much breathing space and Orrell fell apart as a result.

However, innaccuracy in the oppositions final third meant that Collegiate could not capitalise on the space that was developing by the second.

This was until the deadly Si Crowder put a speculative kick over to the opposing full back.
Now, a kick is only as good as its chase (I'm told) and this was a testament to that as, with the ball spilled, Si hacked on and showed his pace to dot down for the third try of the game and his second.

Now chasing the bonus point, no game would be complete without Sam Holliday getting on the scoreboard.
Following a well weighted kick, Sam showed that Si wasnt the only one with gas to burn as he scooted over for the bonus point try.

With the conversion successful yet again, this brought the final score to 43-3.

An excellent response, but with a worrying number of chances wasted from the 1st XV, who travel to Marple next week