Tomorrow the Halbro NW Leagues conclude with Caldy 2nd xv at the top of the…
A View from JJ’s Bank
| 1st xv result – Caldy 22 – 27 Ampthill 2nd xv result – Caldy 66 – 14 Lymm 3rd xv result – Winnington Park 28 – 28 Caldy |
| The Championship, Match report – Nathan Edwards Caldy ……………….22pts Tries: Hearn 11, 47, Penalty, Conversion: Rogers 47 Penalty: Rogers 3 Ampthill ………..27pts Tries: Bracken 37, Marshall 41, Hallett 52, McNulty 55 Conversions: Barton 41, 55 Penalties: Johnson 43 A strong second-half performance saw Ampthill produce an incredible 15-point comeback to defeat Caldy. It wasn’t pretty in the first half for Ampthill, with a Sam Rogers’ penalty kick getting the scoring underway three minutes in. Those three points gave Caldy great momentum throughout the first period, and with a mix of precise kicking and poor discipline by Amphtill, the home side stormed into a healthy lead. The wind was playing a huge part, and Caldy made it count, with Ollie Wynn’s boot helping the Ravers gain territory with a lineout, and from that lineout, 13 Caldy players maulled the ball over the line with Ollie Hearn touching down 11 minutes in. Caldy then added again through a penalty try, but Ampthill finally got on the score three minutes before the break after Charlie Bracken found space out wide to burst into. That strong end to the half carried over instantly after the restart for Ampthill as they completely snatched Caldy’s lead away. Second Half From kick-off, Rhys Marshall rushed through the defence to score and Josh Barton secured the first conversion of the game. A penalty by Louie Johnson two minutes later levelled the scores, but that was short-lived as Hearn got his second try, as he collected a Matt Kilcourse pass to edge Caldy ahead. But that would be the last positive score in Caldy’s favour as Ampthill dug deep and turned the game around completely, with Josh Hallett shifting the ball well to close the Caldy lead to two points with 28 minutes remaining. The conversion was missed, but a bonus-point try secured the win for Ampthill three minutes later, Oran McNulty was at the end of a lethal fallout from a lineout to punish Caldy. The final 25 minutes required stern discipline from Paul Turner’s side as they held on for back-to-back wins in the Championship. Turner said: “This is the third win in a row up in Caldy, and we made hard work of it. I thought we made a lot of errors that we keep making week on week. Then we got our game together and we become a dangerous side; it was a fair result. I was really happy with the discipline at the end.” Caldy: Kilcourse, Royle (Mitchell 76), Wilkinson, Barlow, Robinson, Rogers (Bedlow 60), Wynn (Hanson 60), Rushton (Weatherby 51), Hearn (Higginson 55), Sproston (Gallagher 51), Groves, Sanders (Stevenson 55), Ridgeway, Woodman (Olyott 76), Dickinson (c) Ampthill: Barton (Morgan 50), Jackson, Hallett, Strachan, McNulty, Johnson (West 66), Bracken (Sylvester 59); Courtney (Isaacs 69), Marshall (Va’enuku 66), Beaton, King, Pearce- Paul, Rylands, Blackmore, Mapalangi, Not used: Isaacs, Flynn, Norrie Referee : Hamish Smales Attendance: 1032 Star Player: Ollie Hearn – Caldy – NOWIRUL Primo Drinks Cup Semi-Final Caldy 2nd xv ……………66pts Lymm 2nd xv …………….14pts Caldy dominated the game from the kick off with another impressive performance scoring 10 tries, converting 8, & extended their unbeaten run to 121 games in all competitions ! The Cup Final will be on Saturday 3rd May v Sedgley Park. Venue TBC.    Caldy 2nd xv in action Images – Barry Macdonald – NOWIRUL Primo Drinks Bowl Semi-Final Winnington Park 2nd xv ……28pts Caldy 3nd xv ……………………..28pts Match report – Steve Bishop The Rav3rs travelled to Burrows Hill on Saturday to face Winnington Park 2s, who sit third in our sister league Div 3 south. The prize a place in the Promo Drinks Bowl Final. The run up to the game was its usual frantic run around. Even on Friday we didn’t know our starting line up. Well done to Liam and Shanners. They pulled in a glut of Colts and harassed others into playing. We ended up with 18 but the bench looked like a Saga holidays outing. Two of the three replacements over Fifty. Great effort guys. Then the fun started. If you like your stats, you might want to count the tries. The officials didn’t bother !! First half was a series of knock-ons and generally taking turns at letting each other off the hook when under pressure. WP scored from a break and converted. Mid half Rav3rs answered back with TWO unconverted tries from Alex Kerr and Joe Smith. Then just before half time three from the boot. Half time score 7-13. Second half was much of the same but some Rav3rs indiscipline kicked in. WP quickly scored and converted. TWO tries a piece. 14-13. Then a WP penalty after a harsh yellow for Max Doyle for head contact. 17-13. Then Finn Collins picked up another yellow. Down to 13 players and then marched back 30 metres for use of the mouth by a couple of lads. WP kicked for touch, win the line out and went over as they spun the ball wide. This is where the air turned a tad bitter. The scorer swan dived over the line. 22-13 and WP celebrated like they’d won the Premiership. For the record THREE tries to TWO. Then the Rav3rs woke up. Isaac Hardisty had to come off injured. Boots into the pack. Duncan back into the fray and Leo for his debut onto the wing. A bit of control and Shanners, who was everywhere, went over to make it 22-18. No socks to remove yet. That’s THREE tries each. From the kick off and some more marching back, WP extended again with three. 25-18. Max Doyle back on and we made it even with a converted try. Finn Collins making up for his yellow with a line break. Try number FOUR converted. 25-25. Then even more mouth put WP in kicking distance and they took it. 28-25. Now in a hurry, the Rav3rs took to the sky with a bomb of a restart. The lads surrounded the catcher. Penalty the Rav3rs. Literally the last play. Finn McGrath asked the ref if this kick would put Caldy through as the away side ? The ref didn’t know. We were all convinced it would and Finn slotted a difficult kick to level up. 28-28. The WP players looked dejected as they thought they’d lost on the away team rule. Hands were shook and we started the tunnels. Then the ref reappeared from the sheds with his officials. Said the game was to be decided on tries and conversions. Announced a three tries all scorecard with WP scoring one more conversion. WP were the winners. The WP players, coaches and supporters went crazy – and has it to be said – were a touch unsporting in their behaviour. As we stood around looking confused, Mark Wilson asked a fair question. If we scored Three tries and only one conversion; how the hell did we get from 17 to 28 points ? We must have lost by 2, or won by 1. Which is it ? One of the assistant refs agreed and had to go get the match referee out of the shower. The other AR who was apparently responsible for the scoring stood pretty quiet. There was a check count, and The Rav3rs announced the winners on a correction. Someone had to go up to the bar and break the news to the celebrating, final bound WP players. Whoops ! Rav3rs at home to Capenhurst next Saturday 5th April, then the last league game at home v Oxton Parkonians on Saturday 26th April. The Bowl Final will be on Saturday 3rd of May v Marple. Venue TBC. I do hope WP hadn’t booked a coach. That would be unfortunate. – Caldy u18s Girls Report from Chris Green End of an era for this group of girls, some of whom have been here from year 7, all the way through to year 13. Not a big deal for the boys at the club I know, where this happens pretty much every year and has done for a long time. This one is special for us though, because it’s the first time the girls have done it. A fabulous bunch of girls and it’s been an honour and privilege to be part of their rugby journey. Hopefully they will take away some happy memories and, the knowledge or resilience, that when life knocks them down, they’ll be able to get back up again and tackle it accordingly. Thanks everyone who has contributed to their time at the club, you know who you are.  Image – Chris Green LOSW John Wylie added “Fab to see the girls going through the years gaining their rugby skills with Caldy. Ex England Women’s Captain in the 80/90’s Gill Burns was with us on Saturday at the club and she expressed her admiration of where the Women’s game had progressed to and thanked Caldy for being part of that process.” – 32nd Caldy Community Rugby Club Junior Festival u14s report Katy Smith Sunday’s Junior Festival was a scorcher for the Caldy u14 – both on & off the pitch, with some excellent rugby on display & plenty of sunburnt faces in the morning as the Costa del Caldy struck again With a last minute change in format & plenty of rejigging of fixtures after a dropout, we played a 7-team league, followed by semis & finals for the Cup & Bowl & a 3-way league for the Vase. Lots of very competitive games ensured, with several losing bonus points awarded due to tight score lines – which all added to the fun of working out who was playing who next ! Massive thanks to the U14s parents & coaches for volunteering to help with setting up, first aid, parking, running the tuckshop & the PA system & generally keeping the day going. Special mention to Nick Arnott & the gentleman from the burger van who worked out Plan B & rigged our PA system to the van’s generator ! Congratulations to Birkenhead Park u14s who eventually emerged as Cup winners, with Sandbach u14s gaining the Bowl & Whitchurch u14s the Vase. A great day had by all, with several teams already asking to do it all again next year ! u15s report Nigel Millington Sunday’s Junior Festival was a celebration of great u14, u15 and u16 junior rugby in the sunshine at Paton Field. In the u15s age grade Caldy came out Cup winners beating Anselmians twice, Macclesfield, Mold and Leigh on route to lifting the trophy. Thank you to all players, parents, coaches and club volunteers for making it such a special day for everyone involved u16s report Tony Formela Some great rugby on show and a fantastic atmosphere. Clubs represented themselves well apart from Chester ! Huge thanks to Nigel for organising a fantastic festival.  Caldy u15s Cup winning squad Image – Nigel Millington Caldy’s DoR, Gareth Davies added “Superb day at the Junior Festival, thanks to everyone who organised it I know how much work goes into it and to everyone who helped out and volunteered. Rugby was superb, loads of talent coming through our great club. #futureravers” – Rugby coming up next weekend : Caldy 1st xv away Saturday 5th April The Championship Coventry v Caldy Caldy 2nd xv away Saturday 5th April Halbro NW Bathtime Premier League Lymm v Caldy Caldy 3rd xv at Paton Field Saturday 5th April Halbro NW The Bay Travel Div 3 West Caldy Rav3rs v Capenhurst kick off 3.00pm – Caldy Rugby Club – End of Season Ball  Cheshire RFU looking for new Area Representatives Request received from Cheshire RFU Hon Sec “Since our last AGM, your Board has been reviewing its structure endeavoring to ensure it is “Fit for Purpose” as we approach our 150th year. At our AGM in June we want to restructure the Board by creating 6 new co-opted posts. We are going to divide the County into three ( West, Central and East ) with each area having a lead representative for adult rugby and age grade rugby. IOM Clubs already have access to the Cheshire RFU Board through a monthly zoom meet. The role of the representative is to be a conduit between the Board and the clubs in the area they represent. The Representative does not need to have held any office within a rugby club simply need to be a communicator, have knowledge of the rugby clubs in the area they are representing and with a keen interest in developing the game we all love. At this stage ,we are looking for expressions of interest from individuals who wish to be one of the representatives.” Anyone wanting further information, please contact John Downham (Hon Sec) [email protected] |
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