Tomorrow the Halbro NW Leagues conclude with Caldy 2nd xv at the top of the…
A View from JJ’s Bank
| 1st xv result – Coventry 49 – 31 Caldy 3rd xv result – Caldy 114 – 5 Capenhurst u17s result – Caldy 25 – 20 Liv Collegiate |
| The Championship, The Rugby Paper match report – Paul Smith Coventry……………………… 49pts Tries: Robson 1, 43; Nayalo 23, 54; Owen 58, Barton 71, Mannion 75 Conversions: Mathews 1, 23, 43, 54, 58; Mannion 71, 75 Caldy………………………….. 31pts Tries: Sproston 5, Wynn 25, Robinson 30, Sanders 63 Conversions: Barker 5, 25, 30, 63 Penalty: Barker 48  Image – John Coles Inspired by an outstanding contribution from Senitiki Nayalo, Coventry battled their way past gritty Caldy in a point-per-minute contest played in perfect conditions. The Fijian-born British Army powerhouse topped off a memorable display with a try in each half as the Blue-and-Whites took full advantage of Bedford’s defeat at Doncaster to enter the top two for the first time since the turn of the year. Despite Coventry stretching their winning sequence to three games, head coach Alex Rae was frustrated by the amount of mistakes they made during a first 40 minutes which ended with Caldy 14-21 to the good. “At the start of the game we scored a good try but then we stunk the place out and made too many errors,” he said. “I won’t repeat what I said at half-time, but to be honest we huffed and puffed our way through the game and although we won I’m not very pleased.” When Charlie Robson applied the finishing touch to a flowing 70-metre move in the opening seconds the home crowd were hopeful that a big win would materialise.  Image – John Coles However, as they had on the Wirral in the Autumn, Caldy harried the hosts into huge numbers of errors and in scrum-half Ollie Wynn and left-winger Will Robinson had the pace to turn this possession into points. Caldy were on terms after only five minutes when prop Joe Sproston powered over and, after Nayalo opened his account for the afternoon, Wynn got on Robinson’s shoulder to apply the finish to an outstanding 65-metre score created direct from a set-piece. And after Coventry then lost Aaron Hinkley to the sin bin Robinson went from creator to finisher when he snapped up an awkwardly-bouncing ball on halfway and showed the cover a clean pair of heels.Robson’s easy finish brought Coventry back on level terms once again soon after the restart and after Lewis Barker kicked a penalty for Caldy the home side stretched their lead for the first time thanks to a quick two-try salvo from Nayalo and No.8 Chester Owen. When Coventry lost Billy Nairau to a yellow card the visitors registered a try bonus-point when Tom Sanders darted through a gap. But any thoughts they retained of mounting a late comeback were quickly snuffed out by fine tries from Coventry’s replacement half-backs Josh Barton and Theo Mannion. In a perfect day for the kickers, Mannion and Tommy Mathews shared seven conversions for the hosts while Caldy’s No.10 Barker finished with four conversions and a penalty.   Images – John Coles Coventry : Robson (Trotter 49); Martin, Tiueti (Hutler 40), Hitchcock, Henry (Salt 64-72); Mathews (Mannion 60), Maunder (Barton 49); Warren (Trinder 40), Biggs (Ma’asi 40), Nairau (Salt 73); Green (Poole 49), Nayalo; Ball, Hinkley, Owen Caldy : Kilcourse (Rogers 73); Royle (Mitchell 72), Wilkinson, Barlow, Robinson; Barker, Wynn (Hanson 63); Weatherby (Rushton 56), Gallagher (Hearn 56), Sproston (Higginson 69); Groves (Stevenson 64), Sanders; Jones (Olyott 72), Ridgway, Dickinson Referee : Jonathan Cook Attendance : 2,459 Star player : Senitiki Nayalo – Coventry – NOWIRUL The Bay Travel Division 3 West Caldy 3rd xv ……………114pts Capenhurst ………………….5pts Match report – Liam Devaney The Rav3rs looked to exact revenge on Capenhurst, following a single point defeat on the first day of the season, with Tomas Williams taking on the captaincy in Shanners absence. This was always going to be a tough test for Capenhurst, playing on the 1st xv pitch in the April sunshine, against a Rav3rs team loaded with youthful skill, pace and fitness (14 / 20 of the team were 20 years old or younger). It was level pegging between the two teams for the first 15 minutes, until a handful of our lads ran their ladies day hangovers away and we scored our first try by Rob Waring, which began a deluge of points for the home team. Our game plan was move Capenhurst around the park with our forward pods playing wide off Adam Horrocks and Finn McGrath at 9 & 10 and build into out the back flicks to attack in the 15m channels with our speedy outside backs, while filling the field in defence and getting off the line to chop Capenhurst’s big forwards behind the gain line. The lads executed the game plan terrifically, for the full 80 minutes. Each and every player did an outstanding job, however the shining lights were the baby faced assassins, Finn McGrath who controlled the game well beyond his years. Alex Kerr, with his physicality in defence and terrific link play and footwork in attack and finally our electric outside backs Rob Waring & Leo Grist-Corf. Shout out to our elder statesmen, who brought much needed physicality and the dark arts to our defensive shape, Craig Smithson, Chris Stonall, Cary Wellington and Peter Weller, all trotting our for their second cap of the season. We have a huge amount of respect for Capenhurst and their players. They never gave up and played, in the true spirit of the game until the final whistle. Capenhurst are one of few teams who haven’t conceded a match this season, a true testament to the hard work that their manager and captain put in, to field a team each and every week. Our next game is at home on 26th April against Parkonians, who we also owe for a narrow single point defeat earlier in the season, with our season ending in the cup final @ New Brighton Rugby Club on the 3rd of May. Caldy tries : Rob Waring (3), Alex Kerr (2), Lucas Wiggins, Freddie Arista (2), Harry Wilson, Jack Wilson, Ben Leek (3), Leo Grist-Corf (2), Orson O’Rourke, Harry Evans, Peter Weller. Conversions : Finn McGrath (8), Freddie Arista (4).     Images – Barry Macdonald – Halbro NW Colts Junior Cup Semi-Final Caldy u17s ……………………..25pts Liv Collegiate u17s ……………20pts Match report – Paul Clark The Junior Colts made their second final in consecutive weekends with a thrilling last play victory over Liverpool Collegiate in the semi final of the Halbro NW Colts Junior Cup. On a baking day at Paton Field, the JCs took the field with only 15 available players, including 2 recruits from the u16s. From the first play of the game Collegiate were given a proper Caldy welcome as their no. 4, flying full pelt, was stopped dead in his tracks, setting the tone for the next 70 minutes. Early penalties were traded before Matti Sangare went over only for the ref not to see the grounding ( Baz Macdonald did ! ) – the lads quickly re-grouped and scored two phases later though Tom Hazleton, with Jamie Arista converting. Collegiate hit back with a try of their own, before a surging run from Ruben Smith was stopped just before the line, the forwards recycled and Louis Hayes-Green touched down. 17-10 at half time, fluids on board and lads game managing well, it was going to need a big second half. An early try for Collegiate brought them back level and further penalties were traded. In the last quarter of the game the JCs got stronger and stronger but couldn’t quite find the final finishing touch. Richard Williams looked over the line but the ref said it was held up; we got pinged for a truck and trailer from a 5 yard line-out as Collegiate didn’t contest. 5 minutes to go and we needed a score to win and go through. The lads eschewed shots at goal – much to the surprise of their coaches and JJ’s Bank – because they felt they needed the try to win it. Down to the last play – won a line out on their 22 – Jamie Arista line break – 2 phases of recycling and our scrum half Dylan Jones picked and scored in the corner – cue knackered delirium ! It was an amazing game with both sides giving it everything. Thanks to the great crowd on JJ’s Bank who cheered the lads on – we needed our 16th man up there ! The Junior Cup Final will be on Sunday 4th May at Heaton Moor RUFC – everyone welcome !     Images – Barry Macdonald – Rugby coming up next Saturday : Caldy 1st xv at Paton Field Saturday 12th April The Championship Caldy v Hartpury Match tickets are available to buy via our club website Please go to https://caldyrugbyclub.com/buy-tickets-membership/ – Caldy Rugby Club – End of Season Ball |
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