Richmond keep their nerve to deny Caldy
By TIM FORRESTER For The Rugby Paper
Richmond ………35pts
Tries: Hocking 3, Cardew 17, 22; Case 29, Grieve 31 Conversions: Grieve 4,18, 23, 30, 32
Caldy ………………29pts
Tries: Kelly 13, Hearn 40, Weatherby 44, Hyde 54, Gallagher 72 Conversions: Parkin 31, Attis 42
If ever there was a game of two halves, this was it.
Leading 35-5 after half an hour, Richmond had to cling on in the last 15 minutes of the game to complete their first win of the season.
Some brave defence at the end, coupled with superior goal kicking, was the deciding factor.
Richmond head coach Rob Powell commented: “I’m hoping that, now we have this win, we can relax a bit and get more composed.
“We saw our best and our worst today. In the first half we were absolutely outstanding but then Caldy showed their spirit. I thought we showed real Richmond spirit in the final phases, and if we can bottle that, we will be fine this season.”
Richmond opened the scoring after three minutes with a line-out drive completed by Harry Hocking.
Caldy responded with one of their trademark drives, after Richmond leaked their first three of 16 penalties.
However, Richmond dominated the next 17 minutes with four unanswered tries as they appeared to open up a match-winning lead.
Josh Cardew got two tries, the second featuring a wonderful piece of athletic balance as he stayed infield to score a try in the corner.
Paddy Case and Calum Grieve added the fourth and fifth tries as Richmond forced errors.
Caldy’s Ollie Hearn got one back in the final minutes of the half to give his side a glimmer.
That glimmer got brighter when Richmond kept giving away penalties. Monty Weatherby narrowed the gap after just two minutes of the second half.
Charlie Hyde, who was a constant danger at the back, soon added a fourth, getting eventual approval from the referee after touching down in the corner.
Fed by a continuing stream of penalties and then a yellow card, Caldy were now dominant, and a fifth try by Matt Gallagher was inevitable. Six points behind, Caldy pressed deep into the 22, but a stout Richmond defence finally held out.
First team coach Matt Cairns commented: “The first half, we just didn’t turn up. The second half we turned things around and we scored 17 points unanswered and played closer to what we want.
“In the end we got a point on the road, and that could prove vital.”
Caldy 2nds run in eight tries at Sale FC Vikings
Caldy 2nds claimed a 54–28 away win over Sale FC Vikings, crossing for eight tries in an entertaining contest.
The visitors made an early impact, with Luke Denn opening the scoring after three minutes. Sale stayed competitive through the opening exchanges, and Caldy coach Christian “CJ” Jones felt the Vikings had strengthened since last season, with several players bringing first-team experience. They made Caldy work hard for the first 20 minutes.
Denn added his second try in the 19th minute, before Lucas Wiggins crossed at 32 minutes. Matty Rabbette scored on the stroke of half-time to extend Caldy’s lead.
Caldy came out strongly after the break. Wiggins scored his second try just two minutes into the half, and Eddie Banks touched down at 50 minutes. Jack Done added another four minutes later, before Banks completed his brace in the 66th minute.
Sale replied with 28 points of their own, but Caldy’s eight tries helped them pull clear and secure the 54–28 result.
Jones knows a demanding spell lies ahead for his side. His message, borrowing from Ted Lasso, was: “Don’t fight back, fight forward.”
Sam Roberts Runs Riot as Young Caldy Rav3rs Beat Sefton 2nds
On an afternoon bathed in Autumn sunshine, Caldy Rav3rs faced Sefton 2nd XV, a side hoping that a good win might put them top of the table. The conditions promised to allow the Rav3rs to play their brand of “Caldy Rugby”, free-running, putting the ball through the hands and attacking space; digging in and making tackles when out of possession.
Fielding a young team once again with 11 players under the age of 21, Caldy 3rds rose to the occasion on the “Big Pitch”. It was not easy and Sefton 2s put up a real fight, especially up front where their superior weight, and perhaps being better versed in the “dark arts”, caused problems at the set piece and their main line-out jumper was a foot taller than any of the lads in black and gold.
Overall, Caldy missed fewer tackles and in Sam Roberts, had the stand out player on the day. Sam ran in 5 tries, the first from about 60 metres, when he ran around defenders, and when he couldn’t run round, he ran over them! Each of his scores was an admirable finish from distance and involved out-sprinting, bullying and by-passing players to reach the line.
Leo Grist Corfe made a fleeting appearance, overcoming the horrors of a hard-earned hang-over to score, before injury claimed him. Harry Pickering added two conversions. (He’d have had more, but with only one person to run the line, take on the water and deliver the kicking tee, he was reduced to drop kicking on a number of occasions!)
There isn’t time to highlight all of the contributions made in this impressive team performance. The lads were asked to work hard, defend resolutely, compete intelligently and they did. They were asked to attack spaces, move the ball effectively and support the ball carrier and they did that, too.
But there were highlights such as Harry Alexander and fellow Senior Colt, Bobby Banks, combining to drive a large Seftonian metres back in the tackle, while watching captain Mountney slipping the athletic and very effective Luke MacDonald the ball with a chicken-wing-pass out of the tackle will live long in the memory!
It was fine game played in very good spirit and we look forward to our trip to Sefton in February.
Meanwhile, the leadership group was quick to remark on how much better things go, if players make themselves available and turn up on time! Well done to the lads who, by committing to play, turning up and giving their best, made the whole thing possible.
Caldy Junior Colts Dig Deep to Beat Rochdale in Physical Contest
Caldy 19 – Rochdale 10
Caldy junior colts came out on top after a tough physical encounter with one of the Colts Conference A league contenders Rochdale RUFC. Rochdale started quickly taking an early 5 – 0 lead having carved Caldy open in midfield with some speedy backs, but Caldy soon settled down into their rhythm and once they fronted up physically we started to dominate the set piece and get the ball through our hands. Tries from Kaleb Thompson and Alex Meager with successful conversions from Henry Macnamara meant Caldy went into halftime 14 -5 up. The second half was tight and it was a case of who could defend better. Rochdale nicked a second try making it 14 – 10, but the game was put to bed as a contest in the last few minutes, when Max Hazeleton scored a great solo try of his own lineout throw in. A far from perfect performance but a good win against a strong and well drilled opponent on their first ever visit to Paton Field.
