Netherhall stunned by big defeat
Last updated 10:32, Friday, 03 October 2008
NETHERHALL officials were in a state of shock after crashing to a 50-5 defeat at Egremont in the Cumbria League.
It was the Maryport side’s biggest defeat for three years and was a clear indication that Egremont are on the way back.
Netherhall secretary David Atkinson said: “Egremont were much the better team and on the evidence of what we saw will be a force to reckon with in the league.”
With the weather perfect for running rugby Egremont did not disappoint, and from the kick-off Jack Kelly put them straight onto the attack.
From a line-out in the Netherhall 22 Egremont stole the ball and released the backs. Mike Burrows broke through and offloaded to supporting flanker Mark Graham who went over under the posts. Stand-in skipper Chris Temple added the conversion.
The next 10 minutes saw both sides defend intensely with neither able to take advantage of any territory gained.
Good driving work by the Egremont forwards set up a drop goal opportunity for Kelly and he duly obliged before the home side really started to cut loose.
Temple burst through from a line-out to score a try which he converted 17-0 and from the very next play they scored again.
Good recycled ball from the forwards allowed Kelly to burst through the defence and he offloaded to the supporting Burrows who scored under the posts and Temple converted.
Gavin Donaldson then burst down the wing before laying off the deftest of passes around the fullback for Kelly to score.
It gave the home side a 29-0 lead at half-time after virtually dominating the game throughout.
Netherhall’s forwards tried hard but were outgunned in all aspects of the game although injuries to Lewis Tyson, Carl Bell, Liam Thomason and Mike Fagan did not help the situation.
From the restart Ian Buchanan, who had been solid all day, fed Ryan Barton and he attacked deep into Netherhall territory. But from the resulting maul Kelly was sin-binned for unnecessary killing the ball.
With the main advantage Netherhall enjoyed their best spell of the game and got on top. Good driving work by the forwards ended with Andrew Branthwaite going in for an unconverted try.
Netherhall’s Andrew Renney and Jonathan Burnyeat made some good ground for Netherhall but gradually Egremont regained the initiative.
From a maul Craig Peet stepped through a gap and offloaded to scrum half Ben Jacques who dummied and went over from 30 metres. Again Temple converted.
Jacques was next to go over, squeezing in at the corner, and this time Barton added the conversion.
With Netherhall tiring and deflated, Egremont kept up the intensive attacking display which allowed Burrows to burst through and score. Temple converted for a fine victory.
Cockermouth beat Aspatria Eagles 24-3 in what turned out to be a very competitive game.
It took Cockermouth 10 minutes to break the deadlock when a break down the blindside of a ruck saw exceptional close quarter inter-passing between backs and forwards and gave Owen David the chance to score in the corner.
The Eagles quickly retaliated and Lee Holliday landed a penalty to keep them in contention.
Cockermouth were made to work hard in all aspects of the game and although they dominated possession and territory for the majority of the first half, they found it difficult to breach the visitors’ defence.
On 37 minutes, after some good forward drives, the ball was released along the back line for Alan Denwood to score in the corner. Ross Maguire capped a superb performance in his new position of centre by converting beautifully from the touch line to make it 12-3 at the break.
Cockermouth began the second half strongly, with man-of-the-match Ben Swift, making his first team debut at fly half, inspiring his back line to play some excellent free-flowing rugby.
After several phases of forward drives, Aspatria stole the ball and appeared to have cleared their lines. However Cockermouth drove forward in a counter attack and when the ball was recycled by Swift it was shifted along the backs for Denwood to score his second try, one of the best seen from a Cockermouth side in recent years.
On 55 minutes the lead was extended further when Maguire fielded a kick on his 22 metre line and returned the favour with a long kick down field.
Working hard to follow his kick he tackled the Aspatria fullback who put the ball to ground and on hand was veteran Jeff Peet who pounced to scoop up the loose ball and release Andrew Skillen to score under the posts, adding the conversion himself.
From this point, however, the Eagles came back into the game and worked extremely hard to unsettle Cockermouth’s rhythm. They achieved their goal and, although unable to score themselves, kept the home side from adding to their tally.
The home side made changes and introduced another first team debutant in Mark Holmes who, like Swift, acquitted himself extremely well in the senior ranks.
Workington Steelers went down 39-7 at home to Millom, only scoring their points in the last minute. Bede O’Connor got over for a try which John McCrickard converted.
But it was a battling effort by a young Workington side who have improved noticeably from last season.
Moresby and Gosforth Greengarth were unable to put out teams for their away games at Creighton and Whitehaven respectively.
St Benedict’s, looking for a quick return to the North Lancs Cumbria League following their relegation, were 37-17 winners at Wigton Wanderers in a hard-fought game, which became quite feisty at times.
Wigton included some old heads – Stuart Dixon, Mike Armstrong and David Warwick – who were unable to travel away and were having their first starts of the season. They helped the younger players around them and kept Wigton well in the contest.
It was Wigton who scored first with an unconverted try by Dixon but by half-time Benny’s had opened-up a 15-5 lead.
Centre Richard Todd strode through for the opening try for the visitors which Christian Wood converted.
Wood was sin-binned when Saints were awarded a penalty so Carl Hiddlestone put over the kick and before half-time Steve McKeown did well to send Stephen Routledge over for an unconverted try.
Armstrong put Wigton back in the contest when he got over from a driving maul but then a good off-load from Martin McMullen put Jamie Jardine in for a try which Wood converted to edge the visitors away again.
Seventeen-year-old debutant winger Steve Nelson was given a well-timed pass by Paul Lawson to score the next try for St Benedict’s and again Wood added the conversion.
On the opposite flank another youngster James Taylor got over for a try while Wood also landed a penalty.
Wigton were always in the contest, playing with spirit, and flanker Ollie Dearden made a great break to score their third try which Warwick converted.
