Congleton 1st XV Home V Port Sunlight Cheshire Cup

Congleton Rugby Club 1st XV Report Sat 10th Oct 2009 V Port Sunlight (Home) Cheshire Cup game
On Saturday, Congleton received last week’s league opponents Port Sunlight, in a home Cup tie.
The game plan was to pressurise the visitors early on and put some points on the board to avoid the close run event from the previous week, however it was obvious that this was a much changed Port Sunlight team, who would not roll over easily.
Congleton kicked off and Sunlight’s forwards cleared up well and the fly half quickly cleared his lines with an up-field kick which turned Congleton around. Congleton were forced to kick for touch with Williams showing confidence at full back, which lasted throughout the game.
Congleton spent the next ten minutes defending their goal line, with Kirkham, Croft and Carter putting in some strong tackles.
Congleton absorbed the pressure and slowly worked the ball back up field with Ridgway using some clever probing kicks to test Sunlight’s back three, and both Beresford and Podmore chasing well - forcing mistakes from Sunlight’s defence.
From one such forced mistake Congleton were awarded a penalty after the full back held onto the ball in the tackle. Podmore found his rhythm again and slotted the ball between the posts to give Congleton a 3 – 0 lead after 15 minutes.
This score settled Congleton, who began to dominate in the forwards. The scrums were solid and Congleton began to turn the screw, taking a few against the head, allowing scrum half Burkhard to feed the ball to Ridgway, who used “crash-ball” Wilding to good effect, punching holes in the Sunlight defence.
On 30 minutes a penalty just inside the Congleton half was quickly taken by Burkhard who passed to Ridgeway who fed Jamie Woodman who then started a bullocking run up-field. Croft was on his shoulder to set up a ruck on Sunlight’s 10 metre line which was recycled by the forwards and shipped down the back line, through numerous pairs of hands.
Number eight Whitely popped up in support to scamper over the try line under the posts to score a fine try. The celebrations were muted, as Congleton knew they still had a job to do emphasised by the unsuccessful conversion attempt. The score was now 8 – 0 in Congleton’s favour.
Congleton continued to play some good rugby for the rest of the half with the line-out working well. Both jumpers May and Carter took clean ball and the forwards looked controlled as they mauled the ball up field. Some harsh decisions by the referee penalised Congleton’s hard work, but more and more mistakes began to creep into Congleton’s game.
Half time came with no further score, but Congleton could have and should have pushed further ahead, but silly mistakes and unforced errors allowed Sunlight to keep the door open.
The second half started in much the same way, with Congleton playing all the rugby and making all the mistakes. On 50 minutes Sunlight kicked long from yet another penalty and with the sound of the fair drowning out the line out call, threw long to allow their scrum half to gather and run at Congleton’s defence.
Once again some poor tackling and flat footed defence allowed Sunlight to run through to score a good try which they converted to take the score to within a point at 8 – 7.
The game now became a test of endurance with both sides trying to play in each other’s twenty two metre area and avoid mistakes.
A hamstring pull saw Burkhard substituted by Manning who came on to the pitch firing on all cylinders, eager to take the ball forward. The game took on a familiar pattern for Congleton with only one point in it and the clock ticking down.
Ridgway kept plugging away and the forwards never gave up hope, showing the kind of team spirit and confidence missing in previous seasons.
However Sunlight showed they are not a team to be dismissed lightly when they kicked a penalty from wide out right and went ahead 8 – 10 with only 10 minutes to go.
Congleton now needed to show how far they had come this year, by not caving in or giving up. From the re-start the forwards rumbled the ball upfield, but again were penalised for “truck and trailer” offences by the referee.
Digging deep – Congleton regrouped and with only a few minutes remaining saw themselves deep into Sunlight territory, trying to break the gain line with Wilding punching infield and Manning snipping around the breakdown.
Once again pressure on Sunlight’s defence saw Congleton awarded a penalty when the fullback held on to the ball after a tackle by Kirkham. Podmore stepped up and with the clock on 78 minutes stroked the ball just inside the right hand upright to swing the score back in Congleton’s favour at 11 – 10.
Sunlight threw everything at Congleton who were forced back into their own half and conceded a silly penalty in a similar position to the last successful Sunlight attempt.
The crowd held its collective breath and the noise from the Fair grew to a crescendo as the Sunlight Fly half sent the ball flying towards the posts but he was off target to the left and Williams touched down allowing the referee to blow the final whistle on this white knuckle ride of a game, much to the relief of Congleton’s players.
Full time Congleton 11 – Port Sunlight 10

Team:
1. Watt
2. May
3. Croft
4. Carter
5. Cashmore
6. Kirkham
7. Woodman
8. Whitely
9. Burkhard
10. Ridgway
11. Podmore
12. Wilding
13. Davies
14. Beresford
15. Williams
16. Manning
17. Graham