October 24th 2015

Congleton 1st XV 43 Ashton on Mersey 5

Cheshire South

Comfortable in Third Gear

With the onset of winter on Hankinsons field Congleton ran in 7 tries to secure their second league win of the season. The first ten minutes were atrocious as forwards and backs dropped countless passes and simple kicks but nerves settled once Summerfield pounced on an Ashton on Mersey spill in midfield as he dribbled his way to the line. The pressure put on the away side’s attack was immense as Congleton looked to dominate the advantage line with excellent line speed.
Wood got on the score sheet again with a trademark line break to take it to 14-0 at half time where the talk was about doing the simple things well. Within minutes, hooker Keenan spotted a weakness around a midfield breakdown to scoot away under the posts followed by Kanauros grabbing the bonus point try when he nipped down the short side. AoM pulled a try back but from then on they were never allowed to get near the home side’s line. When they looked like stringing a few phases together, they often found Congleton’s openside flanker Mark Wright smashing them to the ground and/or stealing the ball.
A wonderful try from a penalty move inside AoM’s 22 gave new dad Beresford a clean run in down the left and this was followed by the pick on the tries by Man of the Match Wright down the right – Kanauros initiating with support from Brodericci with Wright, running a superb support line, on hand to finish. Wing Simms finished off the second half rout to nail AoM’s coffin firmly closed.
Congleton won this match not because of their set pieces which were a bit hit and miss at times, but because they dominated the ground battle. Their intensity and decision making when to commit and when to leave a lost cause at the contact areas was outstanding. In addition, whilst they didn’t really hit top gear, they adapted well to what was in front of them to manage their way through the game effectively. The AoM captain said after the game “we were surprised by how good your set pieces and structures were as we didn’t expect that”. Praise indeed.