Congleton V Port Sunlight League Away

Congleton Rugby Club 1st XV Report Sat 3rd Oct 2009
Port Sunlight V Congleton (away) League game

Congleton travelled to face Port Sunlight, who are currently at the bottom of the league, with a largely unchanged team from last week’s narrow defeat.
Congleton choose to kick off and applied pressure straight away forcing Sunlight back deep into their 22, where a series of rucks and short probing drives by the forwards took them close to the try line. From one ruck set up by Ridgway the forwards picked up and rolled right, where Ridgway keen to keep involved popped up to dive over for an unconverted try to take a 5 point lead.
Congleton did not have a chance to settle as Sunlight came back at them from the restart and due to some poor Congleton tackling were soon deep into Congleton territory, where they managed to break through the defence to score a converted try wide out to bring the score to 7 - 5
On 12 minutes Congleton’s improving line out worked well to allow the excitable Whitely to score a try which due to the windy conditions was not converted. Congleton now re-took the lead 7 – 10.
The next 10 minutes saw some poor handling from Congleton’s back line spoil a lot of good work by the forwards and the game seemed to be bogged down between both 22 meter lines. Congleton were trying to force the play instead of playing the good rugby they are capable of. One such unforced error led to an interception pass given to Sunlight who ran through to score under the posts. The conversion was missed to take the score to 12 -10
Just before half time Sunlight took a quick penalty wide out on the left and with most of the Congleton team asleep ran through unopposed to score near to the posts. This try was not converted to give Sunlight the lead at 17 – 10.
Congleton regrouped and took things back to basics, with the forwards winning good line out and using the practiced rolling maul effectively. This sucked in the home defence and Manning used quick ball to feed the backs who fed the ball out to winger Podmore who outstripped the defence to score a good team try. Podmore again struggled with the cross field gale and the conversion attempt was blown off course. The half finished with the score 17-15 in favour of Sunlight.

The second half saw Congleton playing into the wind and downhill. The wind was making passing difficult and they had to run out of defence or allow Ridgway to punt the ball over a rushed Sunlight back line.
With five minutes of the second half gone, Sunlight were awarded a penalty to extend the lead to 20 – 15. Congleton however never let their heads go down and pushed on with probing runs by Wilcox on the wing and Burkhard from fullback. Burkhard added an extra factor to Congleton’s game by stepping in to the scrum half position when manning was involved in numerous snipping runs at the home defence from rucks and mauls.
On 48 minutes some simple rugby and good hands saw Wilcox out sprint the defence wide on the right to score another unconverted try to tie the score at 20 all.
Sunlight were now looking tired from the pressure and Congleton worked the ball through to Wilding at inside centre when Captain Davies had to leave the field. Jamie Woodman took the field and gave a steadying hand on the tiller, with some good carries and stout defence.
Wilding took a little time to settle back into his old position but was soon charging through big holes in the home defence. From one such charge into the Sunlight half a ruck was set up and again quick hands through both forwards and backs saw Podmore with a sniff of a chance, which he took, to round his opposite number, out-strip the covering defence and score a try wide out near the left touch line. The conversion was missed but Congleton now had the lead 20 – 25
More forwards pressure led to a scrum eight metres out from Sunlight’s try line and a controlled heave from the pack saw a push over try for number eight Whitely, who’s celebrations were a little over the top but were borne out of commitment and passion. The lead was now 10 points as the conversion dropped short into the wind.
With the game drawing to a close a clever punt by Ridgway saw the eager Podmore scoop up the bouncing ball under the noses of Sunlight’s backs and he had the pace to out sprint them to score under the posts. Ridgway converted with a drop goal to give a final score of Port Sunlight 20, Congleton 37.
This was a game Congleton should have won more convincingly but, they allowed Sunlight to keep in the game and need to cut out the silly mistakes. They have the ability but need to focus and come together as a team if they are to beat better sides. They made hard work of this game but still showed they can now play some good rugby when they put their minds to it.
Players who stood out were May at hooker, Wilding, Whitely and Podmore. Credit needs to go to the pack as a whole but Croft had a great tight game and both Woodman brothers added experience and grit.

Team:
1. Watt
2. May
3. Croft
4. Wilding
5. Cashmore
6. Kirkham
7. Woodman John
8. Whitely
9. Manning
10. Ridgway
11. Podmore
12. Davies
13. Berrisford
14. Wilcox
15. Burkhard
16. Woodman Jamie