January 17th 2015

Capenhurst 15 Congleton 29

Cheshire and South Lancashire 3

Defensive Intensity the Key for Bears Brilliance

Playing Capenhurst away from home has always been a tough fixture and this weekend, particularly with several key players missing from the line-up, was set to be one hell of a battle. The changes in personnel meant an all new second row partnership in debutant Butters and Kelly – both young and both usually props. Captain, Roderick Broderick, shifted onto the flank with youthful coach Burkard slotting in seamlessly at 9.
For the first 10 minute Capenhurst’s raw forward power pinned Congleton deep in their own half but very quickly there was evidence that the away side’s backs were far superior than that of the home side’s and they soon began creating opportunities to get behind the opposition. Tom Kanauros at 10 controlled proceeding beautifully and it was his chip into space behind the blitzing defenders that led to a pulsating first score. Wing Beresford scooped the ball and fed Full back Williams who jogged in from half way as if he was out for a Sunday stroll with his new wife. Joe Kanauros slotted the conversion and a further penalty but Congleton were unable to prevent Capenhurst getting back on level terms with a try, conversion and penalty to bring the scores level at the break.
The second half saw Congleton score three more excellent tries. The first of which came from a piece of pure genius from Von Burkard. On half way with the ball bobbling about he rocketed a twenty metre blind reverse pass to Winship out wide who blasted out of the blocks to weave his magic and score an amazing try.
Carter joined the fray for the injured Kelly with 25 minutes to go and he made an immediate impact up front. Soon after, Congleton’s line speed forced Capenhurst to kick but Winship returned it with interest to set up Joe Kanauros wide on the other side of the pitch for another brilliantly finished try in the corner. With Capenhurst tiring and Congleton now firing on all cylinders the fourth try proved to be a peach. From a strong scrum centre King ran an impressive line to carve through the midfield. The ball was moved to the support right then left and finished by Tom Kanauros who powered away for the bonus point try.
To Capenhurst’s credit they managed to get a consolation try at the death but, in truth, they were well beaten in the end. Congleton matched their scrum and competed well at the lineout essentially preventing Capenhurst from ever building any real momentum. Congleton set out to win enough ball for the backs to work with but they did so much more and, for large chunks of the game, Capenhurst were contained. When it came to playing the game wider there was only going to be one winner and so it panned out. Big credit has to go to Congleton’s forwards. They managed to keep their intensity high when it mattered and the front row of Watt, Holbrook and Hassel were simply awesome in the tight. With Partridge immense at 8, ably supported by Broderick and Davenport all playing with distinction, the back row out-gunned the opposition trio. Butters’ 1st team debut was a pleasure to witness and he looks like a bright prospect for the future.
Despite Congleton only really playing with finesse and fluency for 5 or 10 minutes over the course of the match, it was enough, but should they play like that for even 20 minutes in future matches they will put any team to the sword very quickly. While the execution of back plays was not as good as they’d have liked, they still looked sharp in attack. In defence, Congleton were immense, smothering the ball carriers whether they used one out runners or if they dared pass wide. But the most impressive element of the game from Congleton’s perspective was their communication. Players were clear, specific and loud in their instruction to each other which most certainly helped their defensive shape and in choosing the right attacking options.
A rather disconsolate home team supporter said after the game “we struggled to cope once Congleton started to get front-foot ball and the way your half backs ran the game meant you were impressively in control”.