7th March 2015

Linley & Kidsgrove 24 Congleton 28

South Lancashire and Cheshire 3

Quality and Desire Give Congleton the Edge

Congleton came through this very tough test against their local rivals and keep their promotion hopes alive. Having been hurt by the loss in the home fixture earlier in the season, Congleton this time spent more time executing their tactics and playing to their strengths to force a well-deserved win at the death.
The home side started strongly and exploited several missed tackles and some wayward passing to grab two tries in the first 15 minutes. Kanauros T responded with a penalty but, in conceding a third try, Linley looked comfortable at 17-3. But this Congleton side is starting to believe in themselves. Having spent many seasons battling to stay in matches, their confidence in the knowledge that when the players express themselves within their system they can destroy the best sides in the league and this belief brought the shift in momentum.
Congleton drove deep into Linley’s 22m and gained a penalty and rightly chose to take the 3 points. From the restart they moved the ball into opposition territory then went wide with Schule and Broderick entering the line to put Winship away with his trade-mark inside break to score to make it 17-13 at half time.
Impressively several key players did the talking at half time to address a number of issues such as the tackling and their line speed but most importantly to remind the team to believe in themselves. The lads responded and they looked a different team in the first 10 minutes of the second period. They demonstrated a mix of power and precision as key players stepped up and played as they know they can do. After some beautiful interplay from right to left and a couple of half breaks that took Congleton in behind Linley’s tiring defensive line, a four man overlap was created. Linley defenders scrambled to cover the wide areas, but scrum half Kanauros J spotted the gap close in to take Congleton into the lead for the first time at 17-18.
Then came the Linley backlash as they pummelled the away team’s line with scrums and lineouts but Congleton were simply massive in defence. This was not just good tackling, it was about mindset and Congleton’s defence around the ruck was hugely impressive. It’s all very well wanting the team to move the ball away from the opposition pack but you can’t do that if you don’t have the ball. Sometimes you have to front up, raise the intensity and fight your corner - they did that in spades.
In addition, Congleton’s lineout defence was awesome as they prevented Linley from exploiting their prime attacking platform. Every time they tried to catch and drive, Congleton were quickly into their defence alignment to snuff it out - Linley went backwards. Having done the hard graft, Congleton broke out and shifted the ball around, played their patterns and once again stretched Linley’s ability to defend. The backs maintained their width so that once again, Kanauros J exploited a gaping hole near the ruck to move Congleton into a 17-23 lead. Whilst the momentum had shifted to the away side, an unfortunate yellow card for Wood gave Linley a chance and they took it well with a drive up the middle and a chip to the left wing that took them into a 24-23 lead. The away spectator’s hearts sank and some were heard to say “typical” and “that’s it now” but this is not a Congleton team that gives in. The players were simply magnificent – no panic even with only 6 minutes remaining. Although one half chance went begging after wing Davies was unable to gather the ball from Kanauros T out wide, he promptly made amends after a delicate flick out of the back of Wood’s gave Davies a sniff of the line. The wing powered and wiggled his way to take Congleton into a 24-28 lead with one minute to go. Oh joy!
Big hugs and kisses al round for a moment then the realisaiton that Linley were back in the frame as they gathered the restart and drove towards Congleton’s 22m. Any infringement now would give Linley an easy 3 pointer but the away side maintained their patience and discipline until the opportunity was there to snuff out the attack and clear their lines. Bootiful.
Even against probably the biggest pack in the league, Congleton rarely lost the ball in contact and they can be proud of the way they adapted their technique in training to ensure the ruck ball presentation was cleaner and quicker. The home crowd (including toddlers) encroaching on the pitch at times was a threat but other than that Congleton demonstrated once again they can beat the big sides. Coach Burkard commented after the game “that was a very tough physical encounter, the lads are exhausted. I thought we looked out of sorts early on but I had faith they would come through. These lads are young and talented and are still learning how to win and when they are calm and maintain their communication, they make better decisions and show their undoubted quality. We did that enough today and boy was it exciting at the end!”