Report by Wyn Williams

Photos Courtesy of Phil Broster : phil_scoop@hotmail.co.uk 

 

Thunderous Performance by Revitalised Blues : New Brighton 34 Lymm 14

 

With a recent record more reminiscent of last season’s play and a resounding loss away to Lymm earlier in the season, only the most optimistic of the Blues’ supporters were confident of winning this match.  How wrong we were!  With two Kati tries in the bank after just 5 minutes, things were looking very rosy for the home side.  In the pre-match notes on this site, coach Steve Dorrington had expressed his satisfaction at the turn out and enthusiasm in training this week and what a difference it seems to have made!  Gone was the hesitancy and indecision of recent weeks to be replaced by a focus and precision that sparked a real and substantial improvement in team performance.  The pack was superb throughout the match, Campbell and Stead were commanding in the lineout and often prominent in the loose.  One magnificent take at a Lymm lineout near the Blues 22 by Stead, followed by a 25 metre charge to the half way line typified their afternoon’s work.  The front row were solid and debutant Goulding at loose head should be very pleased with his first match.  The back row was very combative with Kati at his magnificent best.  Not to be outdone by their forwards, the backline looked very slick with Hesketh and Dean showing up well and Parker proving a handful for the opposition with his powerful bursts through the centre.  Another significant improvement was in the discipline displayed by the whole team.  No yellow cards, few penalties and only one 10 yard concession for dissent meant that the momentum generated by their excellent performance was not interrupted by the corrosive effect of poor discipline. 

 

Dean converted one of Kati’s early tries to give New Brighton a commanding 12 – 0 lead after just 6 minutes.  Lymm then showed that they are not a side to be taken lightly when, after a sustained period of pressure, their back row scored a try from a 5-metre scrum.  With a successful conversion reducing the lead to 12 – 7, the Blues needed to redouble their efforts.  Dean harnessed the brisk breeze on his back beautifully to ensure the home side were attacking from the right field positions.  After another powerful Kati run had taken play to within 10 metres of the Lymm line, an attacking scrum enabled Dean to chip sweetly over the blanket defence for Hopkin to score with ease to restore a healthy lead of 17 – 7 after 18 minutes.  New Brighton kept their shape and discipline to maintain strong pressure on the Lymm line.  After an excellent team move with several lovely offloads a try for the rampaging Campbell was only thwarted by a Lymm hand knocking the ball from his grasp as he crossed the line.  Lymm were reduced to 14 men when their open side was sin-binned for trying to slow down the abundance of ball won by the home pack.  An easy 3 points was turned down when the Blues ran a penalty from in front of the Lymm posts.  A decision that was vindicated when the visitors were unable to stop the rampaging Kati from crossing for his hat-trick and with an easy Dean conversion, the Blues lead of 24 – 7 was well ahead of the wind advantage afforded them in the first half.  The excellent Hopkin suffered what seemed like a serious injury to his shoulder and was replaced by another debutant Gareth Jones, a recent recruit from the university.  Unfortunately a second converted try by Lymm near the end reduced the lead to more manageable proportions from their point of view.  A decisive break by their stand-off allowed their left winger to score with ease.  Just as well that the dangerous Lymm backs, in which New Brighton old boy Dan Naylor had a relatively quiet game, were denied much ball by the imposing home eight. 

 

This last score did take the shine off what had been a magnificent half for New Brighton and the halftime score of 24 – 14 was not a true reflection of the Blue’s superiority.

 

Half-time  New Brighton  24 – 14  Lymm

 

The second half proved to be a stalemate for the first quarter of an hour, with the home pack winning most of the good ball, Lymm were unable to harness the wind to gain the field position they wanted and had to chance their arm from their own territory but the home defence denied them any scope to show their class.  Twice the referee failed to give New Brighton the opportunity sufficient advantage to score, taking them back to previous offences when a try still seemed possible.  A small criticism for an otherwise excellent official who correctly allowed the players centre stage in a great advert for the game.  New Brighton finally made their pressure tell when Kati, who else, left a few sore Lymm defenders in his wake to cross for his fourth try.  Dean failed with the conversion into the now softening breeze.  Lymm now worked hard and started to come back into the game but Stead’s superb lineout take and charge upfield swung the momentum back in New Brighton’s favour.  Excellent half-back play maintained the pressure and only a desperate intervention by a Lymm hand prevented a score after a decisive Dean break.  They were not to be denied when the redoubtable Beefy, finding himself in possession on the flank, deftly chipped the ball past the full back and scored himself from the ensuing ruck.  Steve Dorrington is not the only New Brighton prop with the skills of a stand-off!

 

Full-time  New Brighton 34 – 14  Lymm

 

New Brighton kept their slim chance of promotion alive by overtaking Lymm into fourth place in the North 2 West League.  This performance was indeed worthy of a team chasing promotion.  Despite some outstanding performances by individuals, especially Kati, the overall impression was of a magnificent team performance.  Steve Dorringtom was delighted with his charges, especially after the frustrations of the last month or so.

 

Northwich 21 – 10 New Brighton

Team:  1. Lee McCourt, 2. Lewis Mullen, 3. John Brotherton, 4. Paul Campbell, 5. Ryan Stead, 6. Danny Jones, 7. Wayne Clayton, 8. Kati Tu’ipulotu, 9. Alan Hesketh, 10. Steve Dean, 11. Josh Bates, 12, Loa Tupou, 13, Chris Dale, 14. Joe Bowmer, 15. Rick Hopkin.
Replacements: 16. Dan Stafford, 17. Phillip Buckley, 18. Ali Child.

Poor Performanc by the Blues

A close inspection of all their previous results, particularly the corresponding fixture at Hartsfield earlier in the season, clearly showed that Northwich, despite their lowly league position, are a team that deserve respect, especially on their own patch, and the Blues failed to give them sufficient respect.  Put in the added ingredient of the home team and particularly their fans, intent on winding up their past players in the visiting team, a warm welcome was assured for the much changed New Brighton outfit.  The visitors kicked off into the stiff breeze and a bright low sun, hoping that they could keep well in contention until the elements were in their favour.  Unfortunately a penalty after 3 minutes and a try under the posts 4 minutes later after some weak tackling in the centre of the field was anything but the start required, leaving them 10 – 0 down after just 8 minutes. 

Some good attacking play, with Loa and Kati to the fore, allowed Dean to kick a penalty from close in to reduce the deficit to 10 – 3 after 13 minutes.  Despite their poor start, the Blues now produced their best rugby and went close on several occasions.  Some bad handling occasionally left them down and Northwich were quick to use the wind effectively to turn defence into attack and only some poor handling themselves saved the New Brighton line on several occasions.  Dale was particularly targeted and had suffered several heavy tackles.  However, being the effervescent character that he is, he certainly gave as good as he got.  One such heavy tackle earned the referee’s disapproval and a straightforward 3 points for Northwich took them to 13 – 3 after 30 minutes.  Another good drive by the home pack took them deep into the Blues territory but neat defensive work by the Brighton half-backs cleared the situation.  The visitors were relieved to reach half time with just a 10 point deficit.  Despite a very indifferent start, they had shown plenty of resolve, despite some problems in the set pieces, for the travelling faithful to feel optimistic about their chances with the wind at their backs. 

Half Time  Northwich  13 – 3  New Brighton

This optimism was to be dashed when New Brighton failed to win sufficient quality ball in the early exchanges to enable them to use the wind to gain territorial advantage.  Several basic errors such as kicking into touch on the full and the compounding problems in the scrum gave the home side every encouragement to hassle the Blues sufficiently for their flaky composure to waver under pressure.  At one disintegrating scrum, New Brighton were penalised for standing up and the referee misinterpreted Beefy’s explanation that he was effing boring to march them 10 yards upfield.  Sufficiently close for stand-off Hayes to land a good goal, admittedly with a lull in the wind, giving the home side a lead of 16 – 3 after 48 minutes. 

There was a definite improvement after this but the visiting side were still prone to basic mistakes, errors that should have been left on the practice ground.  A super try by the visitors lifted the spirit considerably.  A scrum on the home 10m line saw Kati picking up and laying off to his scrum half who gave a lovely flat pass to Hopkin, steaming up from full back and straight through the narrowest of gaps in the home defence to score under the posts for Dean to convert, reducing the deficit to a manageable 16 – 10 after 60 minutes. 

A fortuitous try for Northwich and a New Brighton red card ended the Blues resistance.  With 15 minutes to go, the home backs, attacking from the Blues 10-yard line, sent a pass to ground only for a lucky bounce and a hint of a knock enabling left winger Campbell to hack on and win the race to the touchdown.  The failed conversion still left the Blues with a mountain to climb.  The substitution of Clayton by Child, who went on the wing, meant Bates reverting to his natural position of flanker (for all of two minutes).  Another crunching, but seemingly fair, tackle by Dale again incurred the referee’s disapproval and a yellow card was shown.  Dale, thinking perhaps that he was playing football, let the referee know his disapproval in no uncertain terms, leaving the ref with no option, unlike his footballing colleagues, of a second yellow card and dismissal of Dale from the field of play.  Northwich finished strongly, putting even more pressure on their opponents’ seven man scrum, and the Blues were relieved not to concede further points before the final whistle.

Full Time:  Northwich  21 – 10  New Brighton

There is no doubt this was a disappointing result and a below par performance by a side competing for promotion in this league and still just 4 points adrift of the league leaders, despite this setback.  The error count is far too high and ill-discipline is costing us dear.  The gamble of playing Loa at centre produced mixed results, he was undoubtedly a handful for the opposition defence with his powerful runs but the ¾ line as a whole lacked fluency and need to work on their defensive alignment.  Whilst the team clearly missed Mike Gallimore’s combative play, Alan Hesketh had an excellent game at scrum-half.  His passing was generally crisp and his covering prodigious.  The back row was workmanlike and some of the forward drives were very effective.
There are times when the Blues’ individual talent is clearly commensurate with a side with aspirations of promotion.  However, as a team, they are too often dysfunctional, profligate with basic errors, often playing as if with strangers.  Coach Steve Dorrington said “today’s performance was as insipid a display from a group of people representing New Brighton that I have seen for some time”.