A Game of two Halves

 

The Blues travelled to Broughton Park in this North Two West League encounter and expected a stiff test.

 

The Blues started with a little caution, but soon built confidence with Marcus Coast finding holes in the home sides defensive line. It was that man Coast who ignited the game on several occasions before he burst through again, galloping 40 metres prior to feeding the impressive Greg Hughes who finished off the move in the corner. Skipper Steve Dean added the extras to give the Blues an early 0 - 7 lead.

 

The Blues were at it almost immediately after the kick off and they found themselves in the BP half again following some fantastic interplay in the forwards who were well on top throughout and were marshalled admirably by the returning Alan Hesketh. On this incursion the Blues were awarded with a penalty following some indiscipline by the BP forwards and Dean added the 3points with ease to increase the Blues' lead 0 - 10.

 

The Blues carried on their charge and were now starting to show major promise and following some great work by Hesketh, Dean and Coast, prop Lotu crashed over with great pace for a big man to extend the lead. Dean added the extras to give the Blues a 17 point lead.

 

Broughton Park kicked forward following the restart and put the Blues under their first bit of pressure and following a scrum in their own 22 an over confident backline tried to run out of their own 22 and came a cropper following poor handling and gifted the surprised BP centre with an easy converted try to reduce the home sides arrears to 7 - 17.

 

The Blues as if wounded by this easy score gathered the bal from the kick off and spun it wide from Hesketh to Dean, enter Coast up the middle, who raced 35 metres to score in touch, a real try that Dean added the extras.

 

Half time score Broughton Park 7 New Brighton 24.

 

Coach Steve Dorrington asked for much the same in the second half from the improved Blues.

 

The second half started much the same as the first and the Blues were unlucky not to score in the 43rd minute when a flowing move came to nothing following a knock on an subsequent turnover.

 

It was Broughton Parks turn to turn on the pressure and scored out wide following slow first phase ball and reduced the Blues' lead to 14 - 24.

 

The Blues romped straight back with Hesketh leading the charge with his marshalling of the forwards, slick service to his half back partner and sniping runs from the base.On another incursion into the BP 22 the Blues were awarded with another penalty, which Dean slotted with ease to increase the lead to 14 - 27.

 

To the neutral, surely the game was all over until the Blues hit the self destruct button and gifted the home side 2 tries in quick succession, the first following a overly complex lineout manoeuvre on the edge of their own 22, the decision was flawed, the throw wasn’t straight and the Blues pack simply stopped awaiting the blow of the whistle, BP had other ideas and their lively number 8 gathered the ball and passed to his half back partner to walk over the line for a converted try BP 21 NB 27. The second gift came following a simple missed tackle on the fringe of the ruck which gave the home fly half an easy opportunity to take the lead BP 28 - NB 27.

 

Broughton Park now rampant tried to finish the game off and following another slow ball from a ruck, carved very simply through the Blues defence out wide to extend the lead to 33 - 27.

 

The Blues now woke up and exerted pressure on the BP line and livewire Alan Hesketh should have backed himself to win the race for the line, but unselfishly offloaded the ball to Lotu who was caught just short of the line. With pressure on the home scrum, Hesketh again showing well was held back without the ball as he tried to dive on a stray pass over the line. Surely a penalty try cried the travelling supporters, but to their dismay the referee gave a drop out 22, a strange decision.

 

Now in the very last minute and playing catch up rugby the back 3 tried to retrieve a long kick down the middle and tried to make space for themselves, they made a bit of a hash of it and gifted park to another 7 points.

 

Full Time score Broughton Park 40 New Brighton 27.

 

A confused Steve Dorrington said after the game "I cant believe we lost that game, we were streets ahead of the BP for 55 minutes and then shut down. I can’t believe it, I had a chat with the BP coach, who was thankful of the win but could not believe that they had pulled it off, he said it was a weird game. Steve added that their were many positives to take from the game, we have set the standard in the first half today and that’s how we need to play, but for 80 minutes. Steve paid particular praise to Alan Hesketh who was excellent for the Blues and awarded him with the man of the match. Steve also stated that when we put Coasty in space he was unstoppable, he said that Ryan Stead had played his best game in a Blues shirt, he gave absolutely everything out their today. Another improvement today was our discipline, the penalty count was very low and we never conceded a yellow or red card which is something that we have been trying to address for some weeks.

 

Summary - you can’t win a game if you gift the opposition tries, 4 on this occasion - when we always have to work ever so hard for ours!

 

The Blues are back at home next week and entertain Blackburn in a must win fixture.

 

Red Card spoils the Day

 

New Brighton suffered their second North Two West League defeat in as many weeks.

 

Leigh who came out from the whistle with all guns blazing and set a trap for Blues skipper Kati Tuipolotu on the 10 minute mark. Kati was physically attacked by two Leigh players and following his retaliation was handed a red card with both Leigh players not even receiving a talking to?

 

Leigh capitalised on the exit of the Blues skipper and dominated the remainder of the first half. The Blues squad looking shocked following the dismissal of their skipper and Leigh scored a converted try following a fluent backs move, which was easily converted and then just before the half ended landed a drop goal following sustained pressure on the Blues try line.

 

Half time score New Brighton 0 Leigh 10.

 

Coach Steve Dorrington made some minor technical changes at half time and the blues responded well and looked the better side throughout the second half, but to their credit, Leigh never faltered in the tackle and were extremely well disciplined when under pressure (something the Blues can learn from).

 

The Blues on the attack for most of the half and following some great work by new signing Tani, linking well with Steve Dean who fed Phil Buckley, Bucko went ground and was stripped in the tackle for the Leigh side to run virtually the length of the field to score a gifted try, which was again converted.

 

The Blues kept going and mounted another couple of surges which should have resulted in substitute Andy Signal scoring, however it was not to be. The Blues well on top in the second half but with time running out score a late try through Tani, who was operating at No 8 following the dismissal of Captain Kati. The try was converted by Steve Dean following the blast on the full time whistle.

 

Full Time New Brighton 7 Leigh 17.

 

The Man of the match for New Brighton went to new signing Tani, who had a fantastic game. President Ben Basterfield also awarded Leigh with a man of the match award and that went to ex Blues scrum half Dave Wood, who showed fabulous skill and leadership during the afternoon.

 

Coach Steve Dorrington wasn’t too pleased after the game and said that it is very difficult when you are put under undue pressure and lose your No 8 and Captain in the first 10 minutes and stated that discipline is top of his agenda in training this week - it's ridiculous to get sent off, Kati is a target for most teams and he must realise this factor and keep calmer when being attacked, however when 2 players physically attack another player they should also receive punishment, which didn’t happen today. Steve went on to praise the rest of the team for keeping the penalty count very low and for keeping going right to the end. However we really do need to finish off our chances and for the second week running we never scored the run of the mill tries that we should have.

 

Perhaps the root cause of the loss today was the red card together with the slow and sloppy link play between forwards and backs, which allowed the Leigh defence to be in the face of any attack the Blues tried to ignite out wide. Steve also praised the efforts of Leigh, he said that Leigh, from 1 to 15 worked their socks off and really buckled down in defence and were very disciplined in their endeavour, which is something we can learn from. So Steve will be asking for an increase in individual contribution in certain areas and will work to bring this new, exciting and growing squad together as a team in the coming weeks. Steve said that we have just been beaten by time, it was unfortunate that the majority of our new signings did not take the pre-season journey with us. So we are where we are and will work tirelessly to improve, week on week, but rest assured that someone will get a good hiding in terms of points in the coming games.  

 

Steve paid praise to new signing Tani in the forwards and Steve Dean in the backs for their efforts and dogged determination, also congratulations to Steve Dean and his partner who had a new addition to their lives in the week - Dorras was quick with the pen and signed the youngster immediately.

League opener lost as Blues fail to take their chances:

 

The Blues travelled to leafy Wilmslow and really expected to win this North Two West League match, however a very hard working Wilmslow "team" had other ideas.

 

The Blues were always on top in the opening encounters but found themselves taking wrong options or giving needless penalties away, which became their eventual downfall.

 

Following a rare excursion out of their own half, Wilmslow took the lead on 21 minutes via the boot of their fly half who slotted a gifted penalty through the uprights with ease. Strangely enough the Blues were not under any pressure at this time, they simply gave a penalty away due to poor skill in the presentation of the ball. Shortly after, again a penalty awarded to Wilmslow, they kicked toward the New Brighton 22 and following slow ball from the line out Wilmslow were able to cross the line from first phase ball due to a missed tackle in midfield. The Wilmslow goal kicker helped himself to the extras to give the home side a 10 - 0 lead.

 

The Blues now playing with a little more purpose, failed at a penalty attempt and from the clearance following the miss, Wilmslow infringed and provided the Blues with a penalty on the Wilmslow 5 metre line. Kati opted for a scrum as a result of the penalty and slipped the ball to fellow Tongan Ikuna from the base of the scrum to power over to put the Blues back in the game. Marcus Coast added the extras from the conversion.

 

Half Time Wilmslow 10 New Brighton 7.

 

At half time coaches Dorrington and Kennedy pointed out the Blues errors and demanded more team work from the pack a more regular supply of ball for the backs to use and exploit the gaps that were opening up out wide. Almost immediately from the kick off the Blues put on 5 phases of quick attacking Rugby with the Blues flying winger Gaz Simpson finishing off the try in the corner in fine style. Coast again added the extras to give the Blues the lead 10 - 14.

 

At this point the Blues should have upped their game but no - they were at it again, playing some rather selfish rugby, which again resulted in giving needless penalties away when the had the ball, under no apparent pressure. this must have delighted the Wilmslow kicker as he stepped up to slot another penalty kick from 40 yards out to reduce their arrears to 13 - 14.

 

The Blues seemed to settle a little and started playing to the game plan and should have scored a couple of tries in quick succession, when Greg Hughes knocked on close to the line and then so did Gaz Simpson on the opposite wing close in. It was third time lucky and from a couple of quick phases Dean through a quick miss pass to the lively Blues full back Steve Ashcroft who entered the line at pace, he fed Marcus Coast who cleverly put Greg Hughes in at the corner. The extras weren’t added but the Blues led 13 - 19 and looked to be in the driving seat.

 

Almost immediately following the restart the Blues were on the attack again and Gaz Simpson was put clear with only the full back to beat, he tried to chip over and run in the score but sadly kicked the balls traight into the hands of the excellent Wilmslow full back, who had been presented with many gifts from the Blues infield kickers during the afternoon.

 

From the clever run from the Wilmslow full back, the ball came quickly from a ruck and the Wilmslow scrum half, who had switched to fly half ran in the most simple of tries without being touched by the New Brighton defence. The Wilmslow goal kicker added the extras to give them a one point lead 20 -19.

 

To be fair to the Blues they threw everything they had at Wilmslow and just couldn’t manage to get over the line. Coasty missed a penalty and Ikuna following a great break just failed close to the line. It wasn’t to be and the disappointed travelling blues fans went a way in dismay, wondering why this game got away.

 

New Brighton's Joint Man of the Match went to Steve Ashcroft at full back and Kati in the back row.

 

Full Time Wilmslow 20 New Brighton 19.

 

An angry Steve Dorrington stated after the game, yes we were the better side on the day, but the Wilmslow boys played like a team and wanted it just that little bit more than we did. We had enough possession today to have won three matches, never mind one. Steve did say that when the game was played to plan, Wilmslow couldn’t live with the pace of the game and that there was much work to do on Mon and Thurs this coming week to embed a game plan and remove the selfishness that was apparent in many phases of play today. Steve further added, yes we lost today, but don’t write us off, we will address our deficiencies and come out all guns blazing next week.

 

Ian Kennedy at 9pm still shaking his head in dismay, could not believe how this one got away, Ian said, I just cant believe it, you would have thought that with the amount of ball we had we would have racked up 30 or 40 points, but no, we kept giving silly, needless penalties away due to mindless selfish play and some crazy options!

 

The Blues are back in action next week and promise a better performance in their first home league game of the season against Leigh at Hartsfield - 3 pm KO.

 

A message from the rugby committee to the Hartsfield Blues - it would be great to have real home advantage, just like we used to, so could we ask that you all make every effort to come along and make as much noise as you can and be our 16th man?!