Sadly it was another disappointing Saturday afternoon for the Senior Squads at Priory Park with only the 4th XV recording a victory at my old club – Bowdon (note spelling!!)- where they beat the home sides 3rd team but it was a different story at Priory Park where the 1st team despite showing several good signs of their capabilities just could not get the better of visiting Huddersfield who returned to West Yorkshire with a 26-15 victory. Hopefully it will not be long before the side records victory to move away from the wrong end of National Two North and optimistically that will come this Saturday when they visit relatively local rivals Sedgley Park at their Whitefield home. Looks like – according to the Rugby Paper – kick off at Sedge will be at 2.30.pm.
Elsewhere in Two North current leaders – Hinckley – beat Hull Ionians 35-24 in a nine try thriller while Chester moved up to second spot with a 24-18 win at Sheffield Tigers. In another high scoring encounter Fylde won on the road at Leicester Lions (never an easy place to record a ‘W’) by 41-31. Sedgeley Park also won a big scoring game at Preston Grasshoppers 31-36 while in another ‘points fest’ South Leicester shared the spoils at Tynedale with a 33-33 score line!! The all Yorkshire encounter at Wharfedale saw the home side lose to Otley by 16-14.
Still on zero points league newcomers Peterborough Lions went down heavily at home to Stourbridge and like ourselves they still have to come to terms with Two North but hey we are only four games into a long season that will not close until late next April so hopefully all the work being done on the training field with our new squad will begin to pay dividends.
Around Priory Park the 2nd XV went down heavily up at Fylde and the 3rd team also lost to a free scoring Waterloo Second string but I have no detail of these games. As indicated above the only winners for Priory Park on the day were the 4th team who won at Bowdon thanks to tries from former 1st team stalwarts Jerry Bostock and Scott Goodfellow still plying their trade in the game and passing on their experience to the younger members. Long may they continue in their roles. As I have previously mentioned the 3rd & 4th teams are constantly playing 2nd and 3rd teams respectively so their results should be taken in context but hopefully as the season moves on so their results will improve.
Away from Priory Park there is a lot of controversy surrounding Eddie Jones and his seeming lack of interest in one of the games characters (and on his day a match winner) namely one Danni Cipriani who, if I was a selector, would be in my squad every time if only for his unorthodox play which at times fools his own team let alone the opposition but perhaps after the Autumn Internationals which will start before we know it things may change. Watch this space. The game needs characters like him. End of my gripe this week!!
Games for Saturday:-
1st v. Sedgley Park – 2.30.pm.
2nd v. Chester – Home
3rd v. Stockport 2 – Away
4th v. Winnington Park 3 – Home
For those travelling to Sedgley Park on Saturday they play in Park Lane, Whitefield, Manchester M45 7DZ which from my Tytherington abode is just over 32 miles so allow around an hour or so depending on motorway traffic to get there.
That’s if for this week and no mention of that other oval ball game…
Enjoy your Rugby – I do,
‘Clubman’
