3rd XV (Social) - Bleak Yet Beautiful

The Gentlemen of Moore step in at the eleventh hour to ensure a game would be played so a huge thank you to them, with the late notice they arrived needing a few and in true rugby spirit lads stepped up to even the sides, messers Turner, Morgan, Yeadon & Stevenson all pulled on the Moore jersey and gave a decent account of themselves, Turner in particular was a thorn in the side all game.

So to the kick off, with a sideways gale, that was regularly accompanied with ice cold rain, Matty Drinkwater sent the ball skyward and we were off. It was apparent from the start that the conditions were going to play a huge part as cold fingers and a slippy ball meant there were one or two knock ons. After the first 10 minutes of play things started to tidy up, some probing darts from the Warrington scrum half Dave Nichols, former captain Neil Sullivan showing he still has a 1 yard of pace from the base of the scrum all showed that the game was there to be won. It wasn’t till the 23rd minute when a defensive line out on the Warrington 22, with Wheatley chucking in the ball sailed into the hands of Harry Kellett, the ball was then dispatched to the back line where some intricate, convoluted tomfoolery from Drinky and Millo, released Josh Little from the unfamiliar position of full back, Josh scythed through the gap to stretch his legs to scorch home from 50 yards. We won’t talk about dinky conversion attempt. 5-0

The next score was all about the old adage forwards do all the work, the backs get all the glory, after some terrific drives and ball retention, Warrington were in the centre of the park 10 metres off the line, then in a flash the ball found its way the scrum hat sporting Millo, who powered over on the corner, this conversion was attempted by Josh Little, a spectator commented “he looked like he’d get that, up until he kicked it!” 10-0

Moore struck back almost instantly it’s a great breakaway try in the corner the conversion was made albeit with the help of the crossbar 10-7 HT

The second half started very much as the first ended some strong play from Moore kept Warrington in their 22, some resolute defence & some strong carries from Peter “37 degrees on Cambodia” Holce, pressure relieving kicks from the educated boot of Drinky. After the initial onslaughts from Moore, Warrington found themselves inside the Moore 22, where from the line out Harry Kellett popped up on the short side to outpace the defence and stride over untouched, kick missed 15-7.

With the light and bodies fading rapidly, Warrington started to lose players firstly Chris Sterling knee, then Stu Beeley limped off holding his hamstring. All this made the last quarter of the game a little disjointed but despite that there were more tries from this game, the first for Moore after a speculative kick down field the foot race was won by the Moore stand off, kick missed 15-12.

The final score was one of the best team tries witnessed today, phase after phase Warrington steadily made progress up field then after a probing dart and some sublime interplay in the backs the ball found its way back into Drinky’s hands and the 22 yards left to the line seemed to be too far when the Moore number 10 caught up with him just short of the line only for Drinky to despatch the handoff of his career and strode over to score, finally a kick was made! 22-12. The tea,s then played out the last few minutes before sprinting to the sheds to defrost.

A great thing to see some old mates players back and a special mention goes to the referee today Andy Kellett, despite reffing without a watch not knowing the score for most of the game his contribution was unmeasurable.