After conditions postponed last Saturdays game away at Linley the Holmes Chapel lads were raring to go against promotion rivals Whitchurch this Saturday at Station Road. Over the last two seasons Whitchurch have really thrown a spanner into the Chapel works by taking our 18 month undefeated streak. A strong training session on Wednesday saw Chapel work on defensive strategy and this was reflected in the match with players across the board putting in the essential defensive hits needed.

The game started strongly but scrappily for Chapel as the wet and the mud forced handling mistakes from both teams. Some strong running from Makka and Nathan Stewart saw some breaks that never materialised into points in the first 15 minutes. Returning prop Dave Steer set the tone in open defence with some truly inspired tackles and Chapel found themselves in a strong position. When a Chapel try was disallowed the visitors started mounting a spirited counter attack. There were many handling errors for both teams which resulted in a fair amount of scrums and the visitors really put the pressure on the chapel pack. It was a bad day for set moves as Chapel struggled to win their own ball at the line out also. Due to the conditions and some bad decisions on both teams part saw both sides only managing to cross the white wash once each but Chapel kept the lead thanks to the handy boot of Andy Davis. As the first half came to a close bad work at the breakdown on Chapels behalf saw the boys in Blue look in a fairly weak positions but managed to keep a slim lead.

HT: 10-7 to Holmes Chapel

During the break Captain Dom Moss gave some inspirational words and Jon Griffin helped point out where some of the Holmes Chapel mistakes could be rectified. A few pairs of fresh legs and a renewed spirits saw Chapel ready for the attack in the second half. Unfortunately the poor conditions only worsened as the pitch became a quagmire and more scrums followed. Holmes Chapel now found themselves in a rhythm at the set plays and could now start to look threatening. Connor Gavin and Dam Martin came into the second row both making a huge impact at the breakdown. Tries were soon to follow with the likes of Jack Baskerville and Jim Moss keeping the ball alive in attack. It would be fair to say that Chapel had many opportunities to score but only managed to cross the line twice in the second half with both Tom Chambers and Makka crossing the line. Whitchurch kept up a spirited game making life hard for the home boys all over the pitch and the frustration of the conditions got too much as both Chapels own scrappy Callum Grant-Smith and the opposition prop saw yellow 10 minutes before the end of the match. Down to 14 men and a heavy pitch causing fatigue saw the boys in Blue camped on their own 5 meter as a few nifty boots from the opposition 10 kept the Station Road boys pinned back. The hard work in training paid off however and the Holmes Chapel defence held strong as the final whistle went.

FT: 22-17 to Holmes Chapel

A good match that really tested Holmes Chapel, there is plenty to work on all over the park and Whitchurch were worthy opponents and really opened up some of the flaws that Holmes Chapel may have been able to mask in other games.