Chester 3rd XV 45 Vs Sefton 2nd XV 5

September 30th

With the Chester RUFC 1XV playing away this weekend; and the 2XV having their game postponed...it was over to the Chester RUFC 3XV to take centre-stage at Hare Lane - this time up against local rivals Sefton RUFC 2XV, from Liverpool...

Cecil Van Onselen was at the helm this time, to hopefully guide the 3XV to a much needed home victory.

The weather was pretty grim - rain throughout - anyway on with the game....

Sefton looked like they were struggling for numbers; their team was of fairly mixed ages - with a bias towards the more mature end of the rugby playing spectrum; Chester on the other hand do have some lads in the twilight of their rugby careers; but luckily for our club the majority on show today were generally youngsters, former Colts or local Chester University students, etc.

Sefton started the brightest, and after 10 mins were the first to score - a nice move off the back of a scrum, conversion missed. Sefton later in the half missing a penalty in front of the posts - conditions not helping their flyhalf to be fair. A few injuries to Sefton players meant Chester were now giving them players - not ideal, but needs must. The first half was on balance a bit stop/start though, the playing conditions were throwing-up handling errors but both sides were prepared to play running rugby and were throwing the ball around nicely at times.

On 40 mins the first try for Chester - a great burst down the right wing from Dan Mullen opening-up the Sefton defence - a few phases later and Brian Costello scored close to the posts; conversion good from Brian Cassidy. Halftime score-line 7-5 to the home side...

The weather wasn't getting any better but you just have to get on with it. I had already figured-out from the first 40 minutes of rugby that Chester would win this game; they looked like they would last the 80 mins better anyway, we were promised 'champagne rugby' and whilst I didn't see any of the finest French sparkling wine - we did get great rugby from the 3XV. The first Chester score of the second half went to Matthew Bate - scoring after a decent effort down the left wing from 50m out. Conversion successful from Matt Fairbank. This followed up by three more tries for Matthew Bate; all in a similar manner - set-up in his own half, jinking around or through the Sefton defence; conversions were being kicked well by Matt Fairbank...

With more injuries to Sefton players meaning several more Chester players had swapped sides during the half - a nightmare for the referee and coaches; the game progressed nicely, with further tries for Dan Mullen and Reuben Karnik. Fulltime score line Chester 45-5 Sefton. The win brings Chester up to 3rd in the league table after 5 rounds.

To be honest I wish more people would get out and watch our 3XV; this was a great game to watch, with well finished tries, some great work by our forwards setting up a decent platform for the backs to score their tries - a game of rugby played in the right spirit. As for the spectators; we did have a former England international - and a current holder of a junior world cup winners medal (again for England)...fair play to them for supporting the 3XV.

The 3XV has a couple of players that can play at a much higher level - I would say 1XV for a couple of them. How that happens and how the players develop is up to them - and the club itself; but the quality is there believe me. Good luck to these young lads going forward; they are the future of our club - be it at this level or 2XV or 1XV in the years ahead. Thanks to Cecil for stepping-in and looking after the 3XV today.