Moor clean up against Port Sunlight

Moor hosted Wirral-based Port Sunlight on Saturday with a rearranged set of forwards

Moor hosted Wirral-based Port Sunlight on Saturday with a rearranged set of forwards due mainly to injuries from the previous week, but did welcome back skipper Danny Child at scrum-half after exactly a year of being out with a prolonged injury. Despite their name, the opposition brought no sunshine with them as the game was played in almost constant rain, which at times made the ball like a bar of soap, which was more akin to their nickname of ‘The Suds’.
Before the start, a minute’s silence was held in memory of Mike McDermott who unfortunately passed away earlier in the week after a long illness. He had been a stalwart of the club for over 50 years, serving in many capacities, including 3rd XV captain and touch-judge for the 1st XV.
Within a couple of minutes, Moor opened the scoring with a penalty by Child and followed it up soon after with a try under the posts by full-back Matt Hughes, as he broke through the visitor’s defence from his own 10-metre line, making the conversion a formality for Child. Not to be outdone, Port Sunlight then opened their account with their own penalty, but the home side’s lead was further extended when winger Perkins Joseph was put away to score in the corner, which was brilliantly converted from the touchline by Child, belying the length of time he had been out of the game.
From the kick-off, Moor scored another converted try, this time following a break by fly-half Jack Wilson as he touched down under the posts. This did not seem to faze Port Sunlight however, as shortly afterwards they took play into the Moor half and were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Instead of taking what appeared to be a simple kick, they elected to take a scrum and were rewarded with a converted try of their own following repeated drives off this set piece. With less than a quarter of the game gone, a total of 34 points had been scored by both sides! This score-fest continued until the interval as Hughes scored his second and Moor’s bonus-point try, following a flowing move along the back line and an off-load by flanker Tom Ireland, and another by winger Jack Humpage, off a break by Child, making the half-time score 34-10 to Moor.
With the game appearing to be sewn-up, coach Mark Edwards brought all his replacements on for the re-start, and was soon rewarded by one of these, when Child quickly took a free-kick and threw a long pass out to Olly Reynolds on the wing where he beat the cover to dive over for a try. Moor continued to dominate and following a classic catch and drive from a lineout, replacement hooker, Mike Maguire, claimed another touchdown, converted by Child.

Midway through this final period, further changes were made to the Moor line-up when previously replaced players were brought back on and others moved to new positions, as Edwards tried out various combinations. Whilst no doubt a valuable exercise in assessing the potential of players, Moor, who at one stage looked as if they would exceed 50 or 60 points by the end of the game, failed to add to their score from this point.

Instead, it was the visitors who had the final say as they scored from a lineout and topped it with an excellent conversion from wide out. The final 15 minutes was played in a heavy drizzle as both sides cancelled each other out, making this period literally a damp finale for spectators, who had hoped for a continuation of the free-scoring first half. Nevertheless, the final score of 46-17 to Moor was very satisfactory given the circumstances and continues their hold on a top-three spot in the division.

Next Saturday, Moor travel to the Isle of Man to play bottom-placed Vagabonds, hoping to break the hoodoo of never having beaten this side on their home turf.

David Todd