Lacklustre Pool Made to Pay

Following two impressive back-to-back wins, Blackpool went into this fixture with plenty of confidence, having played some of the best rugby seen by the Seasiders for more than 10 years in recent weeks. However, that was all about to become undone, as their opponents Trafford MV delivered a harsh reality check to the red and blues.

Blackpool travelled with a much-rotated squad having lost the influential trio of Chris Finch (centre), Brady Barcock (Number 8) and Will Hunt (flanker) to a mixture of injury and work commitments. In their place, came experienced back-rower, Russ Woodward, Leon Mason and there was a debut in the centres for rugby league convert Andy Daw.

In truth, Blackpool were never at the races. Gone had their structure and organisation of previous weeks and their opponents gleefully capitalised on this from the very first whistle. The first 20 minutes was poor on both sides’ accounts, with handling errors, ill-discipline in the loose and turnovers seeming to be the order of the day.

Having been called up at the 11th hour, the ever-willing Russ Woodward was a nuisance all day on the floor, scavenging for possession at will. If only he had the same success rate when scavenging for his money at the bar. In the centres, Andy Daw was settling in well with some good hits in defence and his dulcet Yorkshire tones filled the void left by the unavailable Cumbrian Hugh Sweeney. I am not sure what he was shouting about but he was pretty mad about it so it probably made sense to listen.

Most of the first half was played in Blackpool’s territory as they struggled to build any penetration and Trafford to their credit executed rush defence in the backs well. There were glimmers of hope through breaks by winger Andy Davies and the evanescent Wayne Daws at number 8. This came at a cost, however, as Daws blew his knee out. To his credit, having observed the back-heavy bench, he opted to play through the pain and relied on his third leg to get him through. The beauty of being a tripod.

As the half wore on, Pool continued to tally up the mistakes and Trafford were well poised to take advantage, most notably through their elusive full-back, who’s pace and light-footed approach was a thorn in the proverbial Blackpool claw all game. Before the half time whistle, Trafford were able to score two tries to Pool’s nil to take a 10-0 lead into the break.

Following irate words by Blackpool’s skipper at half time, the visitors came out with a better sense of purpose at the start of the second half. This was mostly without possession however but did present Leon Mason with the opportunity to prove that the old dog still had his tricks with several borderline criminal turnovers on the deck. There were also some heft looking hits going in defensively by the bickering pair of prop Lucas Crosbie and captain Chris Parlour in what looked like a competition of one-upmanship much to the detriment of the Trafford ball carriers.

Sadly as Blackpool began to claw their way back into proceedings, their old arch-nemesis ill-discipline reared its ugly head and one such infringement gift-wrapped three points in the form of a penalty that couldn’t have been delivered by old St Nick himself.

Blackpool were clearly on the naughty list as no such luck was sent their way in attack and the newly inflated intensity shown in the opening frows of the second half were soon pierced by a clinical Trafford side once again as they scored a third try.

There were signs of life from Pool however and the introduction of the ever-young Gaz Woodall not only provided some fresh impetus but also had the away side’s backline looking like a scene from Jurassic Park. There was the sighting of the near-extinct Woodall show and go for viewing pleasure, rated PG by onlookers.

As the game went on, you would have been forgiven for thinking you were watching a fantasy film as Woodall went on to not only enter a ruck but also successfully win one on the counter. Such a confusing and gobsmacking event hasn’t been seen in these parts since Chris Parlour threw a lineout straight in the late 1990s.

With the world seemingly at an end for dumbfounding moments, Parlour himself decided to get in on the act, popping up at standoff in one attack and delivering a well-timed pass to the onrushing Daw who proceeded to drag Pool closer to the Trafford line. Not quite the ‘miracle offload’ more the juggling of hot potato but it looked decent enough. Unfortunately, Blackpool’s second most hated nemesis of the afternoon, handling-error intervened and presented the hosts with a chance counterattack, which they gratefully accepted to score the game’s fourth try.

With the score now at 20-0, Blackpool were on the brink of falling away. The positive vibes of the past two week’s had been drained by a patient and well-executed hatchet job by Trafford’s defence and they upped their productivity in attack as well, adding two further scores to further solidify their dominance.

Taking nothing away from their opponents, this was easily one of the worst performances of the season by Pool but there was a mini-revival in the final ten minutes. Following his superb assist for the final Trafford try, the usually faultless Harry Gregory was busting his considerable gut (for a centre anyway) to try and atone for his earlier misfortune and carried Pool deep behind enemy lines.

With his gasket pretty much blown, the usual mercurial talents of Mason and Glover came into play and boarded the delirium to link up with Woodall, developing an overlap out wide for this season’s deadly finisher, Greg Jones, to reap the rewards for resting out wide on the wing in what will only be described as an example of tactical genius by him and no doubt started with a burst from Scotland to make the try line.

The final moments of the game saw Pool pushing for a further score to no avail, despite the best efforts of the more-glandular than usual Tom Sanderson and the ever-sniping Wade Kelly at scrum-half, who also deserves a mention for entering the frozen pitchside river to retrieve a stray ball. Aussies are made of stronger stuff apparently.

The final whistle was greeted by a sense of underwhelming disappointment by Blackpool, but credit where credit is due, Trafford set up perfectly for this game and were admirably clinical throughout the afternoon.

With very little to crow about on Blackpool’s side, there were encouraging debuts for Andy Daw and Martin Kemp though, who’s catch under a high ball with the sun glaring in his face was ‘gold’ and his efforts when playing in a position he had never played in before later on in the game were as ‘true’ as some of his more experienced teammates.

Andy Davies performed admirably on the wing with limited delivery and might have been in the running for man of the match recognition if he hadn’t stopped the game towards the end for a massage from the away team’s physio. With very little going on, overall though, Blackpool’s Simply Mortgages man of the match award goes to Gaz Woodall. The way he managed to dry the tears and get out the car when he received the message enquiring on whether he had brought his kit, perfectly accompanied him winning a counter-ruck despite not knowing what a ruck was and his show and go.

Next week, Blackpool head up north to take on Upper Eden in a battle between two of the leagues’ lower=positioned sides where Pool will be hoping to resurrect their previous resurgent form.