Moor were hosts at Green Lane last Saturday to Stafford in Round 1 of the RFU Counties 2 Championship competition, in a game that was played from start to finish in wet, blustery conditions, which had a sizeable effect on the game. With rain blowing diagonally across the pitch, the game was played almost entirely in one half of the field – that towards the clubhouse, resulting in all but twelve points being scored there. Fortunately for Moor, those were all to their credit, in what turned out to be a tight game, where a wet, slippery ball made handling difficult and flowing rugby was not the order of the day.
Moor received the kick-off, facing into the elements and immediately took play back into their opponent’s half, where they were awarded a penalty, allowing fly-half Jake Atherton to open the scoring with a well-taken penalty goal after only a minute being played. The next ten minutes found Stafford camped deep within Moor's territory, meaning that that latter were constantly defending, but acquitted themselves well and eventually broke out to gain another penalty; the goal again being kicked by Atherton. This incursion into the visitors sector proved to be the last by the home side for some twenty minutes, as Stafford, using the conditions, kept Moor pinned down, setting up repeated attacks on the Moor line, but to their credit, the Green Lane side kept them out. The wet, slippery ball did not help either side, as during this period, restarts were plentiful due to it being spilled at regular intervals. Eventually, the pressure paid off, when Stafford were awarded a penalty in front of the sticks, from which a goal was kicked, to narrow the points gap. They were straight back from the kick-off to set up another attack and this time the ball stayed in hand and following some close interpassing, a hole was created in the Moor defensive wall, allowing an opposition player to run through and touch down under the crossbar, followed by a conversion, taking the lead with half-an-hour played. Minutes before the break, on another rare visit to the Stafford half, Moor did manage to gain an attacking lineout on the former’s 5-metre line, and although they did set up a drive, this fizzled out when they lost possession and the interval was reached with the visitors again on the attack and a 10-6 lead.
It was now Moor’s turn to benefit from the conditions in the second half and they made full use of this advantage, with a number of chances going begging in the first ten minutes. The best of these came when right-wing Sam Firth made a break before being stopped on the 5-metre line, but a subsequent knock-on by Stafford gifted a scrum to Moor. This, however, was squandered when an ambitious kick through went over the dead-ball line, enabling Stafford to clear their lines following the subsequent scrum. Nevertheless, it wasn’t long before the hosts retook the lead, when they were awarded another 5-metre scrum and proceeded to drive their opposition back towards the line, allowing No. 8, Tom Yeomans, to pick up and dive over for an unconverted try. Moor kept the pressure on, but various attacks broke down, usually due to errors, or over-ambitious play given the conditions. They should have stretched their lead when they were awarded a penalty on their opponent’s 5-metre line, but somehow the kick for goal was missed. Surviving this pressure, and with the weather improving slightly, Stafford did breakout in the last ten minutes in what was perhaps their first real foray into Moor's half of the field and benefited with a couple of penalties following infringements by Moor. The last of these was kicked to touch, allowing them to set up a dangerous-looking attack on the line. However, a loose pass was intercepted by Firth, who promptly out-sprinted the cover to run in from some seventy metres to score between the uprights, followed by a conversion from Atherton. Despite this setback, the visitors kept trying to get back into the game in the last few minutes, but the contest ended with play in mid-field, with neither side looking threatening and a 18-10 victory for Moor.
The conditions certainly didn’t help, but neither side seemed particularly convincing and given that Moor appeared to manage the situation better when the elements were against them, perhaps they deserved the win.

Moor have no games for the next two weeks, but are back in league action at home to Liverpool Collegiate on October 11th, k.o. 3:00 p.m.