The visitors to Green Lane last Saturday were Liverpool Collegiate, a team they had not played in the league for some three seasons, but one that they knew very well as both sides traditionally meet each August in the annual Terry Jobson memorial game and, consequently, the most recent encounter was only seven weeks prior to this one. That game was a high-scoring match and as it turned out, so was this, but even more so, with twenty tries being shared between them.
Collegiate kicked off and on fielding the ball, Moor immediately went on the attack, shipping the ball first to the right and then back to left-winger Sam Firth, who sped down the touchline to open the scoring with an unconverted try after only two minutes. This was the start of what would see the scoreboard ticking over at regular intervals. Shortly afterwards, a clearance kick by Collegiate from deep within their 22 was charged down and was followed moments later by a 5-metre scrum to Moor. From this, No. 8 Andy Tetlow, picked up and drove through to touch down, converted by fullback, Martin Shelley. From the restart, the visitor’s set up their first real incursion into Moor territory, taking play to the latter’s 5-metre line, where they were awarded a penalty for a high tackle. This was quickly taken and ended with a try and conversion to open their account. Moor restored their 12-point margin within five minutes however, when, on winning a lineout on their 10-metre line, the ball was shipped along the back line to right-winger Will Roe, who sliced through the defence and when finally halted, popped the ball up to Shelley to cross for a try, which he converted himself. Moor secured a try bonus-point midway through the half with a converted try from centre Adam Heal after the ball was again distributed along their three-quarter line from a series of rucks. Following a clearance kick by Moor from inside their own 22, the ball was retrieved by Collegiate, who in turn kicked the ball back, only to have it collected by Firth, who evaded the cover and took the ball up to the halfway line and when stopped, flanker Archie Ward was on hand to take the pass and weave his way through the defence to score Moor’s fifth try, again converted by Shelley. Moor set up yet another attack from the restart and eventually the ball found its way to Firth, who ran in to score between the uprights for his second try, followed by Shelley’s fifth conversion, giving Moor a commanding lead with less than half-an-hour played. Despite this onslaught, the visitors recorded the next score, as Moor lost the ball from the restart, allowing the opposition to set up a rare attack, which culminated with an unconverted try in their right-hand corner. Nevertheless, the final five minutes before the break found the home side scoring two more converted tries. The first came after Moor were awarded a penalty, which was kicked to touch some ten metres from the Collegiate line, and on winning the subsequent lineout, they set up a driving maul, ending with prop and skipper, Jack Pipe, claiming his first try of the season and the second came after Collegiate were forced into a try-line dropout, which was miscued, allowing Heal to collect and go over for his second try of the afternoon, making the half-time score a formidable 54-12 for the hosts.
The start of the second half was similar to that of the first, as Moor had again scored within a few minutes. This came when a long clearance kick from their own 10-metre line was chased by Roe, who managed to get to the loose ball before the defenders, pick up and dive over in the corner, followed by an excellent conversion from the touchline by Shelley. A few minutes later, Moor had a player sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle and Collegiate made full use of the man-advantage when they won the subsequent penalty lineout, broke down the blind side and squeezed into the corner for their third try. This proved to be a temporary set-back for the home side, as they recovered the ball from the restart, set up another attack and took the ball to the opposition's try-line, only to be held up just short. The resultant scrum to Collegiate was lost however, as Moor pushed them off it, allowing Tetlow to score his second try; the conversion going wide of the upright. Once Moor had been restored to a full compliment of players, it was Collegiate, nonetheless, who were next on the scoreboard. This came as Moor were put under pressure and had to clear their lines with a kick to touch and even though they managed to pinch the resultant lineout, another clearance kick was charged down, allowing the visitors to go on the attack, ending with a bonus-point try, which was converted. The last quarter of the match saw another six tries being scored; five for Moor and one for Collegiate. The first two of these scores were credited to Moor, as Firth picked up his hat-trick followed by scrum-half Mike Ingham, when he quickly took a tap penalty and broke through unchallenged to run in and touch down, both being converted by Shelley. Despite being at the wrong end of the score-line, Collegiate kept pressing and it was their turn next to catch the opposition unawares, as a quickly taken tap penalty ten metres from the Moor line set up a rolling maul, before being passed out to their back line and ending with an unconverted try. The final three tries for Moor, all unconverted, were scored in the last five minutes of play as they took full advantage of a somewhat tired defence. The first of these was bagged by Firth and the last two by Ingham, the final one being a seventy metre run in through some despairing tackling. This brought the game to a close with a 95-29 win for Moor, with the only consolation for the visitors being that they did gain a try bonus-point.

Next Saturday, Moor are away to De La Salle, k.o. 3:00 p.m.