A mixed bag of 2nds rugby...

On a glorious day for running rugby, Knutsford put in a shift that deserves praise given the circumstances. Already hampered with only being able to field 14 men and no substitutes (to the dismay of Scrumhalf Will Duce), Marple were able to field a very strong team full of powerful runners. They were certainly helped by the home team not having a 1st team game with Marple able to put out 20 players.

Knutsford had a number of attacking runs in the first half with Marple providing strong defence and excellent counter attack work in the loose. Early on in the 1st half, Marple were able to capitalise on their opportunities by scoring 2 quick unanswered tries through their powerful runners and excellent offloading. Further punishment of Knutsford’s lack of defensive structure resulted in another quick succession of tries to Marple, mainly through their backs, leading to a deficit of 31-0 at half time.

In the 2nd half, it felt as though Knutsford had pulled their socks up a little, with Flyhalf Iain Morris having an excellent game and providing some much needed structure and distribution in what was a very open and sometimes scrappy afternoon. Knutsford’s first try came with some excellent Pinball smashes through the backline defence from Cameron Smyth and eventually offloading to a ball hungry Russ Finn who calculated a dive over the line.

Knutsford suffered an injury with Alex Hornby going off early in the 2nd half meaning the scrums went uncontested and a major carrying force removed from the pitch. Knutsford picked up their heads and were able to pull together some good forward interplay with both Stefano Spinola and Ralph Lea making some excellent runs with one of them resulting in Ralph Lea dotting down over the line. The Try from Lea finished off what was a man of the match performance including the highest tackle count and some blistering runs. A final run by Smyth also allowed a quick barrelling try in the later stages for Knutsford.

Unfortunately Marple were able to take advantage of some tiring Knutsford legs in the later half of the 2nd half, scoring 3 unanswered tries taking the final score Marple 54 – Knutsford 19. There was a sense of a hard fought battle from the Knutsford side and they look forward to making amends on the field next week.