Phili-busted!

A sizeable crowd watched a close and exciting game on a bright spring evening at Paton Field. The unusual start time meant that the team from Philadelphia were already on the pitch warming up as the “home” side arrived.

Although the hosts were unsure of the standard to expect, it was clear from the start that the teams were going to be well matched. The first quarter passed scoreless in fact, with the teams testing each other out between the 22s rather than seriously threatening each other’s line.

It was the visitors that actually made the breakthrough after establishing a good attacking position when several strong drives from their forwards allowed them to move the ball along the three-quarters for a try in the corner.

The score woke the Cheshire team up and a reply was quickly made. Despite having the put in, Downingtown failed to cope with an aggressive scrum five which allowed the ball to bobble loose for Lucy Earlam (Caldy) to pounce and take it over the line.

As an aside to the action, it was an unfamiliar sight when the Downingtown girls “took a knee” to show empathy and concern when one of their team mates was injured and receiving attention. As ever, encouragement and respect was demonstrated by both sides when a player recovered. In fact, sportsmanship in this regard was shown by the Cheshire team late in the game when they took off their own No.8 for the period when Downingtown’s opposite number needed to leave the field for attention.

The first half was closed out at 5-5 with one try apiece.

Frustratingly, after the restart, the Cheshire players continued to take the ball into the contact area where the visitors had shown that they were particularly strong. An efficient pack and a first class scrum half inevitably resulted in numerous turnovers for the American team as the ball rarely went further than the Cheshire half backs and frequently not even that far!

Nonetheless it was the home side that took the lead when the forwards provided a great platform for Jordan Morris (Sandbach), now at scrum half, to make a well timed pass for Nieve Jones (Northwich) to run onto and burst through for a try under the posts. Rachel Graham (Sandbach) converted to make it 12-5.

Play for the following quarter of an hour was as tight as the game had begun but it was Downingtown who scored next to get themselves right back into the match. Another well worked move using their backs cut through the Cheshire XV's defence to leave the teams separated by just the one conversion at 12-10.

Alarm bells then rang for the home team when an enterprising move all the way from the 10 metre line broke through several despairing tackles to give the visitors the initiative with a 15-12 lead and with the game now well into the last quarter.

The last 10 minutes saw a relentless assault on the visitors' line but with no return for the efforts made. Downingtown had tired by this point and with the Cheshire girls finishing strongly, it looked as if they would be able to snatch victory right at the death. The Americans were not to be denied the win however, and some desperate but solid defending kept Cheshire at bay. With time up on the clock, Cheshire had several opportunities to tap-and-go a series of penalties and once again it says a lot for Downingtown’s teamwork that they kept their shape so that the winning score could not be made.

The jubilation when the final whistle eventually blew showed how much the result meant to the tourists and no one could begrudge them their hard-earned victory.

And so to the Clubhouse...here it soon became difficult to match the players to teams, as club jerseys were swapped to be taken back to the Cheshire clubs or to the States as trophies of the game.

Apart from this unofficial presentation(!) of team shirts, a more formal presentation was made by Pat Parkinson whose Club hosted the fixture, with club shirts, pennants and shields being presented to the Downingtown Rugby Club captain by Charlotte Parkinson (Caldy), Amber Smith (Manchester), Nieve Jones (Northwich), and Jordan Morris (Sandbach). The Downingtown coaches reciprocated and their club shield is now proudly on display at Caldy RFC.