Northwich were relieved that a winter break hadn’t halted their momentum, they were not at their best, but treated their supporters to glimpses of it. Northwich began the New Year with a fine 30-17 win over Douglas, whereas this weekend’s visitors to Moss Farm, Burnage failed to record a point away at Warrington losing 19-0.

13th January 1882 Robert Wagner completed his final opera Parsifal, loosely based on the Arthurian knight Percival and his quest, 2018 and Northwich continue the quest for their Holy Grail of reaching National league status.

A dour but entertaining game at Warrington was dominated by two resolute defences. The first twenty minutes of this match saw both sides trying to crack the opposition defence without result. Burnage’s heavyweight pack looked set to gain mastery in the set pieces, especially when they drove Warrington off their own ball at a set scrum, but the home side held firm. Eventually, Warrington started to get on top as Burnage tired, at half-time it was only 9-0, and it wasn’t until the 80th minute that cracks appeared in the Burnage defence. Warrington move to third in the league and Burnage drop to ninth.

In their last encounter Northwich won by a single point 35-36 their first victory on the Burnage 3G surface. It was clear from the offset that the home side were in no mood to wait and went quickly into action, applying pressure to the visitors scrum Burnage set up a multi-phased attack resulting in a well worked try that was converted with just 3 minutes played. Burnage threw everything at the visitors. This led to 2 pushover tries in the 64th and 73rd minutes. Both were converted leaving a nail-biting finish to the match. Somehow the blacks held on to take the spoils. Burnage were devastated as they were in control for much of this encounter. This was a thrilling match that showcased the talent in this division.

Supporters, spectators & alakadoos are invited from 1.15pm to our free buffet provided by match sponsor Mr Colin (Sam) Naylor, We are all aware of Sams political views but did you know he dropped out of communism class due to lousy Marx.

Northwich 2s play host to Kendal 2 also at Moss Farm, let’s hope for favourable weather this week so both games can be played on our water sodden grounds. Kendal have won their last 3 fixtures amassing 114 point for in these games, compared to Northwich losing their last 3. However Northwich fought their way back during the second half last week to within 2 points before narrowly losing away at Warrington.

Northwich 3 travel to Whitchurch 3 a team they beat at home in September 54-7 when Captain George Goodfellow said “It was a strong performance all round, Our back-row forwards in particular were outstanding". Goodfellow continued “Although it’s a great win, there is still work that we need to do in training in order to continue developing the way we want to play flowing rugby this season.” With Northwich 2s promoted last season (although struggling to find form this term) it is vital we narrow the gap in order for players to rotate and compete for position in both teams.

Let’s rekindle this mantra for 2018.

Enjoy your weekends rugby following “The Team’s of the Town”