as the blacks returned to league competition. It was the same old story with absent players leaving Northwich with a depleted front row and a mountain to climb. The home side ran in 10 tries (I say ran, 4 of the tries were push-over’s from a scrum under immense pressure), The only response was a Husbands penalty. If teams were rewarded for character this match would have been closer. However this is not the case and the superiority of the home side was too much for Northwich to handle.

The first half was extremely tough with Northwich conceding 6 tries with only the aforementioned penalty to show for their efforts. Trailing at the break by 40-3 the signs were ominous for the visitors as the home side looked to express their dominance.

Although the second half still proved to be difficult for Northwich it turned out to be a little better. The efforts of Tom Clark, Josh Warburton and Chris Heywood in the forwards reduced the number of Wirral attacks and with the determination of Richard Dale, Tom Wood and Joel Barber in the backs the pressure was eased and they reduced the home side to just 4 tries in the second period.

These are clearly difficult times for Northwich and they will need to dig deep into their reserves if they are to take anything from this season. It should be pointed out that some of the young players who have stepped up to the mark have demonstrated that there will be brighter days ahead.

Post match it was hard to disguise the disappointment but head coach Andy Roberts is confident we can improve and make a more positive mark in this division.

Next week Northwich entertain Alnwick KO 2.15pm

1 Tom Wilson 2 Mike Gough 3 Liam Marshall 4 Chris Heywood 5 Josh Warburton 6 Aaron Collins 7 Tom Clark 8 Chris Dale 9 Harry Naylor 10 Tom Wood11 Kyle Clarke12 Joel Barber13 Richard Dale14 Tom Merrick15 Tom Husbands16 Nick Baldwin17 Harvey Aston 18 Alfie Sinclair