A debut & try, but sadly goodbye

Northwich 21 Vale of Lune 20

Northwich finished the first half of the campaign with a hard fought one point victory over Vale of Lune moving them up to third position going into 2020. The match saw the home debut for Gabriel Hakaraia which, sadly proved to be his last as he needs to return to New Zealand for family reasons. Northwich hope he is able to return as he would certainly add value to the club. Prior to the match there was a minutes silence for Tom Curran a former player and friend of Northwich RFC. Tom Passed away suddenly earlier in the week and will be missed by all at the club.

The match started well for the blacks as they pounced on a turnover ball and Burmah moved the ball wide for Richard Dale to kick deep into the Vale half the ball was fumbled and Dale was able to ground the ball for a try that Baldwin converted. Ten minutes later some loose play allowed the visitors to mount an attack and following some good team work they eventually scored an unconverted try. As the first quarter drew to a close the blacks extended their lead. From an attacking lineout Northwich launched an attack and were rewarded with a try from the industrious Davidson. The extras were added by Baldwin. Five minutes later the blacks were again on the scoreboard. In a repeat of the previous score a lineout set the blacks on the attack and the powerful Hakaraia drove across the line for the third Northwich try which was converted by Baldwin. The rest of the half proved scoreless as both defenses took centre stage.

The second half belonged to the visitors as Northwich were punished for too many errors. Early in the half a handling error in Northwich territory handed the initiative to Vale a swift response produced a score for the Lancastrians. Thankfully for Northwich the extras were missed. The next 15 minutes proved a stalemate with both sides showing ambition but making too many errors. As the match went into the final quarter Vale were awarded a penalty when Richard Dale slapped the ball down, for which, he received a yellow card. The kick reduced the deficit ti 8 points and the home side clearly started to get nervous. With just 3 minutes left Vale scored a third try which was duly converted reducing the Northwich lead to just one point. With time almost up the visitors looked like they were going to score only to lose the ball forward inches from the line. The scrum was won and to the relief of the faithful the ball was kicked to touch to bring the match to its conclusion.

Martin Poste was pleased with the outcome but will be looking to take full advantage of the break to get the boys ready for the difficult trip to Burnage in the New Year. Northwich take a break before traveling to Burnage on 4th January KO 2.15pm

1 Mike Bradshaw 2 Gabriel Hakaraia 3 Joe Maddocks 4 Chris Heywood 5 Patrick Fray 6 Sam Naylor 7 Tom Clark 8 Phil Williams 9 Matt Poste (Capt) 10 Nick Baldwin 11 Tom Merrick 12 Richard Dale13 Scott Davidson 14 Shaun Burma 15 Tom Husbands 16 Chris James 17 Kyle Clarke 18 Chris Dale