Prenton 2nd XV travelled to Sefton this weekend where a gruelling day was had by all. The day started with a lot of promise, but with several players withdrawing their availability at the very last minute the squad was diminished, leaving the remaining 14 men who travelled with a rather uphill battle as the opposition were able to field a squad of more than 20. With substitutions off the table, it was never going to be an easy afternoon for Prenton.

The game started with Sefton scoring from their kick off as a shell shocked Prenton were reduced to mere spectators. Once this initial error was out of the way however we were able to reorganise quickly and begin taking the game to them. With the home side having the one man advantage though it was difficult to prevent them from advancing and, despite some stoic defence in the middle of the field, Sefton were able to exploit the overlap with some well strung together phases that stretched the Prenton defence and allowed for an easy finish out wide on several occasions. When we did have the ball the passing and support play was excellent, and the discipline equal to it, but again the discrepancy in numbers in the team was apparent as Sefton were able to recover the ball after a few phases and then begin their own attack and build.

After half time the home side kindly lent us a man to even the odds and the game was much more balanced. The pack were doing a good job in scrums and the lineouts were well contested. A good attacking phase finally saw Prenton open their account with a quick peel off from James Gale who was easily able to skip past their number 15 unchallenged and then convert his own try. Not too long after during another promising attack the home side gave away a penalty and it was James Gale again who was able to kick for an additional three points. This second half saw Prenton playing the better rugby for large sections and we were able to frustrate the home side, as evidenced by a less than savoury moment from a Sefton shirt causing tempers to flair (excellently dealt with by the referee and the Sefton captaincy - we wholeheartedly thank you if you are reading this). The tackling and offense had been good from Prenton all game but now with the numbers equal on both sides we were able to repel the Sefton attacks as well as maintain good momentum going forward and were unlucky not to score on several occasions, owing largely to the robust Sefton defense.
Final score, Sefton 54 - 10 Prenton

The Prenton squad on the day were able to demonstrate their now characteristic resilience as not once did any of the players allow their heads to drop and simply roll over. For the entire 80 minutes the effort shown by all 14 men was exemplary and a credit to themselves and the club. We can only hope that this fantastic attitude is carried forward to all future games.

Squad List:

1. Compo
2. Ripper
3. Peters N
4. Houghton P
5. Ball D
6. Gardener J
7.
8. Rhino

9. Gale J
10. McClelland N (C)

11. Ball H
12. Dion
13. Parker S
14. Gale K
15. Woods D

MoM: Those stepped up and put on the shirt
ToM: Those who didn't