McCall is the Real McCoy

The former Wilmslow Colt and Wilmslow High School fly half has developed into a formidable fifteen carat nugget of a player and if he can stay free of serious injury a glittering rugby career beckons. McCall can play in any position in the back line but in recent weeks it’s been at No. 12 that he’s made the biggest impact.

The Wolves wrapped up their home league programme against third placed Kendal by scoring four tries in a twenty five minute spell either side of half time for a win which was probably more comfortable than the final score line suggests. That’s not to say that their success wasn’t hard earned but on this occasion the anxious nail biting, prevalent so often when they play, just wasn’t present.

Kendal have been in the upper reaches of the league table all season, largely through the strength of their pack, which has enabled them to win matches by playing a direct route one style of a game. They had travelled to Wilmslow though without three of their biggest most destructive protagonists but their coach driver signalled their intent on arrival by nearly demolishing the stone gate post at the club entrance. Wilmslow club president, Jon Hitch, wasn’t amused as his expensive gleaming Mercedes was parked just adjacent to the gate and only narrowly avoided being showered in debris. On the day though, the recast Kendal pack was never able to exert its usual dominance in scrum and lineout and only in the latter stages did they get their bull dozing driving kind of game going to anything like its normal extent.

In fact, the biggest danger to the Wolves was the heavy penalty count against them. A normal game will have about twenty penalties shared out more or less equally between the two sides, so when the count is a massive 17 to 4 against one side, there is clearly something wrong. The young exchange referee from the London Society appeared to have little empathy for the players in what was no more than a hard but fair contest. Wilmslow suffered a Yellow Card within the first ten minutes and in the last quarter, particularly, the number of penalties they incurred had a debilitating effect on their ability to play the game.

Full back Chris Park opened the scoring for Kendal with a penalty after four minutes and twenty minutes later from a further penalty he set up a good attacking position from which flanker Gary Holmes finished off an efficient catch and drive.

In the intervening period, there had been some good tactical kicking for position from MacCallum but the game was scrappy with both sides making far too many simple handling errors. As the half hour approached, a high but not deep Kendal kick out of defence was fielded by the Wolves and, when they recycled, a long miss pass from McCall sent Lawrence James on his way from his own half. Initially it didn’t look a try scoring opportunity but James kept on running and as the defence stood off, he then cut inside the final defender to score under the posts. To everyone’s amazement, MacCallum missed the conversion. The Wolves though were now playing with a bit of authority and the traffic was generally towards the Kendal line. A Wilmslow scrum on the Kendal twenty two as half time approached saw the back row driving forward again and when scrum half Ollie Wilkinson released the ball to MacCallum, he shimmied and offloaded to centre Sam Cutts on the burst to score the Wolves second try, which this time was converted. In the next play, there was still time for prop Adam Taher to make a dangerous looking drive but when the ball was spilled, the chance came to nought.

The Wolves started the second half with a prolonged period of handling and recycling involving just about everyone at some stage and eventually a gap opened up close to the line for McCall to nip through for the first of his tries. Minutes later McCall spotted that no one was at home in the Kendal defence so he put in a perfectly judged low kick from halfway, which he followed up himself to score the fourth try.

It was now 26-10 for the Wolves and thirty minutes still to play. Their scrum and lineout was dominant, the backs looking eager and Kendal were facing a mauling but that’s not how it worked out. The Wolves most certainly didn’t get the rub of the green from the referee and helped by a surfeit of penalties, Kendal were able to force their way upfield, playing their typical close game. There were still break outs by the Wolves but the tide was against them and eventually, Kendal were able to score far out on the right twice in the final five minutes, firstly from flanker Holmes touching down for the second time and then from fly half Dan Lowther. Neither try was a thing of great beauty and both came from a series of penalties, drives and pile ups in the Wolves twenty two and on their line. It was a sobering thought that if they had chosen to kick for goal in this last period, instead of electing to play ‘catch up’, they may be had sufficient chances to win the game that way.

Coaches Rick Jones and Richard Hughes were nevertheless pleased with the response of their players. There was a special mention for Ollie Wilkinson stepping in at scrum half for the absent Andy Walker. He never put a foot wrong and his simple quick service gave MacCallum and McCall time to call the shots. Second row Adam Hewitt did everything that was asked of him in the lineout, in the absence of the injured Mike Clifford, taking his own ball and a fair amount of the opposition’s as well. There was another gritty performance from Alex Taylor and Ms. Taher, Harvey, Walmsley and Meek had a much more comfortable ride in the front row than in recent outings. That too made a difference to the quality of ball being delivered and also to the amount of puff the quartet had left for loose play. The Kendal side are no mugs, they’ve shown that all season, so it was a measure of Wilmslow’s performance that on the day they were deserved winners.

Next week, the Wolves round off their season with a visit to Kirkby Lonsdale. Neither side will be under any pressure. Underley Park is an idyllic amphitheatre out of town so all we need now is a pleasant April afternoon for some enterprising rugby, alongside the spring lambs fattening up on the grassy adjacent Dales .