2s overcome a bit of handbags to claim victory

Postie reviews the twos

Northwich first team fixture was postponed on Saturday and this gave opportunity for Martin Poste and the faithful to enjoy a road trip to Liverpool St Helens following the second team.
And what a treat it was with a balance of developing youth and experienced campaigners determined to express themselves and show the Blacks strength in depth. Over the season a number of this squad have been involved in first team selection and performed admirably, today there performances showed what a formidable squad they are when selected as a full team at this level. Postie was impressed with the accomplishment against a very physical opposition and in Postie’s words Northwich were “terrific” in the scrummage and “demonstrated excellent handling skills and pace. The colts involved all played their part, and overall the players attitude at training combined with coaching is now paying dividends”. Following the final whistle Postie said “I thoroughly enjoyed watching that performance, and saw several players who will make the step up sooner rather than later”.

Early dominance from Northwich set the tone for an exciting afternoon. The Blacks proved incredibly strong in the scrum securing safe ball for the midfield runners to make positive ground. In the first 10 minutes LSH were consistent infringing at the scrum resulting in a penalty opportunity in front of the LSH posts inviting Harry Naylor to get the first points. Northwich continued the great work in the tight, completely dominating, stealing or driving back the bigger LSH pack at almost every contest. More infringements and quick thinking allowed the Northwich backs to keep the scoreboard moving with scores from Davidson and Barber. 0-17 at half-time.

The second half was more of the same with the Northwich pack getting through some incredible work. But some tired tackling and miscommunication allowed LSH to attack in numbers in the corner. A score looked inevitable only for the LSH winger to knock on and see the ball collected by Tom Husbands who went the length of the pitch to score. LSH changed their tactics and began looking to aggravate the Northwich players to no avail. Despite some fairly cynical play stretching the laws of the game, Northwich showed great tolerance and control to not retaliate. This finally resulted in one of the LSH culprits being shown a yellow card for a flailing swinging arm. Reminiscent of a sumo wrestler attempting to complete a gymnastic ,beam exercise. Northwich capitalised and with the extra man scored two more tries to put the game beyond LSH who scored a late conciliation try themselves which was converted with a superb strike from the touchline.

The match finished Liverpool St Helens 2nd XV 10, Northwich 2nd XV - 34.

This result gives the 2nds the much needed boost that much of their play of recent weeks has deserved going into the final games of the season Next week is a 6 Nations break, with the next scheduled match in 2 weeks. (1st XV have a home rearranged fixture v DLS, ko 3pm)
Scorers: Merrick, Barber, Davidson, Burmah, Husbands.