It was the last day of Autumn for this derby game against the unbeaten ANSELMIANS team, played on a sound pitch, bright sunshine and a large vociferous crowd.
Wirral made a couple of changes to the team that played Blackburn a fortnight ago, SAM VICKERS returned to the second row after injury thus JOE ADNAMS returned to the front row to mark Derek Salisbury (Degsy). HARRY CROPPER-JOYCE and ROB PEARL were in the back row alongside NICK HEARN (who had captained ANSELMIANS for a number of seasons before moving away to Wirral). The backs were the same as for Blackburn with the subs this week being, DAN CARROL, CHRIS SPEED and the return after injury of JIMMY ANNETTS. ANSELMIANS had a couple of ex Wirral players in their team, the full back, Dai Morley and the second row Fred Clarke. Not many of the ANSELMIANS team had played against Wirral in the two matches we played last season.
Wirral played towards Eastham in the first half and started positively and with the benefit of penalties had possession in the ANSELMIANS 20m area. From a scrum 5m out, Wirral spun the ball wide and quick passing enabled ALFIE KIMPTON to score in the corner. RHYS JAMES then converted from the touchline, 0-7 (5 mins).
On 7 minutes ANSELMIANS had a penalty opportunity from 40m but it drifted to the left of the posts. ANSELMIANS came more into the game, with much of the next part of the game played in the Wirral half and Wirral looking to exit with kicks downfield.
In the 20th minute, ANSELMIANS had a line out 10m from the Wirral line, a good catch and the forwards all combined to maul their way over the line and score, duly converted by Nick Baldwin, 7-7. A few minutes later a long kick downfield gave ANSELMIANS possession in the Wirral 20m and again the ANSELMIANS forwards controlled the ball to score their second try, again converted, 14-7 (23 mins).
Wirral soon developed the technique for keeping ANSELMIANS at bay with long angular kicks to touch. On 36 mins Wirral had pressure on the ANSELMIANS line and the forwards combined together to force their way over the line only for the referee to deem the ball was not grounded. A further chance was missed by ANSELMIANS when from a line out the ball was deemed not to be straight. A further penalty came to Wirral 10m out, quickly taken by TOM AKEHURST only to be hauled down close to the line and again the try was declined by the referee as not being touched down. CHRIS SPEED came on for HARRY CROPPER-JOYCE (suffering a leg injury). This was followed by further pressure on ANSELMIANS as Wirral controlled this section of the game. On 39 minutes, further play by Wirral saw TOM AKEHURST make a break cut inside an ANSELMIANS player only to slip to the ground but on falling passed to the outside runner, RHYS JAMES who went in for this second try. RHYS failed to convert, his only failure of the afternoon to leave the score 14-12 in favour of ANSELMIANS at half-time.
In the second half, Wirral put even more emphasis of kicking the ball deep downfield knowing that the ANSELMIANS kicking back was not as penetrating. On 45 mins JIMMY ANNETTS came into the centres with TOM COLE going to the right wing in place of ALFIE KIMPTON. On 49 minutes, Wirral had the chance of a 45m penalty kick and decided to go for touch rather than kick for goal, which turned out in Wirral’s favour as another penalty against ANSELMIANS gave RHYS JAMES the opportunity from 18m to kick Wirral into the lead, 14-15. From the ANSELMIANS kick off this went too deep and Wirral replied with a deceptively long kick downfield which again gave them pressure in the ANSELMIANS half and another penalty enabled RHYS to extend the Wirral lead to 14-18 (55 mins).
ANSELMIANS then applied pressure through their forwards to make ground up the pitch utilising their strong pack to make ground. A further penalty gave ANSELMIANS a 5m line out and from this position they again pushed forward only for the scrum to break down, without any warning to either team the referee awarded ANSELMIANS with a penalty try to give them the lead again, 21-18. ADAM DON was sin binned for his offence at that incident.
After that incident much play centered around mid - field and in the 61st minute, Wirral were able to draw level with another RHYS JAMES penalty- everything to play for. 5 minutes later whilst only playing with 14, Wirral again took the lead from 40m out with another penalty from RHYS- 21-24.
At the end of his sin bin, DAN CARROL came on in place of ADAM DON.
Again ANSELMIANS refused a kick at goal and went for the 5/10m line out as they strove to win the game and get their try bonus point. Wirral managed to clear and at this stage ANSELMIANS were working hard to retrieve the position but the Wirral defence tackled well and kept the home team at bay- that is until the final three to four minutes with ANSELMIANS attacking the Wirral line and only strong defence kept them out. In what appeared to be a long final minute ANSELMIANS were pressing hard, the ball was passed out to the left where there appeared to be an overlap, the ball was dropped and the final whistle went to end this game which had thrilled the large crowd watching and showed their appreciation for the efforts put in by all the 36 players.
This was ANSELMIANS sixth game at home in this league whereas Wirral have only had 4. Wirral still remain third in the league and next week has a home fixture against Stoke with a 2.15pm kick off.
It was good to defeat ANSELMIANS given their unbeaten start to the season and credit must go to RHYS JAMES for scoring most of Wirral’s points today.
Richard McNeil