Tarleton crush ‘Kirk in one-sided derby clash
TARLETON 2ndXV ran riot against local rivals Ormskirk 2ndXV, scoring 16 tries in a 106-3 rout.
Tarleton had a full squad at their disposal for this match and from the kick off dominated the game with Ormskirk having to defend for long periods.
Tarletons’ first try came from a break by Fraser Grieves, who offloaded to the rampaging Lee Waddell who was stopped just short of the line as he went to ground.
The supporting Bryn Foster picked up the ball and crashed over to score, with George Cook adding the extras.
From the re-start the ball was taken through the Ormskirk defensive line by Frankie Skofic who offloaded to Grieves who ran in for the second try of the contest.
The next few minutes saw the game develop into a midfield battle and although Ormskirk were applying pressure, Tarleton’s dominance in the scrum saw the ball turned over a number of times.
On one occasion Skofic ran 30 yards to the line to score the home sides third try.
On the half-hour another turnover scrum saw some good inter-play between Joe Bullen and Dave King make 40 yards before a final pass was made to Sam Bradshaw who crashed through for the fourth try.
Another good try was scored minutes later and involved four players passing and looping along the back line with Waddell at the fore.
After several passes the ball ended up back with the influential Waddell who went over the line.
Ormskirk to their credit continued to try and press the Tarleton defence and at one point found themselves in the Tarleton 22, but a chip over the top was anticipated by Ollie Barham who gathered the ball and ran the length of the pitch to score an oustanding individual try. The conversion by Cook gave Tarleton a 40-0 lead.
Tarleton pressed forward again, and camped in the Ormskirk 22, a clearance kick by the Ormskirk defence could only find Barham just inside the touch line who again outpaced the Ormskirk defence to run in his second and Tarleton’s seventh try of the first half.
Straight from the second half kickoff it was Tarleton who maintained the impetus and Skofic ran home his second try of the match - complete with four Ormskirk players hanging off him.
From the five metre scrum the prolific Skofic picked up at No.8 and crashed over to score Tarletons’ eighth try.
With 55 minutes gone, and in complete control of the contest, Tarleton’s play became a scrappy as they lost their shape and concentration.
However, from their own 22, Connor Whelan steadied the ship and brought the ball away, as he drew the Ormskirk defence before passing the ball out to the supporting Grieves who ran in from 40 yards to make the score 61-0.
Yet another Ormskirk attack broke down in the tackle and was cleared up-field by the boot of Grieves, which led to a foot race between teammates Cook and Lee Booth to see who could chase it down.
As it was, Booth got to it first and hacked the ball on over the line to score on his return to rugby.
The re-start saw the ball caught cleanly by Skofic who coasted through the Ormskirk defence to rack up his hat-trick.
The twelfth try came from another turned over scrum and a pick-up by Skofic who off-loaded to Whelan. Whelan beat two defenders to go in under the posts and with the conversion giving Tarleton a 78-0 lead.
Skofic scored again following some good play amongthe backs who moved the ball around quickly, leaving Ormskirk chasing shadows. He found himself with an easy run-in on the right wing to score.
The games next try came from yet another turned over scrum - this time the ball was passed out to Dan Mallinson who burst through the Ormskirk defence to score.
The conversion extended Tarleton’s lead to 92-0.
Ormskirk finally got themselves on the scoresheet with a drop-goal, before Tarleton scored again. Cook launched a kick into the Ormskirk half that was chased down and gathered by Barham who ran in to score, completing his hat-trick.
Tarleton led 99-3 with three minutes left to play and fittingly the last try was again scored by Skofic - his fifth - who had been a thorn in Ormskirk’s side all day. The conversion was good and Tarleton ran out 106-3 winners.
Elsewhere, Tarleton 1st XV enjoyed a hard fought 13-7 victory away at North Manchester.
Both sides will be looking to maintain this early season impetus next week when the 2nd XV travel to Carnforth and the 1st XV entertain Ormskirk 1st XV at home.