Cleveleys crushed by ‘Kirk
WITH a number of enforced changes in personnel from last week’s win at Wigan, there was pre-match speculationas to how Ormskirk might fare against a very good Thornton Cleveleys which had turned them over twice during the season before last.
It is also a side which is being tipped for promotion in the Lancashire league.
The visitors turned up planning to take the points home with them and their opening forays would have given them hope of realising those plans as wave after wave of big attacks hit the Ormskirk line, each repelled with an increasing sense of confidence and self belief.
Big defensive displays from forwards Rouke, Arrowsmith, Beswick, Ball and Hudson along with the tackle busting runs of Owens were superbly supported by the mopping up play of backs Knowles, Hodson, Webster, White and Thompson to persistently thwart the increasingly irritable visitors.
And so this pattern persisted for around 20 minutes of non stop attack and repel with the visitors having nothing to show for their efforts.
The failure to penetrate the superbly marshalled home defensive line led to the visitors displaying lapses in discipline, resulting in conceding free kicks which served to gain valuable ground for the Greens and offering appreciated breaks in the defensive efforts.
Once the siege had been broken, play really opened up with both sides displaying top quality ball handling skills as play swept out wide and to either end of the field at breathtaking speed.
Finally, the deadlock was broken following a period of Ormskirk pressure and as the ball was swept from one side of the field to the other, Tom Owens disappeared under a pile of Thornton defenders to emerge to the referee’s arm raised to signal a touchdown.
Although the try was scored out wide, Matty White had little trouble popping the ball over the crossbar to give Ormskirk a 7-0 advantage.
With a blazing sun persisting in a cloudless sky, the halftime whistle was well received by the Greens as they had the advantage of playing with the low sun to their backs for the second half.
From kick off to final whistle, the spectators were treated to a scoring bonanza from the home side with a further five tries.
Following some big and powerful hole punching bursts by Denton Williams and quality support play from Aaron Ferry and Lee Arrowsmith, play progressed down field resulting in the increasingly influential scrum half leaving defenders in his wake as he happily skipped over the line, a big smile telling the story as he placed the ball between the posts, leaving a simple conversion for Matty White to pop over.
A couple of minutes later Jake Hodson, following a break and neat pass from David Webster, ghosted his way through defenders to touch down for the first of his three tries.
Again, the reliable kicking of Matty White added an extra two points as his kick from out wide sailed over. 21-0 and as good as over? No chance of that as Thornton threw everything they could muster at the home side, showing displays of excellent flowing and wide running rugby which stretched each and every Ormskirk player, inviting them to show their commitment to work for each other, the side and the club.
Again, wave after wave of attack was fought off and as play moved down field, smart power and support play from Tony Hudson, Aaron ferry, Tom Owens and Kieran Denton Williams created the opportunity for Rob Hall to power his way through the desperate grasps of the visitors’ defence to touch down under the posts and create an easy conversion kick for White.
28-0 and looking very good for Ormskirk.
Thornton weren’t ready to throw the towel in just yet and continued to contribute to a fine spectacle of open running, end to end rugby, being rewarded as their winger danced over for the first of their two tries. The conversion attempt sailed wide, leaving the visitors trailing by twenty three points and with time ticking away.
All the unrewarded offensive effort began to take its toll and a now visibly tired Thornton Cleveleys defence conceded two more tries to man of the match Jake Hodson.
Matty White hoofed one kick over to give a score of 40-5 to the Greens.
The final play of the match saw the visitors rewarded with a well taken converted try to give a final score of 40-12.
What an entertaining match, fast, flowing, often physically brutal, fully committed and perhaps most importantly, sporting. What’s not to like?
Next week sees a well earned Saturday off before what should be another tough match against Eagle.
Ormskirk RUFC field a range of teams, Minis, Juniors and Colts along with open age Men’s and Ladies teams.
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