Firsts fairly beaten but U16s top of the league
ALARGE crowd assembled in the late autumn sunshine on Saturday to see if the Southport First XV could extend its winning run to three games.
Sadly it wasn’t to be, the 5-28 reverse to second placed and highly fancied Bowdon RUFC being a tad unfair in terms of the margin, but a fair result as the away team effectively shut down any attacking threat from Southport in the last quarter.
It was in the main an enthralling contest but leaving several things to ponder with another tough task at Rochdale RUFC this Saturday.
Meanwhile the Southport senior team of the moment is at home, some of the stars barely out of their pampers, having chalked up a fourth win out of five - 22-31 at no less a place than fortress Littleborough last Saturday. In another thrilling free scoring display tries by Joe Parkinson, Chris Tees, John ‘Ocean’ Gillow, Lawrence Abood and Conor Rylands with Abood adding three conversions saw the boys home
Hopefully this can continue against bottom of the table Tyldesley II on Saturday, KO 2.15pm.
Come along to Waterloo Road to cheer on these young (and in one or cases not so young) bucks as they strive for the table summit and the Thirds too who will be hoping for a more equal encounter against Hoylake II than they enjoyed last Saturday.
As ever admission is free for the best value and home grown sporting entertainment in town.
Well done to the Colts on Sunday with a morale boosting 59-10 win over old adversaries Liverpool Collegiate.
Clearly the fearsome fixture list the squad has faced so far this season has instilled in them character to stand each player in good stead in the higher echelons of the game for the remainder and beyond.
This Sunday they travel to Newcastle (Staffs) where they can put this to the test, whilst the Ladies make a welcome return in the afternoon to host Didsbury Toc H Ladies. BY GRAHAM WHYTE Due to numerous injuries and unavailable players, Southport’s third XV took a scratch team down the M57 to face a hitherto midtable LSH XV at Windle Island on Saturday.
Digging deep into their resources and calling up a few members of the minis and juniors coaches to pull on a shirt for the first team this season the away team found the home team able to field a very strong young team as they had far more resource to choose from on the day with no First XV fixture. Ce sera.
Faced with this daunting challenge full credit is due to each and every member of the Southport squad in the circumstance.
And unbelievably from the kick off they turned the ball over and the forwards drove down the field before Neil Bayliff crashed over from a maul to score near the posts.
The conversion was missed but this great start served only as a prelude to wave after wave of LSH attacking leading to numerous tries for the remainder of the half, the hosts’ faster pace and youth far too much for the inexperience and old dogs of the visitors.
The second half continued in the same vein.
LSH scored straight from the kick off and more tries followed.
But in a nice piece of symmetry Southport finished the game as they started chalking up the final try of the game with some excellent play leading to being awarded penalty five metres out.
A quick tap from Gaz Rowlands fed Mark Poole who darted between two home defenders to score.
The conversion by Mike Goodwin was good reflecting the superb Southport spirit.
Thank you to the coaches who gave up their Saturday afternoon to play and never gave up against superior opposition. Well done fellas, we go again! BY ANDY LAWTON
A glorious Autumn morning saw Southport u16s entertaining their near neighbours Ormskirk in Round Four of the cup.
Coming off a great win versus Garstang Southport we’re soon on the upper foot.
With the forwards running hard and straight, the gap opened up outside for Ben Henderson to slide in for the opening score, Michael Lawton tagging on the extra points.
A few missed chances out wide didn’t deter the boys from their game plan and Aodhan Blackburn scored next (after the slowest thrown dummy ever) near the posts, Ben converted.
Charlie Johnson scored a brave try in the corner, just beating the cover defence to touch down.
The final try of the half was from Jack Cook, who picked up from the scrum and dived over unopposed, Ben converted for a 24-0 half time lead.
The second half pretty much continued in the same vein.
A quick tap penalty from Mick, quick hands to Ben and a superbly timed pass from Max Tolson saw Charlie Watts score on the other wing.
Ollie McKeown chipped in with two further tries, one a great effort from the back of the scrum, to even further stretch the lead.
Ormskirk did get over the line for their only try but Southport deservedly ran out 43-5 winners. Undefeated in the cup up to now, the U16s sit proudly at the top of the league.