Eagle swoop for injury time winner

LAST Saturday, Moor were away at Eagle, a side that they had played only three weeks before, when they had collected maximum points.

With a muchchanged side from that fixture, and against a side whose style of play belies their league position, this was going to be a much tougher exercise. And so it proved to be.

Eagle kicked off up the slope with the early exchanges favouring the Warrington-based side and it was nearly 15 minutes before Moor actually crossed over the opposition’s 10-metre line.

From that point however, they then had the better of the first half, using the slope to their advantage, and opened their account with a penalty kick from the boot of fly-half Mark Edwards.

Moor kept the pressure on and were soon rewarded with another penalty, with the kick finding touch five metres from the home side’s line.

The resultant lineout was won and Moor set up a maul that was driven over for prop Sam Ireland to touch down.

The conversion was missed, but the visitors kept control and at the break had an 8-0 lead to show for their efforts.

Now playing downhill, it was Eagle’s turn to take the advantage and soon after the restart, had opened their account.

This came from a quickly-taken tap penalty by their lively scrum-half, who put one of his centres in for a try under the sticks, easily converted by said scrum-half.

Mid-way through the second half, Eagle had a player sent to the sin-bin and Moor took advantage of this to increase their lead from an identical situation that had produced the first half try; penalty, lineout, catch, drive with Danny Ireland, playing at wing forward instead of his usual position of hooker, touching down – the conversion again being missed.

For the rest of the game, both sides cancelled each other out; each having chances but resolute defence prevented any further score as the full-time whistle approached.

With three minutes of injury time played, Edwards kicked another penalty to extend Moor’s lead and put, as both their players and supporters thought, the game to bed.

However, the referee announced that there was still another five minutes to play, much to the incredulity of Moor.

From the kick-off, Moor returned up the slope, but a rushed pass – attempting such a move at this point was not what was required – failed to find the intended recipient and the ball was picked up by Eagle who proceeded to advance downfield, with Moor scrambling back into position.

This onslaught produced an inevitable try in the sixth minute of added time, which was converted.

Eagle did not need any further encouragement and collecting the ball from the kick-off, immediately swung it out wide and attacked a shellshocked Moor down the right-hand flank, resulting in a winning try in the corner in the eighth minute of injury time.

Needless-to-say, the whistle was blown immediately after the failed conversion attempt, much to the huge delight of the home side and their supporters, as they ran out 19-16 winners, with a total of 15 points being scored in just five minutes of madcap rugby.

A disappointing result for Moor, but full marks to Eagle for playing through to the end.