Moor make hay in the sun

MOOR hosted Wirralbased Oldershaw at Green Lane on Saturday in glorious sunshine for their first league game of the season – a repeat of a year ago, but unlike then, when Moor struggled to get the better of their visitors, this year they totally overwhelmed the opposition, scoring 12 tries along the way.

The home side looked strong on paper, particularly in the backs, and this proved to be the case from the kick-off, when following a line-out in the first minute of the game, the ball was quickly passed down the back line and outside centre Chris Sutton found a gap to run in near the posts for the first of his five tries, the conversion being kicked by 17 year-old winger Olly Reynolds, one of three players making their debut in the side.

From then on, tries followed at regular intervals, with Sutton getting his second after 10 minutes, again converted by Reynolds.

Midway through this first period, Oldershaw did rally and realising that the only way to keep Moor under control was to retain the ball amongst their forwards, they proceeded to produce a number of rucks and mauls within sight of the Moor line and were eventually rewarded with a converted try.

This proved to be the last time they troubled the scoreboard in the match as Moor proceeded to score five more tries before the interval; hooker Danny Ireland up in support of full-back Matt Hughes, Hughes himself, winger Perkins Joseph and two more to Sutton, with three of these being converted by Reynolds, making the half-time score 45-7 to Moor.

The second period reflected the first – a couple of tries early on, followed by a period of pressure from the visitors and then a flurry of tries.

The first score followed a break from fly-half Jack Wilson, another debutante, who put Hughes away, only for Wilson to then dummy his way over for his own try.

Full marks to the visitors however, as, despite shipping so many points, they never gave up and for a quarter of an hour in the second half their forwards kept control of the ball deep in Moor territory, continually threatening the home side’s line, which provided the latter with a lot of practise in the art of defence, acquitting themselves well as they prevented Oldershaw from adding to their score.

Inevitably, Moor broke out of this cycle and Sutton was once again put away to race down the field to score his final try of the day.

In the final minutes, Hughes scored two more tries, and with Reynolds appearing to have converted all the second half tries, it provided him with a very satisfying first game at senior level.

It subsequently transpired the referee hadn’t counted one of these kicks, so it made the final score 78-7 to Moor.

Moor are away at Oswestry on Saturday, ko 3pm.